Latest news with #phonetheft
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Apple and Google face calls to install 'kill switches' in mobile phones stolen by moped gangs to end resale market
Pressure is mounting on big tech companies to install remote 'kill switches' in mobile phones amid ongoing phone-theft epidemic. Senior Conservative politicians have urged the Labour Government to 'force' Apple and Google to end the criminal phone trade once and for all by rendering all stolen phones useless. Kill switches work by severing smartphones from the cloud once the devices have been reported to police as stolen. James Conway, who oversees Scotland Yard's phone-theft investigations, believes this will slash their market value on the black market, massively disincentivizing criminals from snatching them. This call to action comes after a Daily Mail investigation revealed that vulnerable youngsters are being groomed into stealing phones by county-lines gangs, which are then shipped abroad in bulk and sold around the world. Last night Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the Daily Mail: 'The Labour Government is presiding over a crime epidemic - with phone theft rife. 'Mobile phone companies should urgently implement 'Kill Switches' which prevent stolen phones from accessing the cloud globally. 'Google and Apple claim to have antitheft measures but these are clearly completely ineffective. This call to action comes after a Daily Mail investigation revealed that vulnerable youngsters are being groomed into stealing phones by county-lines gangs, which are then shipped abroad in bulk and sold around the world. 'If companies like Apple continue to refuse to do this voluntarily then the Government must urgently legislate to force them, by amending the Crime and Policing bill. 'Implementing a 'Kill Switch' is vital and the Government should legislate to compel big tech companies to do this if they're not going to do it voluntarily.' Meanwhile, Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, Alicia Kearns added: 'A remote kill switch would reclaim our streets and better protect us all from the plague of phone thieves in our cities. 'This is the sort of initiative phone companies should be introducing to better protect their customers and help tackle organised crime.' Some 80,000 phones are stolen in London every year, with around 80 per cent of this bounty ending up abroad. Across the entire United Kingdom, around 230 mobile phones are stolen every single day. Speaking to the Daily Mail last week, Commander James Conway, who oversees Scotland Yard's phone-theft investigations, explained that a 'kill switch' would ensure that a 'the [stolen device] wouldn't operate as a smartphone any more and would have next to zero value in that market.' In response to the growing phone-theft crisis several cyber security companies such as Nuke From Orbit have been established to make it easier for users to safeguard their accounts. Nuke From Orbit allows users to block access to multiple services and accounts simultaneously after the user's phone has been stolen. James O'Sullivan, CEO and Founder of Nuke From Orbit explained: 'As our lives become more reliant on mobile phones, the need to be able to disavow that device when stolen increases exponentially.' A spokesperson for Google said: 'Google's top priority is the safety of its users, and we are proud to bring constantly evolving, industry-leading security technologies to Android. 'Our freely available anti-theft features help users to protect their devices before, during, and after a theft. 'Users in locations at risk of phone theft can simply switch them on and stay protected.'
