Latest news with #mobiletheft
Daily Mail
04-07-2025
- Daily Mail
The roads where you're most likely to have your mobile stolen in London's West End as phone theft soars to record levels
The worst streets for mobile phone theft in London 's West End were revealed today with nearly 18 devices being snatched every day on Oxford Street. Europe's busiest shopping road had 6,539 reports of phones being taken last year - ahead of Regent Street on 2,002, according to Metropolitan Police data. Shaftsbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road in the theatre district were third and fourth with 1,032 and 946 respectively between January and December 2024. Completing the top ten were Wardour Street on 929, Greek Street on 623, Piccadilly on 591, Old Compton Street on 507, Strand on 494 and Leicester Square on 455. Figures showing Westminster's 'repeat streets' for mobile phone thefts have been released by Scotland Yard following a Freedom of Information request. Former Met Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville has urged the force to do more to fight phone crime - after he nearly fell victim to a theft himself three months ago. Mr Neville, who managed to hold onto his phone during the incident outside Charing Cross railway station, told The Standard: 'What are the Met doing? 'It's not difficult when you actually know which roads are being targeted. Officers need to be less concerned with the psychology of crime and catch more criminals. 'These snatchers must be laughing at the law because they know just one per cent of thefts are solved. Each of the 30 streets must have hundreds of CCTV cameras. 'So the second thing is to actually gather images. See if they are wearing distinctive clothing - even if you can't see their faces - and link offenders to multiple offences.' Phone theft has become an epidemic in London, hitting a record level last year – with the number of devices snatched more than tripling in four years. Some 70,137 phones were reported stolen to the Met in the capital in 2024, up by nearly 40 per cent from 52,428 in 2023. As recently as 2020, the figure was 20,000. Susan Hall AM, leader of the City Hall Conservative Group, told MailOnline: '6,539 thefts on Oxford Street alone is obscene. 'With the prospect of pedestrianisation looming, I've spoken to residents in Westminster who are horrified at how police cuts and pedestrianisation will only exacerbate this. 'For God's sake, Sadiq - get a grip on this and actually put the welfare of the public first. His inaction is rapidly making the West End more and more lawless.' Her Tory colleague Neil Garratt, who wrote the Tackling London's Theft Epidemic report earlier this year, added: 'These figures are shocking but not surprising. 'In February, my report into London's spiralling phone theft epidemic showed exactly how the Mayor can get a grip, but he refuses. 'Instead, he sits back blaming the phone companies while Londoners and visitors to our great city fear to take out their phone. This problem is solvable, so I am urging him, again, to take action now.' Earlier this week, Bridgerton star Genevieve Chenneour revealed she had left London and moved back in with her mother after her phone was grabbed by a teenage thief. The actress was targeted by 18-year-old Zacariah Boulares at a Joe & The Juice café in Kensington in February – and the prolific criminal was jailed for just 22 months on Tuesday despite embarking on a 'ruthless' spree of thefts. One of the capital's most prolific phone snatchers, Sonny Stringer, was jailed for two years in August last year after stealing 24 phones in just one morning before evading police by riding on an electric motorbike at speeds of nearly 50mph. And in November 2024, four prolific London phone thieves were jailed for handling more than 5,000 stolen phones - with two spending thousands of pounds from victims' bank accounts. Zakaria Senadjki, 31, Nazih Cheraitia, 34, Ahmed Abdelhakim Belhanafi, 25, and Riyadh Mamouni, also 25, were sentenced to a total of 18 years. The cost of their crimes was said to have totalled £5.1million, with officers believing many of the phones were sold abroad. A Met spokeswoman said today: 'We are seeing phone thefts on an industrial scale, fuelled by criminals making millions by being able to easily sell on stolen devices either here or abroad. 'In response, we have increased patrols in hotspot areas while officers are using phone-tracking data and intelligence to pursue those responsible. 'By intensifying our efforts, we're catching more perpetrators and protecting people from having their phones stolen in the capital. 'The Met is also working with other agencies and government to tackle the organised criminality driving this trade and calling on tech companies to make stolen phones unusable. 'We are reminding victims to report their phone as stolen as soon as possible to maximise the chance of catching the perpetrator, too often thefts are reported hours or days later.' 'The first thing Sir Mark Rowley needs to do is put extra officers on those streets, not only patrolling but ready to stop those on the e-bikes.' Conservative politicians have called on London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan to do more to address growing concerns about the spiralling crime rates in the capital. And a spokesperson for the Labour politician told MailOnline: 'The Mayor has long been clear we need decisive and coordinated action to halt the burgeoning global trade of stolen phones which is driving criminality and violence across the world. 'Evidence shows the majority of phones stolen in London are being reconnected in other countries as far as China and Algeria – a large proportion of which are still able to access Play and Apple cloud services to download apps. 'The Mayor has repeatedly warned it is simply too easy and profitable for criminals to repurpose and sell on stolen phones. This must change. 