Latest news with #phoneTheft
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Daily Mail
What really happens to your phone when it's snatched by a thief in the street? A new Mail investigation follows a stolen mobile from London's Baker Street to a teeming district of Hong Kong where there are MILLIONS for sale
A squat, shirtless man opens the door to a nondescript commercial unit on the 19th floor of a 25-storey building in Hong Kong. His expression is vacant, a bloated belly hanging over his shorts and flip flops. Behind him, his wife is cooking rice. Steam billows from the stove, engulfing the cramped, colourless room and raising the humidity to suffocating levels. The couple are as bemused by our sudden appearance as we are by them. There is no reason in the world why any Westerners would wind up at their door. But here we are. Somehow, our painstaking investigation into London 's phone-theft epidemic has led us to this: Yongyi Tong International Trading Co, 42 Hung To Road, Kwun Tong. This is the very building where an iPhone 11 Pro, snatched from the hands of a 41-year-old estate agent on London's famous Baker Street, has ended up. And it has company. Last year, around 80,000 smartphones were stolen in London, with an estimated 5,600 - or 7 per cent - ending up in Hong Kong. The vast majority make their way to the dizzying skyscrapers of Kwun Tong, a business district where traders from across the world gather to buy second-hand phones en masse, before selling them on at healthy profits. The Daily Mail tracked down these Del Boys of the Far East by following stolen devices on an odyssey from the streets of central London and through suburban British warehouses, before landing in the international markets of Dubai, Hong Kong and, ultimately, China. What we saw was mind-boggling. These desirable gadgets clock up more air miles than the Speaker of the House of Commons and pass through the hands of countless middle-men, thieves, hackers and 'dealers'. Yet everyone gets a slice of the pie. Scotland Yard says county lines gangs are now switching from the drugs trade and ordering British youths to snatch thousands of phones. With the estimated 'street value' of devices stolen in the capital alone topping £20million last year, it is no wonder the gangs are changing tack, particularly when the potential punishment pales in comparison. The victims are the vulnerable teens they recruit for the job, often plucked from council estates. But also, of course, the ordinary Londoners - terrorised by the moped gangs and pickpockets who swipe a phone every 15 minutes on average. Today, our investigation reveals exactly how, ripped from your hands on a British street, your phone will swiftly appear on the other side of the world. So, who is behind it, and what can be done to stop this tsunami of crime? Dawn was breaking as Dylan James, 41, strolled down Baker Street in central London. It was January 2022 and the estate agent was checking his messages on the way to work, scrolling through his iPhone 11 Pro. That's when, out of nowhere, a thief on an e-bike veered on to the pavement from behind, snatching the phone out of his hand before hurtling off at speed. Mr James was able to use Apple's FindMy tracking app to follow its movements. Ten days later, he was surprised to find the iPhone had come to rest at 42 Hung To Road, Kwun Tong - about 6,000 miles away. 'It was pinging from this commercial district in Hong Kong,' said Mr James. 'It was truly incredible.' Getting the police to investigate a theft is hard enough, let alone a phone. And if the stolen goods have ended up halfway across the world, forget about it. But the Daily Mail won't. We promised to investigate what had happened to Mr James's phone and many thousands like it, which vanish from British towns and cities - then mysteriously reappear in the teeming streets and workshops of Hong Kong. It is a sultry summer's morning when our reporters arrive in Kwun Tong, posing as businessmen seeking a large order of second-hand phones. Here, shabby concrete office blocks are squeezed into impossibly tight spaces, providing precious shade for the throngs of people making their sweaty way to work. As we enter the building at 42 Hung To Road, the last known resting place of Mr James's iPhone, we are greeted by a quizzical, uniformed woman at the reception desk of a marble-clad lobby. When we explain what we're after, her suspicions are aroused. Speaking in Cantonese, she says: 'Selling second-hand phones is a little bit…', before tilting her hand from side-to-side in the universal language that means 'dodgy'. Nonetheless, she directs us to several units in the building that are in the trade. Yongyi Tong International is one of the few open for business at this early hour, but the shirtless proprietor doesn't seem to be the talkative type. We want some cheap phones that work in the UK, we explain, and understand that this is the place to get them. The man tells us he is 'out of stock', but if we place an order, he could ship a batch back to the UK. He tells us nothing of his suppliers (although when later contacted by the Mail, Yongyi insisted its phones were legally