Daily Mail
03-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
My Revolut card was stolen in Benidorm... and they took out £1,450 cash: CRANE ON THE CASE
In May, I was on holiday in Benidorm when my phone was stolen out of my pocket. It had my Revolut bank card, which I use for free spending abroad, in the case. Whoever took the phone then used Apple Pay to transfer money from my Santander current account to Revolut. In the space of less than an hour, between 10:30pm and 11:30pm, they attempted to withdraw £2,950 at three different cash machines. Of this, £1,450 went through. I wasn't able to get my Revolut account frozen until four days after the card was stolen, as I didn't have my mobile phone to sign in to the app. I disputed the cash withdrawals and lodged a chargeback request but Revolut declined it. I wasn't given the chance to provide evidence or to speak to anyone. It said I was 'responsible for the transaction' and it wasn't fraudulent. B.B Helen Crane, This is Money's consumer champion, replies: Just as on busy high streets at home, thieves target bustling bars and beaches in holiday resorts in their quest to snatch phones. As I've reported before, these thieves aren't interested in the resale value of your mobile. They want to access your money apps and transfer out cash. You told me you feel silly to have left your card inside your phone case, but it's something plenty of us do. You also only had a few hundred pounds on it, as it was a secondary account used for holiday spending money. However, the thieves were able to use Apple Pay on your phone to transfer money from your main Santander account over to the Revolut card. It's unclear why some of the cash withdrawal attempts were declined. You reported the theft to Spanish police, but unfortunately money taken from an ATM is hard to trace. I'm often asked how it's possible for thieves to get into someone's phone, given they are normally protected by a passcode and facial recognition - as yours was. The answer is usually that the phone has been taken from their hand already unlocked, or that they have been 'shoulder surfed'. This means the criminal will observe you from a distance, usually in busy place like a bar, until they see you open your phone using the passcode. Once inside, they can turn off any facial or fingerprint recognition features. I urge anyone to look into features such as Apple's stolen device protection, and Android's theft detection lock, which can prevent this. Once you realised your phone was gone, you tried cancel your Sim card and block your Santander and Revolut accounts, using friends' phones. At this point you weren't aware the cash had gone missing, as you couldn't access your apps. It was still possible you may have simply lost the phone. Santander blocked your account when it received a phone call from the thief impersonating you - but Revolut was much more difficult and you didn't manage to freeze it until you returned home. Revolut is an online bank, and the only way for customers to contact it is to send a message through the app. Customer service can make outbound calls, but the number where you can speak to a real person isn't made available to users. It seems the attitude is, 'Don't call us, we'll call you.' It has an automated phone line to block cards, but you couldn't get this to work on holiday without access to the app and your phone. This line also can't connect you to a human agent. When I called, it said: 'If you are looking to speak to a human, then head over to our chat within the app.' You'd tried messaging here, but you said you thought the responses were from AI, and they weren't helpful. When you did get home, you initiated a chargeback with Revolut for the £1,450 - though this was also through an automated online process. After three days you received the response: 'After careful review, we found that your account activity around the time the transaction was made suggests that you're familiar with the charge. 'As a result, we can't treat this transaction as unauthorised or proceed with this claim.' This was on the basis that the thieves had used your Pin. You told me you thought they got this because they had been watching when you used the card at a bar earlier. You argued the transactions should have been blocked at the cashpoint, because it was a much larger amount than you had ever withdrawn on the card before. In the three months you'd had the account, you'd only spent £878 in total, and hardly any of this was taken out in cash. I contacted Revolut to see if it would be willing to reconsider, given how difficult it was for you to speak to someone and to suspend your account after the phone was stolen. It decided to look at your case again in June, and escalated this to the fraud team. It agreed to pay you back the £1,450 and also paid you £250 in compensation for the delay. However, it also emerged in my conversation with the bank that you had previously admitted to having the Pin for your Revolut card saved in the notes app in your phone. This used the same passcode as the one to get into your phone, which the thieves had. Storing the Pin in this way can be deemed 'gross negligence' by banks, and can mean that they are within their rights to decline your request for a refund, even if you have been defrauded. I understand it can be hard to keep on top of multitudinous Pins and passcodes, but this is truly an awful idea. We urge our customers to take care, remain vigilant to "shoulder surfers" and not store passcodes in unsecured places, for example their notes app There are various apps and tools that claim they can store such information securely, but in my opinion it's still not a good idea. If you really can't memorise the Pin, keep it at home, for example in a locked drawer, and definitely not anywhere near your phone or wallet. A Revolut spokeswoman said: 'We are very sorry to hear about B.B's case, or any instance where our customers are targeted by ruthless and highly sophisticated criminals. 