London is Cracking Down on Large-Scale Cell Phone Theft

Pat, a usually savvy friend from your corner of the world, was sitting in a quiet corner table with a friend in a bar in Spain; set it down on the table for a minute and while sitting there with it inches from her hand...grabbed and gone.

KD, so sorry. Wishing you better fortunes on future trips!

Pat, great article! Unfortunately, the link doesn't work if you don't have an NYT account. Here is a link to gift it - feel free to swap this one for your link above (notice it has the word "unlocked" in it. And always click on the gift-boxed link when you "gift" an article, FYI).

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/world/europe/london-police-phone-theft-china-gang.html?unlocked_article_code=1.tk8.c1eT.tSFZMX-R13_e&smid=url-share

I especially liked this remark, and it's so true!

“You wouldn’t count your money on the street,” said Lawrence Sherman, an emeritus criminology professor at the University of Cambridge. “But when the phone is worth £1,000, it’s like pulling £1,000 out of your wallet and looking at it as you walk.”

Mardee, I did all that, but whatever. I'll just indicate, "see below". Thanks , as always, for everything.

It's a decent article. I'm not sure why they mention Lime Bikes though. Those are SLOW! You're not making a quick getaway on a Lime bike.

I think it was just a confluence of things. The availability of very fast e-bikes, the way phone use has progressed to some people having one in their hand constantly, combined with high demand abroad for phones made for a perfect storm in London the last few years. This article is the evidence of the Met Police taking it seriously, as they seem to have been doing in the last nine months or a year. They are talking a good game about enforcement now anyway, and I think they are stopping and nicking people much more proactively than they have done in the past to be fair.

They have been quite slow to react I thought. I could have told them five years ago that anyone dropping several grand on a Sur Ron (like a small electric dirt bike) was doing it because the return on investment as far as crime goes is so good. The Met even have their own Sur Ron unit, as much for PR as anything else I'd guess, that you can see in this video (Youtube, 13m 36s).

I think all crime waves that happen in big cities fade after a while. I think we're on the tail end of phone theft, in Westminster and The City at least. I think it's become a whole lot less attractive for folk on bikes to come up into Westminster to steal phones in the last six months or so. The City is a total bust. They have a separate police force and they've come down really hard to the point of stopping people who shouldn't really be being stopped. I think The City has reduced this type of crime.

Between the Met's enforcement on phone theft, and there's less folk involved in pickpocketing around in London in the winter, it's probably a bit better than it was earlier this year.

“You wouldn’t count your money on the street,” said Lawrence Sherman, an emeritus criminology professor at the University of Cambridge. “But when the phone is worth £1,000, it’s like pulling £1,000 out of your wallet and looking at it as you walk.”

What a strange way of putting it. I wonder how Prof. Sherman looks at those who wear GBP1,500 Aquascutum raincoats and GBP50,000 Rolex wristwatches. Not to mention driving even GBP10,000 Fiat Pandas. All can be stolen, and all are essential tools in the eyes of their owners, though probably none so useful in 2025 as a smartphone.

Bottom line: it's a tool. One doesn't lock up one's tools if doing so prevents their use. Instead one secures insurance to cover the cost of replacement.

I sat outside tonight with a friend at a local Eastern European restaurant, and we read and discussed the article... until my phone rang and I knocked over a wine glass, reaching for it across the table. My friend quietly slid her phone off the table and into her lap. We looked at each other and laughed. Okay. Its not London .... yet.

Its not London .... yet.

Budapest will never be London.

It's good to hear that the police are starting to provide the resources to deal with this problem. I've seen a few articles on this and it seems to be rampant, especially in London but also in other cities in Europe. Hopefully they can dismantle and jail some of the criminal gangs behind this.

Especially when travelling my phone is always out-of-sight, either in a belt clip under my coat, in my travel vest or in a zippered pocket. I occasionally have to use Google Maps or take a few photos, but that's about the only time it's visible. I would never place it on a restaurant table!

Certainly keeping a phone zipped up in a pocket or in an otherwise secure place will help prevent its theft. It will also prevent ease of use.

Everyone needs to make their own risk management decisions, in this as in other aspects of travel (and for that matter, everyday life). For my own purposes, I'll continue to use my phone whenever and wherever I find it useful. But knowing that London is a particularly fraught place in which to do so is very important.

The concern now is that I am constantly pulling my phone for walking directions and use of a number of apps that help with subway and bus lines.

The apps have become so good that on my last few European trips I don’t even bother with paper maps anymore.

While I try to remain conscious of how I am holding my phone in order to prevent someone from grabbing it and never pull it out in crowded areas, I realize it wouldn’t take much to distract me in the busy streets.

For added insurance I plan to look for a method to tether my phone to my belt. If someone has suggestions with this please post.

Of course in Milan a couple of days ago I estimate 50% of people were on their phone. It was crazy.