obtained). And, given that Yongyi is just one of around half a dozen units at 42 Hung To Road selling second-hand phones, there is no sure-fire way of knowing which one contains Mr James's phone. It's a needle in a haystack. But that's nothing compared to what we find just a little further down the road. At 1 Hung To Road is a 31-storey building, home to 130 businesses, at least a third of which are used mobile-phone wholesalers. This place is notorious. Online messaging boards are inundated with people from the UK and US posting screenshots of their Find My App showing their stolen phones have ended up at 1 Hung To Road. Even the smallest shops or units here have thousands of second-hand phones in stock, with some of the larger ones offering hundreds of thousands of devices wholesale. On the day the Mail visited, there were easily more than one million used phones of varying origin, condition, brand and model for sale around the building. Some units were clearly fly-by-night operations - budget-looking businesses cramming boxes of phones into little more than 100 square feet of office space. One man was lying in his 'shop' on a dirty mattress. Others appeared to be doing well from their enterprise. One unit had neon signs leading buyers to high tables displaying second hand iPhones, mimicking a high street Apple store. Many second-hand phone sales are legitimate. Apple and other manufacturers use markets such as this to off-load customer returns. But most of the sellers we find are cagey and bristle when asked about their supply lines. One wholesaler does claim to have sourced some from the UK and leads us to a box of around 30 iPhones. As we continue around the labyrinth of dealerships - now beginning to blend into one - we notice that boxes are often marked as 'iCloud locked' and 'unlocked', or 'has ID' and 'no ID'. Buyers say that this differentiates between phones that had been remotely locked through the FindMy app - most likely following a theft. This suggests that, at a glance, there could be hundreds, if not thousands, of phones snatched from the streets of London spread across this one complex alone. But why are they all here? Demand for second-hand smartphones is high in emerging markets for the simple reason that the locals don't have the money to buy them new - particularly if hefty import duties are applied. It's also the case, however, that many Asian, African and Middle Eastern countries sit beyond the reach of the GSMA - the Global Systems for Mobile Communications Association - an organisation that provides network blocking if a phone is reported stolen. Around 80 per cent of phones stolen in London end up abroad. Find My data suggests the most common destinations are Algeria and China as well as Hong Kong. With its simple customs system and history of open trade, the ex-British territory is an ideal midpoint in the supply chain. Merchants from across the developing world come to Hung To Road to buy second-hand phones in bulk. A used iPhone 16 Pro - the latest model - is available here for as little as £500. Buying a new one in the UK would cost you double that. The Mail met a group of traders from India, who said they came to Kwun Tong every quarter to order hundreds of devices for resale at their second-hand phone shop. They explained that the margins on resale were small, so profits relied on picking out the best-value models from the plethora of options available - and buying in volume. A trader from West Africa leaving the building with two boxes of phones hinted at another cog in the chain. 'It is impossible to sell locked phones,' he explained. 'Unless you have the passwords.' If a phone is locked, it is effectively unusable. So, criminals will go to extreme lengths to unlock one. Foreign resellers will often use local 'hackers-for-hire' for a fee of around £40 a phone, but many at home and abroad are not afraid to deploy more rudimentary methods. 'Phishing' attempts (where victims are duped into parting with passwords and other sensitive data) are common, while death threats to the original owners are often reported to police. The rewards are significant. A thief who stole a locked iPhone 15 in London, for example, could sell it to an initial handler for about £100. This could then be sold on to a smuggler for £200, who will try to flog it to a reseller abroad for around £400. But if anyone in this supply chain can find a way to unlock the device, they could double their money, as the resale value of the phone will rocket. In many cases a phone is impregnable. Yet there is an answer for this, too: chopping it up for parts. A hop, skip and a jump over the Hong Kong border lies the city of Shenzhen. Once a small fishing town, today it is known as 'the Silicon Valley of China'. At its southernmost point lies the subdistrict of Huaqiangbei, home to sprawling malls selling every bit of second-hand tech under the sun. Stolen phones end up here in vast numbers because traders can find buyers for every component of a device, from screens and circuit boards to chips and copper, once it is stripped for parts. Resourceful merchants will even buy unwanted plastic to melt down and use in bottles, while