'City Hall is working closely with the Met to tackle the scourge of phone thefts in London. This includes increasing police patrols and plain-clothed operations in hotspot areas, like the West End and Westminster, where nearly 40 per cent of phone thefts occur. 'But the police can't defeat this industrial scale crime on their own and the Mayor will continue to push the mobile phone industry to go much further in preventing stolen phones being used, sold and repurposed, to build a safer London for all.' Earlier this week London was revealed as the 15th most dangerous city for crime in Europe – and the 100th worst out of 385 locations around the world, according to Numbeo's Crime Index . There was also outrage last month after veteran broadcaster Selina Scott, 74, revealed she was viciously attacked and robbed in broad daylight in Piccadilly earlier this month. The stalwart of British TV was leaving a Waterstones shop on June 17 when she was struck on the back of her right knee, leaving her feeling as if she had been 'stabbed'. She was set upon by a gang who attempted to grab her backpack. Fighting back, she kept hold of the bag – but one of the thieves unzipped it and took her purse before running off. Ms Scott lost her bank cards, driving licence and cash in the robbery. And Matt Goodwin, senior visiting professor of politics at the University of Buckingham, wrote in the Daily Mail last week: 'London is over. It's so over.' He cited data showing that there were 90,000 shoplifting offences in the capital last year, up 54 per cent. Professor Goodwin added that there is now an alleged rape every hour in London – and reported sexual offences against women and girls has risen 14 per cent in five years, while homelessness and rough sleeping increased 26 per cent in one year. Meanwhile a policing expert told MailOnline last week that the incident involving Ms Scott showed London had become a 'crime-ridden cesspit'. Ex-New Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley said the force was now so stretched in the West End that private security companies were being deployed to help. He condemned the 'epidemic of crime' in London from pickpocketing to violence and fare evasion to robbery, adding that it was 'driving people away' from the capital.
BBC News
27-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Thomas White: Phone thief's hospital move after 13 years in jail
A mobile phone thief who has spent 13 years in prison is set to be moved to a psychiatric hospital following a lengthy campaign by his White, 42, was jailed for a minimum of two years in 2012. Because he was under an indeterminate imprisonment for public protection (IPP) order, he had to complete a rehabilitation course before he could be White said because her brother developed paranoid schizophrenia while in custody, he was moved between 16 different prisons and was not given the chance to complete such a Ministry of Justice (MOJ) told the BBC it was "right" that IPP sentences were abolished four months after White was jailed. More than 2,000 people remained in prison on IPP sentences in late in 2005, indeterminate sentences were intended for the perpetrators of serious crimes and persistent they were designed to only be in place until the offender no longer posed a significant risk, they were also handed out for relatively minor MOJ spokesperson said the department was "determined to make progress towards safe and sustainable releases for those in prison, but not in any way that undermines public protection". White had been binge-drinking in Manchester before he stole a phone from two Christian is currently detained at HMP Manchester, where he was initially jailed in White said she considered her brother's imminent relocation to a psychiatric hospital to be a "victory" following a long said he would now be treated with "dignity" and "humanity". He could be kept in hospital indefinitely, however, since he will still technically be serving an IPP sentence. "The stain of IPP is almost tattooed to him," she told the BBC. "I will continue to fight to have IPP removed."She said she was supporting a bill, proposed by Labour peer Anthony Woodley, which would allow all IPP prisoners to be resentenced. Ms White complained that the government was "already releasing offenders on to our streets to free up [space in] the prison population - it's hypocritical". 'Treated with dignity' Ms White said one of her brother's psychiatric reports found he had developed mental health issues, including delusions and hallucinations, due to the indefinite nature of his imprisonment. She said he began "wearing" his bed sheets, called his family to speak "in Roman numerals" and identified himself to fellow inmates as Jesus Christ. "Myself and my mum started to see that Thomas's mental health had really gone to a level that I don't think any family should have to have witnessed."Ms White said she was determined to keep fighting for other families of people in prison with severe mental health issues. "We want them released into forensic psychiatric hospitals that can build them up and where they can be treated with dignity," she explained. "I'm going to stay in the campaign - I owe it to the families." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
The Independent
04-06-2025
- General
- The Independent
Watch: Police helicopter chases mobile phone thief through London
A police helicopter and multiple officers on motorcycles chase down a mobile phone snatcher through the streets of London in dramatic helicopter and bodycam footage. Video released on Wednesday (4 June) shows the thief, who stole an iPhone 16 Pro Max, riding an e-bike through busy streets across the capital. The Metropolitan Police said that within minutes of the victim making the call, they pursued the thief. Within an hour, officers managed to catch up to the suspect, who jumped off his bike and lay face down on the ground as he was placed under arrest. Police said the man pleaded guilty to multiple offences, including robbery, dangerous driving, and driving without insurance.
