Overview

• Australian model Emma Van Der Hoek had her phone snatched for a second time in three months in broad daylight, with CCTV showing her chase a masked thief without success.
• Scotland Yard recorded 81,256 mobile phone crimes in 2023, marking a 20% rise from the previous year and the highest total on record.
• Organised gangs on electric bikes are behind most snatches in busy West End and St James’s Park districts, driving a £50 million annual black market for stolen devices.
• Metropolitan Police have deployed plain-clothes officers and stepped up patrols across more than 200 affected suburbs to disrupt theft rings.
• Fintech startup Nuke From Orbit has proposed a remote “kill switch” to disable stolen phones and freeze accounts, citing concerns that current security measures fall short.