some phones go to recycling plants, where batteries and metal elements are re-used. As with the local cuisine, not a shred of the 'beast' will go to waste. Locked or unlocked, there is money to be made from stolen phones. Most of the traders to be found at Hung To Road are from Shenzhen. One Chinese merchant told the Mail that she goes to Hung To Road every week to buy thousands of phones to bring back across the border. The vast electronics malls of Huaqiangbei bear little resemblance to the sleek, futuristic architecture of the real Silicon Valley. The Feiyang Times building, the primary market for second-hand phones, is a drab, 29-storey tower block plastered with Chinese propaganda. On the fourth floor, frenzied trading takes place under a banner carrying a quote from President Xi Jinping: 'The Chinese race is one that is diligent in labour and skilled in creation. It is through labour and creation that we achieved historical glory.' There are also clear signs that the authorities are alert to what is really going on here. Another banner warns of 'strict crackdowns on smuggling and illegal activities', while stalls bear signs that declare a refusal 'to recycle used phones with ID password locks, activation locks, and those of unknown origin'. Perhaps it is just for show. Last year, the Daily Mail's Associate Features Editor, Clara Gaspar, saw that her iPhone 15 had turned up at the World Trade Plaza, a skyscraper housing a giant mall in Shenzhen, after her pocket had been picked in Kensington, central London. And only last month, another iPhone 15, this time belonging to our Executive Science Editor, Xantha Leatham, had been taken to Dongguan, a city north of Shenzhen. Remarkably, this was after it had initially been shipped to a sleek-looking second-hand phone store in Dubai - although staff here denied having any UK phones when approached by the Mail. So, if you've ever wondered why you suddenly can't walk around the West End without seeing a moped thief cruising the streets for a mobile to snatch, the answer lies thousands of miles away, in the explosion of these bewildering markets of used phone bartering. Metropolitan Police Commander James Conway says phone theft is surging in London today because foreign demand has made it profitable again. Scotland Yard has made it clear that, while it is ramping up enforcement, it cannot arrest its way out of the problem. Police chiefs and ministers are calling on cloud providers - Apple and Google - to build a 'kill switch' into smartphones that would stop them connecting to cloud services if reported stolen. This would perform the same function as the GSMA in parts of the world without coverage, destroying the resale market. But there is growing frustration that, after 18 months of discussions, the tech giants are still mulling the proposals over - and are yet to act. Meanwhile, it is the rest of us who suffer. Xantha's story The Mail's Executive Science Editor Xantha Leatham writes: Anyone who has ever had a phone stolen will be familiar with the gut-wrenching moment you realise it's gone. One minute you've got your friends, family, photos and emails at your fingertips and the next you feel completely cut-off from the world. It happened to me recently, at a festival in Brighton when my iPhone 15 was taken out of my handbag from right under my nose. The thieves timed it perfectly – it was busy, the main artist was playing and I had my arm around my fiancé, meaning my cross-body handbag had been repositioned out of my sight. I had no idea anything was amiss until I went to get my phone out to take a picture. Kindhearted festivalgoers started to look on the floor in case it had fallen out of my bag, but I knew it was a lost cause. Despite being immediately switched off by its captors, my phone's 'Find My' location kept pinging, allowing me to track it for weeks. It meant I could watch my devices' epic 8,000-mile journey across the world. Within two days of being taken, my phone had made its way from Brighton to a Costco car park in Watford, north London. I assumed it would change hands, that the system would be wiped and my monitoring brought to an end. But nine days later, to my surprise, I spotted it was in Dubai. Surely, I thought, this would be the end of its travels. But no – a month later I saw it had reached the Chinese city of Shenzhen. Having grown up in Hong Kong, I knew there was no getting it back now. The electronics mecca is Ground Zero for the black market in iPhones. It's now been more than six weeks since the last location update, and it's likely reached the end of the road – either being completely wiped or broken down for parts. What was most concerning about the whole ordeal was the extreme lengths the criminals went to in their attempts to gain access to my phone and its data. Some of my contacts even received a text claiming that my phone had been 'found' and asking them to provide the passcode to reveal the location. Luckily, I was savvy to the scam – but it was very convincing. While I can't help but feel annoyed at myself for allowing my device to be taken, I'm thankful for two things - phone theft insurance and an up-to-date iCloud backup.