'On further investigation of his case we have issued a full reimbursement for the stolen funds, in addition to a goodwill payment in recognition of the distress experienced in this case. 'Revolut works hard and invests heavily to protect and support customers. We have observed an increase in networks of criminals attempting to steal devices from unsuspecting individuals and we continue to take action to identify and prevent unauthorised access. 'As with all emerging threats, we urge our customers to take care, remain vigilant to "shoulder surfers" and encourage users to regularly update their passcodes, not to use the same passcode across multiple applications and not store passcodes in unsecured places, for example their notes app. I'm glad you've got your money back, and hope this serves as a warning to you and others to keep your details under lock and key. Movers stored my stuff in Bedfordshire, not London I put some things in storage from March 2023 until March 2025 after moving house. I used the company Jamvans because its website suggested my things would be kept in its London storage depot in Acton, near where I now lived. But in January 2024, I needed to get a coat out of storage to attend a funeral and was told my things were 40 miles away in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire. In the end, I didn't get a call back to confirm I could get access, even though I gave the required 48 hours, so I never got the coat. I also selected a 35sq ft storage unit when I booked, but when I collected my things the unit was split into two and the other half was locked, presumably containing someone else's things. A 20ft crate was a cheaper option, but I was told I should take the 35ft and JamVans would downgrade it if needed. I asked to be reimbursed for the difference in cost but Jamvans declined. After I threatened to go to the Furniture Ombudsman, Jamvans offered me £180 compensation and to move my things to Acton. I didn't accept as I think the real difference was more than £400. E.C, London Helen Crane replies: On its website Jamvans describes itself as a 'London moving and storage company' and has a list of nine areas it serves, all of which are in the capital. Its selling point is that it collects your belongings from your home, and takes them to the storage unit - ideal for people like you who don't have a car. It mentions the Houghton Regis location on its website, but this is described as the head office whereas Acton is the 'London storage depot'. I agree this strongly suggests your things will be stored within the M25. The Houghton Regis location was extremely inconvenient for you as you don't have a car, and it doesn't have a train station. While an hour drive from Acton, taking public transport would be a 2.5-hour mission requiring multiple tubes, trains and irregular buses. One route I checked on Google Maps required a 17-minute walk passing through some areas 'not suitable for walking'. Then there is the issue with the size of the unit you were given. At the time you booked, you told me Jamvans' website claimed that it would bring one of its storage 'pods' - essentially a large wooden box - to your home, so you could check the size you'd chosen was suitable. You opted for a larger size than you thought you needed, and say you were told that if it was too big, your unit could be downgraded and the bill adjusted accordingly. But you said there was no pod brought to your home, and your things went directly in the van. You therefore ended up paying for a 35ft unit which you only used half of. In the first year, you paid £949 and in the second this went up to £1,113. Based on your research a 20ft unit would have cost £770 and then £897, a difference of £395. However, you say you were also charged an extra £8.75 per week in January and February 2025 which you don't think was correct, meaning you could be owed more than £450. Sadly, I wasn't able to raise any of this with Jamvans because the company has completely ignored my attempts to get in touch. I contacted it via email and on the phone over a period of several months. I was able to speak to one person who said management would call me back, but they never did. While companies aren't always pleased to hear from me, this level of stonewalling is rare. When it does happen, I feel it raises concerns about how well the firm responds to its own customers. You are now planning to take the case to the Furniture Ombudsman, as well as exploring a dispute resolution service. Do let me know how it goes.
