londoners 'living in fear' of phone thefts as more than 116,000 snatched

You’re walking down the street,checking who’s just Whatsapped you and – whoosh – it’s gone.

For a second you don’t quite realise what’s happened. You see the dark figure on an e-bike zoom off and,just for a second,you contemplate running after them.

But then it dawns on you – your mobile phone has gone.

What’s worse,it’s still open and you are powerless to stop them from reading through your messages,going into your emails,finding out all about you on Facebook,Instagram and all those dating apps.

They’ve got the keys to your life,your inner thoughts and some of your most personal data.

With 300 mobile phones stolen every day in London alone,it’s a feeling that is being experienced by record numbers of people.

James Keegan is one of those people who was mugged at knifepoint for his phone in March.

He initially felt powerless when he was approached by two people on bikes near Camden Road station.

But then came the impact of the trauma of what had happened. In the fallout he realised how dependent he had become on his phone.

Phone snatchings are becoming more and more prevalent as criminals profit from overseas sales (Picture: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire)

James said: ‘My whole life was on pause as I was locked out of my bank,email and social media. It simply isn’t possible to function in a society without [a phone] anymore.’

Eleanor’s ordeal happened in Westminster,where thefts have surged to the highest levels anywhere in London,turning a night out into a moment of anxiety.

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She sought comfort among her friends,but began to feel vulnerable on her journey home.

She said: ‘Being a young woman and it being dark by the time I left the party,I knew that if something happened to me,I had no way of contacting anyone if I needed help.

‘In the end,I had to go the whole evening without a phone,but I at least managed to get myself home in one piece.’

The motivator for these thefts is simple: Money.

Gangs can get as much as £300 for a handset which is then sold in China with iPhones fetching as much as £3,700.

Phone snatchers often use e-bikes to make quick getaways (Picture: Met Police)

Describing how they operate,criminologist Simon Harding from the National Centre for Gangs Research said: ‘What these boys will do is bury the phones [they have stolen] in a rucksack,leave them for a week until they ring off.

‘If a phone can be stolen when open and active,then all the data can be taken. That’s very important these days; that’s why the phone snatchers are very popular as opposed to phone thefts.’

He added that it was a ‘very disturbing and dramatic intrusion’ into people’s personal lives.

The Met Police this month carried out a series of raids,recovering around 3,000 devices across north London and at Heathrow Airport.

That operation,nicknamed Operation Echosteep,is believed to have smashed a global smuggling gang that sent 40,000 stolen phones out of the UK last year.

But for victims like mother-of-two Patcharin Wongsatien,not enough is being done.

Her phone was snatched when a gang cornered her on a quiet street in Islington.

She said: ‘There were two boys on a bike and two other boys waiting on top of the road,that’s why I let go of my phone because I tried to hold on,but then saw the other two were coming as well.

‘I was shaken and shocked so I called the police but they were not very helpful – they said many phones were stolen and it happens all the time.’

As police continue to target organised gangs,many Londoners feel let down and anxious about the simple act of holding a phone in public.

For James,Eleanor,Patcharin,and thousands like them,the challenge isn’t just about replacing a stolen device; it’s about regaining confidence on London’s streets.