Phone snatching in London

[Letitrock]

Going to London next weekend and all I’m being warned about is phone snatching being rife.

We go a couple of times a year and I’ve never been particularly worried about this but a few colleagues have said it’s quite a problem now.

Is it worse than before? I often need to get my phone out as I approach a tube station to check the route and tap through the turnstile. Also I like snapping pics etc.

Is there something I can buy to kind of attach it to my body? 😂
Insights from Londoners please!

It is happening; not happened to me or anyone I know, but have seen it happen to others and seen the many videos. I would say it’s good to be careful/aware.

It’s people not being aware of their surroundings - holding up their phones to take photos of lights etc or walking along the street glued to their screens.
People come along on scooters or ebikes and snatch them out of their hands.
If it’s attached to you, it’s potentially going to drag you along with it or pull you over.

Just keep your phone in your pocket whilst you’re walking along the street and wait til you’re in a shop if you need to check it.

There’s a lot of videos, it’s pretty rife even though it’s never happened to me either.
It’s mostly in central and touristy spots.

I’ve seen it happen at a bus stop, someone was standing next to the road on their phone and a guy on an ebike snatched it as he went past.

Yes. I'm a Londoner and always use a small backpack or cross body bag. I don't carry a phone or payment card (neither of which I want snatched) in my hand, and this is the reason I've kept my oyster card all these years.

It was near Mount Pleasant so a little further away from the tube.

There are areas that are worse, I wouldn’t have my phone out at all on Oxford Street or around Mayfair to be honest.

I also don’t get it out around London Bridge station. Basically places with high footfall, bicycle lanes next to the pavements, and wide pavements they can come up onto on their bikes. Those are their preferred hunting grounds!! And seeing as our city planners keep
replicating these street designs I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

But walking around in say Peckham, I’m not more cautious than I’ve ever been.

Oh and if you need to check your phone in the street, walk to furthest side of the pavement from the road and stand with your back to the wall/shops, so
no one can come up behind you and you can see from
both sides in your peripheral vision.

Hmm, i stand right up against the wall with my body shielding the phone if I need to check something but you’re right I’d be unaware of someone approaching. Not sure which is best! What I do feels secure. 😁

My son has had his stolen a couple of times. Last time was on London Bridge - he was nearest road. It was a man on a bike - he says best not to pursue in case they have a knife. Most of his friends have had similar. He claims to see it all the time near Spitalfields.

When I go into London I am very careful with my phone and keep it in my bag

I have recently got a iPhone with face ID. Its now possible to make individual apps require face ID, so I’ve done that for all my email apps, amazon, notes etc - the banking and financial apps were already set to require it. But a chain is only as strong as the weakest link - this is if your phone is snatched unlocked, they have until whenever it locks to get in and change the passcode, from which I assume they can reset face ID, so the obvious thing to do is set it to the minimum i.e. 30 seconds in my case. There is stolen device protection which hopefully should prevent phone passcode change for an hour, but I’m not sure if it does that, so I prefer to assume it doesn’t. (It does protect the apple ID for an hour, I would prefer it to be more than that, but does it include my phone passcode? I don’t know) And make sure notification previews are only when unlocked, or they can see one time passcodes arriving to unlock apps. And make sure the action button on the side of the phone is set to something like torch or silent mode, don’t have it for airport mode like I did for a while until I realised it worked even if the phone isn’t locked. (I stuck a little post it note over the front camera to see what works without face ID ) But the main thing is to stop them getting hold of it in the first place. Don’t have it in your back pocket, mind you that’s the only jeans pocket it fits into, its ok just now as I’ve got my coat covering my back pocket but in summertime will have to resort to a lanyard under my jacket. Shouldn’t balaclavas be banned on city streets? Maybe they are already for all I know, these lowlife seem to be able to bypass all the restrictions the rest of us have to live with.

I don’t even live near London, just getting paranoid especially for trips to my nearest city.

@Sandinyourshoes you can put a screen time pin on your phone for pin code/Face ID and Apple ID accounts, all this stuff although there will be some that can crack it, it does give you more time as it's an extra layer

If I got my phone stolen on a trip to London it’s all very well saying do x and y to close it down, wipe it, etc. but I would have lost my phone and the only means of accessing the internet or ringing someone else to get them to do it! So I’d have to wait until I got home late that night to do it all. And no idea how I’d even get the train home as my tickets would be on my phone!

Well, the days of people going skipping off down the street with just their phone in their hand or back pocket are probably numbered

Pretty much came on to say this.

I try just be aware of the surroundings and when I do quickly check the map for directions, I'm off to the side, back against the wall and can see my left and right of arc.

Did witness a guy try steal a woman's bag outside the Tesco Express near Trafalgar Square back in September.

Just looking into the screen time pin thing… the trouble is, will I lock myself out of my own phone when it all gets too complicated to remember how to unlock it! While the fraudsters will no doubt be experts in hacking in anyway.

Saw a guy on a bike recently near kings cross station. Looked a bit dodgy and then cycled past a girl in front and tried to snatch her phone but she must have been holding tight as he didn't get it. I know quite a few people it has happened to as well. Just try and keep it away safe somewhere as much as possible.

The post above about Face ID on individual apps is what I’ve done, use it on email etc so they can’t get into your email for two factor authentication on other apps or to change passwords. Also use for text message and turn off notifications that would display any code on the screen. Obviously only mitigates the risk but worth doing.

Also use the sim lock functionality so that every time your phone is turned on it requires a sim password. I saw an article saying something about changing sims can crack passcodes as the phone is reset without any of the apps being removed. (Not fully sure of details!)

That happened to me - day trip to London from the north - and although I was a 10 minute walk from a police station they could not have been less interested. Would not let me use a phone to call my bank to shut down my apps. Bearing in mind how much investigative time a fraud would take I though this was both harsh and short sighted. I borrowed my friend's phone when i met her later, but that meant a 90min delay.

I have a cheap second-hand phone for Google maps and TfL stuff. And a physical Oyster card.

My main phone never leaves the hidden zipped pocket it lives in when I'm out and about in London.

That thought had crossed my mind

The two basic things to do on an iphone

are to stop someone using your own unlocked phone to change all your passwords

to do this set a screen time pin and lock face/finger recognition change

and then hide your banking apps, so you can only open the hidden apps with your face/finger

this means the thieves are unable to easily wipe your data before you can, or open your banking apps and change the passwords or move money

Sandinyourshoes

its a 4 number code - so obviously something you can remember and different from your passcode to enter your phone

Id suggest putting it in your death book - the book you have for relatives to access your phone and email in the event of your death

But you will not lock yourself out of your phone if you don't know this password - you can change it if you know your apple email and password - which you need anyway to set it up

Phone snatching is happening in sunny Bournemouth now too I've seen it happen! Lad on an e-scooter in a balaclava stole a 15 year olds phone at the shops.
I have to walk / get the bus so use a lanyard.

They throw them back if it’s an old phone.
Happening in Clerkenwell.