Daily Mail
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Seann Walsh reveals his phone was stolen 'straight from his hand' in London just days after a Strictly star was mugged
Seann Walsh revealed his phone was stolen 'straight from his hand' in London just days after a Strictly star was mugged. The comedian, 39, said that a thief nabbed the device 'a week or so ago' and it was now in China, according to Find My iPhone. Professional dancer Michelle Tsiakkas, 29, was also robbed in broad daylight in London this week, leaving her 'scared and helpless'. Following his ordeal, Seann shared a screenshot of his phone's whereabouts to his Instagram Story on Sunday and wrote: 'My phone was stolen (yes, out of my hand and yes, I live in London) a week or so ago and it is now in China if anyone happens to be passing by.' A fan replied to Seann and asked him to write a book about the things that have happened in his life. They added: 'I am very sorry about your phone but please, please write a book of all things that happen to you. "It could only happen to me."' Seann added: 'If there are any publishers following me, I am open to this but it will be a very long book. I'm calling it Typical.' Phone thefts in London have hit a record high with a shocking 37 people having their mobile stolen every day in the capital's West End alone. New data has revealed that almost 231,000 phone thefts and robberies were recorded over the past four years in the capital, a threefold increase. The epicentre for these brazen crimes is in the world's theatre capital, the West End, a magnet for tourists where around 40,000 phones were reported stolen over the same period, data by the Metropolitan Police shows. Elsewhere, Strictly dancer Michelle was on her way to the dentist early in the morning when her phone was snatched. In an emotional post on Instagram, the ballroom star recounted the 'traumatising' incident to fans whilst urging them to stay vigilant. Michelle said in a video message: 'This was a couple of days ago and I've just about mentally recovered from that. It was quite traumatising on the day. 'It wasted my whole day and made me feel awful, scared, helpless and I don't want the same to happen to you.' She explained: 'My phone got stolen. My phone got stolen. I mean I see it happening all the time but it's just one of those things that you just never think it's gonna happen to you. and then it does.' Michelle, who joined Strictly three years ago, said a man on a bike swiped her mobile while she was in Convent Garden. 'So it was early morning. I was on my way to the dentist in London. It was around Covent Garden so the streets were really quiet. 'I think I was just the only person around so maybe I was an easy target and I whipped out my phone to have a look at the directions to see where my dentist was. 'I was on the actual street of the dentist and what happens? A man comes on a bike behind me, sweeps past me and grabs my phone. 'So he's grabbed my phone. He's on an electric bike and my heart just sank. I tried to I think like reach for it and that made me fall on my knees on the floor and graze my knee. 'I think my reflex was just to swear and then scream give me back my phone and clearly you know that didn't work. 'He just left. He was wearing a mask so there was no way that I could have seen what he looked like and he was going really fast on that electric bike so there was no way on earth I could have caught up with him. 'Thankfully there were two really lovely and helpful women there and they'd seen that I was a bit distressed.'