Telegraph
03-06-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Apple tells Met to embrace ‘traditional policing' in clash over phone thefts
Apple has told the Metropolitan Police to focus on 'traditional policing' to tackle a surge in mobile phone thefts. Gary Davis, a senior executive at the iPhone-maker, said police were not fully investigating some phone thefts in Britain by seeking information about the stolen devices from Apple. In a hearing before MPs on the science, innovation and technology committee, Mr Davis was asked whether Apple should be doing more to build a technical solution to phone thefts. He replied: 'I would want to make sure that as part of all of that the Met Police continues to do traditional policing, which means sending requests to us for stolen devices and Apple responding to those requests for stolen devices. We are not seeing that.' It came after senior police officials urged tech companies to consider new technical ways of preventing theft. The Met wants mobile phone makers to use a unique number linked to a phone's modem chip – which connects to mobile networks – to identify phones that are reported stolen and block them. Police believe up to three quarters of stolen phones are moved abroad, with 28pc ending up in China or Hong Kong and many in Algeria. The Met recorded more than 80,000 phone thefts in 2024, up by a quarter on 2023 levels. Once overseas, these phones become more difficult to track. While UK networks can implement some blocking on the 'IMEI' chip numbers of stolen phones, this is more patchy internationally. Speaking on Tuesday, Darren Scates, the Met's chief digital officer, said one proposal that was being 'considered by Apple and Google' was to 'stop a smart phone serial number being allowed to connect to their services if it is reported as lost or stolen'. The police say this would make the device worthless. Mr Scates added that technology companies had provided methods to 'lock the device' remotely, but some criminals had means of cracking this. Technology chiefs have raised concerns over the risks of allowing more remote locking tools. Mr Davis said the industry was wary about whether such a system could become a 'vector for fraud', with people potentially being able to make false claims that phones have been stolen, leading to devices being automatically blocked. The hearing comes amid growing scrutiny over spiralling crime rates across the UK. The Met has warned that there are growing links between knife crime, child exploitation gangs, drugs and mobile phone theft, with some gangs 'pivoting' from selling illegal drugs to stealing handsets. Speaking to executives from Apple, Google and Samsung, Kit Malthouse, the senior Conservative MP, suggested that technology companies have been 'dragging their feet' on coming up with a technical solution. However, Mr Davis said attention also needed to be focussed on the police response to mobile phone theft, saying: 'We need the requests to come to us. We need to give them the responses. 'They need to use the information we provide to them in order to identify where the phones are being stolen, and I assume therefore target resources. I am not just seeing those resources coming through to us.' Apple said it had introduced a new Stolen Device Protection feature, which requires a Face ID check to access certain phone features, rather than just a code. It has also added technology that can remotely prevent stolen phone parts being stripped and re-used. Google, meanwhile, has added an artificial intelligence feature to its Android software that can detect if a phone has been snatched.
The Sun
03-06-2025
- Business
- The Sun
More than 40 MILLION Brits alerted to switch on forgotten anti-theft mobile feature as phone snatching soars
MILLIONS of mobile users across the UK have been urged to switch on little-known anti-theft settings following a spate of phone snatches. In London alone, two-thirds of thefts now relate to mobile phones, Met Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway told MPs today. 2 Police seized more than 1,000 stolen handsets and arrested 230 people in a single week earlier this year in a crackdown on the problem. The Met Police has described it as a colossal £50million-a-year trade. Often, phone thefts have more to do with raiding people's bank accounts than value in the handset itself. A victim recently revealed how they were caught out by crafty crooks who went on to spend hundreds. Tech companies have developed a number of tools to help prevent such incidents. Google has a few for Android users which detect the motion associated with a physical snatch. When a snatch is detected your phone will lock so thieves can't go through all your banking apps and more. Samsung, which uses Android on its phones, alerted more than 40million Samsung Account holders of its anti-theft features. The firm says these features will now also be available to even more devices soon, having started with the launch of the Galaxy S25 series in February. Among Samsung's own added efforts is Theft Protection, a multi-layered suite of features developed to safeguard personal data, even in high-risk situations such as robbery. Google reveals clever trick to prevent thieves from emptying your accounts on the Android 15 "Samsung is deeply committed to working closely with the Home Office on the issue of mobile phone theft and related crimes and we're in constant collaboration with our partners across the industry, to look at new and existing solutions to help combat this complex issue and ultimately help improve the safety of mobile phone users," said Annika Bizon, Mobile Experience (MX) VP of Product and Marketing, UK&I at Samsung. "Our recent One UI 7 update built further on existing protections with new anti-theft features such as identity check, biometric authentication and security delay, all featured in our latest Galaxy S25 series. "These features have now also been rolled out into a range of models across our devices and further updates will follow. "We must do everything we can to ensure the safety and security of our customers when they are using their mobile devices and we will continue to work hard to ensure our customers are aware of the wide range of security features available to them." How to turn on Theft Detection Lock To turn on Theft Detection Lock on a Samsung phone, follow these steps: Go to Settings Select Security and privacy Tap Lost device protection Go to Theft protection Switch the Theft detection option on 2