The Sun
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Bridgerton star reveals terrifying moment phone thief threatened to STAB her in cafe attack – before she tackled him
A BRIDGERTON star has revealed a phone thief threatened to stab her in a cafe attack before she bravely tackled him. Genevieve Chenneour was sitting in a Joe & The Juice in Kensington, South West London when the terrifying ordeal happened. 3 3 Zacariah Boulares snuck up behind the 27-year-old and swiped her phone on February 8. Genevieve - who plays Clara Livingston in the hit Netflix show - revealed that the "full on scrap" lasted for about five minutes. She pinned the 18-year-old thief to the floor but has now said he threatened to stab her. "I was threatened with being stabbed, so it became a matter of life and death," she told ITV. "I remember kicking him back with my leg to create space in case he had a weapon on him." She described it as a "life-changing, crazy moment". The star said the ordeal has left her feeling scared to venture outside and she has even left her home in the capital to take a "break" from the lawless city. Astonishing footage from police showed Genevieve grabbing Boulares' shoulder as she realised her phone had been taken. She then tackled the serial thief to the ground with the help of another customer. Genevieve managed to take her phone back from Boulares before repeatedly hitting him with it in the posh cafe. She previously claimed she suffered a concussion in the horror in February and said even her dog was "traumatised". The star added: "They didn't expect me to stand up for myself – but I did." Algerian national Boulares previously pleaded guilty to stealing the phone. The teen also admitted common assault against fellow Joe and the Juice customer Carlo Kurcishi, who had stepped in to help. Boulares pleaded guilty to a separate charge of theft after he swiped a black leather hand bag from a diner at a pizza restaurant. The court heard he has 12 previous convictions for a total of 28 offences - all relating to theft. His rap sheet includes threatening to cut off Aled Jones' arm while stealing his £17,000 Rolex. The Songs of Praise presenter, 52, was out with his son Lucas when he was targeted near their home in Chiswick, South West London. Boulares - then aged 16 - pulled out 20 inch machete and repeatedly threatened Aled in a bid to steal the luxury timepiece. He told him: "Give me your f***king Rolex or I will cut your arm off." Aled handed over the £17,000 Rolex Daytona watch rather than fight with the armed robber. He and his son bravely followed the 6ft teen but when he spotted them, he snarled: "Walk the other way or I will cut your head off." Boulares was given a two year training and detention order after pleading guilty to robbery at Ealing Youth Court. But he was released from youth detention early after serving just 14 months of his 24-month sentence. He will be sentenced for robbing Genevieve on June 17 at Isleworth Crown Court. 3
Daily Mail
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Bridgerton actress who fought off phone thief reveals she has been driven out of London after seven years and is terrified to leave the house after attacker threatened to STAB her in 'life or death' brawl
The Bridgerton actress who fought off a phone thief has revealed he threatened to stab her in a 'life or death' brawl that left her terrified to leave the house - and live in London. Genevieve Chenneour, 27, bravely defended herself after Zacariah Boulares, 18, snuck up behind her and grabbed her phone in Joe & The Juice on Kensington High Street, west London, on February 8. MailOnline exclusively revealed yesterday CCTV footage of the shocking attack on the rising star at the upmarket coffee shop. The British actress is known as rumour-monger Clara Livingston in Netflix period drama Bridgerton. Now, Genevieve has spoken out about her terrifying ordeal, appearing on ITV chat show This Morning to discuss it with presenters Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. MailOnline exclusively revealed yesterday CCTV footage (pictured) of the shocking attack on the rising star at the upmarket coffee shop She told Ben, 50, and Cat, 48, the whole incident lasted around five minutes in total, with her pinning her attacker to the floor for much of that time. Genevieve explained: 'It kind of went round the corner and it turned into a full-on scrap with two people [Boulares and his accomplice]. 'And I was threatened with being stabbed so it became a real matter, in my mind, of life and death. 'So, I did things like, I remember kicking him back with my leg to create space in case he had a weapon on him… It was just a life-changing, crazy moment.' The star admitted the horrifying experience left her terrified in the immediate aftermath: 'I didn't want to go outside. 'I mean as a woman we already, I think, have our wits about us around strangers and random men. 