Daily Mail
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Sean Walsh reveals his phone was stolen 'straight from his hand' in London just days after a Strictly star was mugged
Seann Walsh revealed his phone was stolen 'straight from his hand' in London just days after a Strictly star was mugged. The comedian, 39, said that a thief nabbed the device 'a week or so ago' and it was now in China, according to Find My iPhone. Professional dancer Michelle Tsiakkas, 29, was also robbed in broad daylight in London this week, leaving her 'scared and helpless'. Following his ordeal, Seann shared a screenshot of his phone's whereabouts to his Instagram Story on Sunday and wrote: 'My phone was stolen (yes, out of my hand and yes, I live in London) a week or so ago and it is now in China if anyone happens to be passing by.' A fan replied to Seann and asked him to write a book about the things that have happened in his life. They added: 'I am very sorry about your phone but please, please write a book of all things that happen to you. "It could only happen to me."' Seann added: 'If there are any publishers following me, I am open to this but it will be a very long book. I'm calling it Typical.' Phone thefts in London have hit a record high with a shocking 37 people having their mobile stolen every day in the capital's West End alone. New data has revealed that almost 231,000 phone thefts and robberies were recorded over the past four years in the capital, a threefold increase. The epicentre for these brazen crimes is in the world's theatre capital, the West End, a magnet for tourists where around 40,000 phones were reported stolen over the same period, data by the Metropolitan Police shows. Elsewhere, Strictly dancer Michelle was on her way to the dentist early in the morning when her phone was snatched. In an emotional post on Instagram, the ballroom star recounted the 'traumatising' incident to fans whilst urging them to stay vigilant. Michelle said in a video message: 'This was a couple of days ago and I've just about mentally recovered from that. It was quite traumatising on the day. 'It wasted my whole day and made me feel awful, scared, helpless and I don't want the same to happen to you.' She explained: 'My phone got stolen. My phone got stolen. I mean I see it happening all the time but it's just one of those things that you just never think it's gonna happen to you. and then it does.' Michelle, who joined Strictly three years ago, said a man on a bike swiped her mobile while she was in Convent Garden. 'So it was early morning. I was on my way to the dentist in London. It was around Covent Garden so the streets were really quiet. 'I think I was just the only person around so maybe I was an easy target and I whipped out my phone to have a look at the directions to see where my dentist was. 'I was on the actual street of the dentist and what happens? A man comes on a bike behind me, sweeps past me and grabs my phone. 'So he's grabbed my phone. He's on an electric bike and my heart just sank. I tried to I think like reach for it and that made me fall on my knees on the floor and graze my knee. 'I think my reflex was just to swear and then scream give me back my phone and clearly you know that didn't work. 'He just left. He was wearing a mask so there was no way that I could have seen what he looked like and he was going really fast on that electric bike so there was no way on earth I could have caught up with him. 'Thankfully there were two really lovely and helpful women there and they'd seen that I was a bit distressed.'
Daily Mail
28-06-2025
- Daily Mail
London phone thefts hit record high with 37 people having mobiles stolen every DAY in the West End alone
Phone thefts in London have hit a record high with a shocking 37 people having their mobile stolen every day in the capital's West End alone. New data has revealed that almost 231,000 phone thefts and robberies were recorded over the past four years in the capital, a threefold increase. The epicentre for these brazen crimes is in the world's theatre capital, the West End, a magnet for tourists where around 40,000 phones were reported stolen over the same period, data by the Metropolitan Police shows. Phone thefts in London have soared to record levels, with organised gangs targeting busy areas like the West End and St James's, where luxury streets and royal residences sit side by side with swarms of unsuspecting tourists and shoppers. One major hotspot identified is the area surrounding St James's Park, where Piccadilly and Haymarket meet Pall Mall and Clarence House, home to exclusive members' clubs and high-profile buildings. Analysis by The Times show the West End and St James's now account for a third of all phone thefts reported in the capital, up from a quarter in 2021. Scotland Yard figures show a staggering 81,256 mobile phone crimes were recorded in 2023, a 20 per cent year-on-year rise, and the highest on record. Police believe the true number is even higher, as many incidents go unreported. Other major hotspots include Bloomsbury, Holborn, Covent Garden, Shoreditch, Borough, London Bridge, Waterloo, South Bank, Camden Town, Regent's Park and Stratford. Since 2022, theft rates have risen in more than 200 suburbs across the capital — meaning over a third of London is now affected by the growing crisis. Most thefts are carried out by gangs on electric bikes, who either snatch phones directly from people's hands or operate in crowded areas to pickpocket victims. Police say the surge is fuelled by international black markets, where stolen devices are either sold on or stripped for parts — an illicit industry now worth over £50 million a year. Officers are urging Londoners to stick to well-lit, busy areas, remain alert, and keep valuables out of sight to avoid falling prey to the increasingly brazen criminals. As previously reported the shocking moment a phone snatcher is captured being knocked off his bike by furious Londoners before losing a shoe that police later used to catch him was caught on CCTV. Spencer Duarte, of Saffron Walden, was tackled off his e-bike by members of the public after he stole a phone from an innocent victim's hand in Ludgate Hill, London, on August 7 last year. Dramatic video footage showed the moment a quick-thinking pedestrian leapt into the street and intercepted the robber, who fell into the road while on his bike. Duarte, who initially stood up and was able to get back on his bike, was then chased down by two more members of the public. Cornered on the side of the pavement, he was pulled from his bike a second time as he attempted to flee. The phone thief, dressed in a flourescent top and helmet, then proceeded to run across the road away from the furious Londoners. In a last minute attempt at halting the robber, another four pedestrians reached out to try and grab hold of Duarte, who darted at speed between the different men before making a successful exit down the road. During the ensuing struggle, Duarte lost a shoe, which police detectives later used to catch him for his crimes as a result of the DNA it held. The 28-year-old, who was spotted and arrested by Metropolitan Police officers on September 9, admitted to one count of theft at Inner London Crown Court this week. He also accepted that he had items in his rucksack going equipped to steal. Duarte is due to be sentenced on September 12. Dubbed the 'Cinderella phone snatcher', Andrew Walker, physical forensics manager of the City of London Police, described how Duarte was ultimately caught as a result of his trainer being left at the scene. He said: 'We were able to get sufficient levels of DNA from the shoe to obtain a single, major profile that was suitable for searching against the national DNA database. 'This search generated a 'hit' to a male whose profile had previously been uploaded. 'The slipper fitted our Cinderella and we were able to bring him before the courts.' Meanwhile, dramatic scene unfolded in Westminster where a cyclist, wearing all black clothes, overtook some cars on the road before suddenly swerving to the left. The video shows the cyclist clearly turning their attention towards a pedestrian walking on the pavement. The man, wearing running clothes, was on his phone as the thief brazenly mounted onto the pavement and quickly snatched it from him. The victim puts his hands to his head in disbelief before making a belated attempt to run after the thief.
Times
27-06-2025
- Times
London mobile phone thefts hit a record high
Every day 37 people on average are having their phones stolen in the West End as London's mobile theft epidemic soars to record levels. Metropolitan Police data reveals that almost 231,000 phone thefts and robberies were recorded over the past four years in the capital, representing a three-fold increase in such offences. The epicentre is the West End, a magnet for tourists, where almost 40,000 phones were reported stolen over the same period. Another crime hotspot is adjacent to St James's, where Piccadilly and Haymarket borders Pall Mall, Clarence House, its namesake palace and exclusive members' clubs. A third of all reported London thefts were in the West End and St James's compared with a quarter in 2021, according to a Times analysis. • How London became the phone-snatching capital of Europe A record 81,256 mobile crimes were reported last year in London after a 20 per cent surge in recorded offences in 12 months, Scotland Yard figures show. The true figure is probably higher due to many crimes going unreported. Other hotspots were Bloomsbury, Holborn, Covent Garden, Shoreditch, Borough, London Bridge, Waterloo, South Bank, Camden Town, Regent's Park and Stratford. Rising levels of phone thefts have been reported in 217 London suburbs, or more than a third of the capital, since 2022. Most thefts occur in London, where gangs, often on electric bikes, grab devices out of unsuspecting pedestrian hands or pickpocket victims. Police say the crisis has escalated because organised gangs are selling stolen mobiles on the overseas black market or they are being stripped for parts, a crimewave worth more than £50 million a year. Officers urge people to keep to busy, well-lit streets or paths that CCTV is more likely to cover, and to keep valuables hidden in public. The Met was contacted for comment. A National Police Chiefs' Council spokeswoman said forces were 'committed to tackling personal robbery which can have a devastating impact on victims'. 'In some cases, there may not be enough information for police to act upon or bring about criminal proceedings,' she said. 'For these types of offences, police focus on targeting prolific offenders, organised crime networks and ensuring effective prevention measures are in place. We understand the disappointment felt by victims who do not get a quality service by the police or the outcomes they would want through the criminal justice system.' Apple and Google have various anti-theft initiatives to remote wipe and lock, find devices or require other identity checks to 'disrupt and discourage criminals from stealing phones'. • Police 'forced to deprioritise phone thefts and shoplifting' Apple said: 'We have been working on this issue from a hardware, software and customer support standpoint for more than the last decade.' This month Apple told MPs it was 'considering' how to prevent stolen devices working through its International Mobile Equipment Identity number. Google added: 'For years Android has invested in advanced theft protection features … to help prevent theft and block stolen devices.' Samsung said: 'We're in constant collaboration … to look at new and existing solutions to help combat this complex issue and ultimately help improve the safety of mobile phone users.'