'So, to have this happen to me while dealing with that base level that a lot of women have, just made me quite agoraphobic. Leaving the house was really hard.' It scared her to the extent that she has left her home in London, after years of living in the capital: 'I've actually taken a bit of a break from London… Genievieve explained: 'I was threatened with being stabbed so it became a real matter, in my mind, of life and death' 'I've been here for seven years, working, auditioning, acting, just to kind of have a bit of a reset because it really did affect my confidence. 'Going out the first time [after the incident], I remember standing in a queue and just my hands were sweating and I was so vigilant and aware of my surroundings. 'So yeah, just kind of trying to feel calmer.' The clip shows her bravely confronting her attacker: 'I don't know if I would advise anybody else to do it. 'I think I have very quick reactions, thanks to having three brothers growing up and I'm an aviated carded boxer. 'I think it just was an instinct, I also do a lot of fight training for work and acting… 'I thought that was a normal reaction and I read all the comments [online] and realised, actually, a lot of people would just let them take the phone.' Around 18 months before the attack on Genevieve, Boulares threatened to behead Aled Jones with a machete as he stole his £17,000 Rolex in Chiswick, west London. The thief, then 16, was locked up for his attack on the Welsh singer in October 2023. But he was released from youth detention early after serving just 14 months of his 24-month sentence. Boulares, who can now be named and pictured after turning 18, has gone on to commit a spate of crimes, including robbing Genevieve. The thug's extensive criminal history - 12 previous convictions relating to 28 offences - was laid bare after he pleaded guilty on May 29 to stealing her phone and assaulting another customer, Carlo Kurcishi. Genevieve said she had been in contact with Aled to discuss their shared experiences with Boulares. And she explained the attack on her happened in milliseconds: 'I had a bit of a sixth sense that something wasn't quite right, as woman you have that kind of intuition. 'And I could feel people moving around me in a different way but I only became aware of it once the incident had happened. 'I did feel they were going back and forth trying to find a target, so they chose me.' She explained the attack on her happened in milliseconds: 'I had a bit of a sixth sense that something wasn't quite right, as woman you have that kind of intuition' Genevieve (pictured last year) said she had been in contact with Aled to discuss their shared experiences with Boulares Genevieve has since spoken to other victims of phone theft, who have told her they felt the same anxiety as her after their experience. 'It opened up so many conversations with people that I know and don't know and I've been really made aware of how many people are living with that anxiety', she explained. 'Men that have had their phone stolen and women. I can only talk from a woman's perspective but I do know that men are dealing with that same level of anxiety.' With mobile phone theft in general on the rise, former Chief Superintendent Parm Sandu joined Genevieve on the sofa to advise people how to react if they find themselves victims of a similar crime. 'Genevieve was very brave and I commend her for that but I would not recommend anybody, anybody fights back. It just isn't worth it', she said. Parm continued: 'You don't know what these people are carrying. They could have a knife, they could have a syringe, they could have any other weapon that they can use on you. 'And if you are the person who's standing between them and their freedom, they are going to kick, punch, use anything that's around them to try and escape and evade that capture.' The former officer explained it is not just the physical handset at stake in a phone theft - but all your banking and identity data that might be stored on it too. She gave viewers some tips, first recommending a mobile phone case with a strap on: 'If you've got a strap around your wrist as well, it's harder for them to snatch it and run.' Every device, Parm explained, has an IMEI number, a unique serial number. She advised people to find out what their number is and make a record of it in case of a theft for easier tracking of the device by police. 'If your phone is taken, report it straightway to your service provider', she advised, as well as contacting your bank. 'And if you can get onto a laptop and you've got Find My Phone, you can deactivate your phone, you can erase your personal data straight away.' Reporting it to police is always advisable too, as it notifies them - and the public - the area is a hotspot for crime, leading them to allocate resources there: 'It will create a reaction from the local police.'
The Guardian
03-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
MP accuses Apple and Google of profiting from stolen phones
Martin Wrigley, a Liberal Democrat member of the UK parliament's technology committee has accused Apple and Google of profiting from phone-snatching operations. Representatives from Apple and Google were addressing the committee, where Wrigley said: 'Apple and Google continue to make profit and continue to sell more phones because these phones are not removed from the system'
