To think we will have to leave our phones at home

[Pippy2022]

Fraud and phone theft is becoming such a problem I think it will reach a point where it's safer to leave the smart phone at home, certainly when visiting a city like London.

Maybe smart phones will become such a risk - as in our lives are on them - we will stop using them and revert to bricks? Use tablets at home etc.

It’s about being sensible and being aware of how to reduce risk. Personally I keep my phone in my bag when walking in the street, don’t text or chat while walking and if I need to use google maps I do it discreetly and don’t walk along following the dot. On a similar vein I don’t walk down the street carrying a wedge of £20.00 notes in my hand.

Born and bred Londoner with an iPhone. Only time I’ve had a phone stolen was in Bangkok in 2016. Bit of common sense when using it - don’t stand on the edge of a pavement loosely holding it. And keeping it in a bag or pocket when not using it.

It doesn't seem to tell me how the thieves are managing to get access to the banking apps, and just says once they reach China if they can't access the phone they just recycle it? It confusingly mentions a website they're using to get the victims to enter details to get their phones back... but how do the hackers know the victims contact details to do that?? It's a bit confusing.

What are you on about?

My 'life' is not on my phone. IF they get in through the security codes and finger print they will at most have texts confirming Dr/Dentist appointments, my word cookie scores, a call log of random numbers (mostly spam), my husbands phone number and some family photos and at max might be able to get on my facebook.

Only thing you could defraud is the banking app and it needs multiple separate multi level verification to get into.

I have never in 27 years of phone ownership had a phone stolen. (DH has anxiety and constantly tells me off for wandering off and leaving it on restaurant/pub tables etc... while I pop to the bathroom, grab something etc... yet its NEVER been an issue).

Leaving a phone at home defeats the entire point of it.

Stealing phones has little to no value these days. All phones look alike weather £100 or £1000, all have security systems, many have trackers installed and the second hand market is over saturated.

Phishing scams. Not actually hacking anything.

Thieves will just cut the cord from behind

It isn't just tourists at all, anecdotally I know two people who work in an office in central London who have had their phones stolen when using them, one outside their office by a man on a moped.

Yes the population of London is big so set against that the chances are low but I wouldn't reference that statistic when looking at this risk as 'London' is a broad geographical area.

How are thieves carrying out phishing scams against the victims when they've stolen them at random off the street?
I just want to ensure my phone security is as tight as it can be, and it's not making sense that the thieves are accessing all the banking apps and draining them. I'm playing around on my iPhone and trying to change settings or security on my phone requires my face, but wondering if I'm missing something I need to be aware of.

Places are not going to tell you how exactly they are doing it, but it's like this.

Thats much harder to do than just snatching it out of someones hand. If someone has long hair, or is wearing a scarf, that is nearly impossible to achieve unless they properly attack you. And phone theft is not that kind of theft. It tends to be the quick, convenient, ride past you and swipe it from your hands.

Ive had my phone on a string for years, now. The cases I buy have the string and I just find it much more practical to have the phone around my neck than on my hand! Or in my bag!

As for the banking apps... Mine are all fingerprint protected, or 6/8 digit passcode or password. Not to mention all the freeze/disable phone things you can do.

Do you know how that enables them to get past face ID on the banking apps? Or does it let them reset the face ID within the iPhone itself? If the latter, is there a way at all to prevent your iPhone face ID being reset without some form of extra checking? I also note the iPhone says it has 'Stolen Device Protection' which prevents passwords and things from being changed for an hour, so if I managed to access the internet and set it to lost, will that then stop it from being hacked as above and close off access to the banking apps.

People's perception of risk is so odd.

The numbers given even by the scariest of scaremongers suggest that you will get your phone stolen less than once very 37,000 days that you spend in London.

Less than once every 100 years even if you never leave.

In fact it may be worse than you think.

My roommate at work had her phone stolen (abroad), and obviously wanted to try to reset all her banking details. However, she couldn’t do this because she was locked out of her gmail account for days (if not longer).

This is because gmail like most online email accounts uses two factor authentication on your registered phone if you try to log in on a new device (roommate was trying to use friend’s phone). So she was locked out of all her banking and her email too.

Or you get people who have the phone sticking out of their back pocket. They seem to have no idea that London is teeming with groups of thieves whose day's work is targeting people like them.

If you’re worried I’d advise not walking around with your face in your phone or waving it around. Keep it in a zipped inside pocket or a cross body bag. I can’t believe the amount of people I see with their phones hanging out their back trouser pocket.

It you could get a pocket sized London A-Z if you need a map to travel around London.

Or not it

The application level software you are talking about are systems that are loaded after all the subsystems are run from a firmware/bootloader level. If you can attack the device at a firmware (hardware chip) level then you can control manipulate any system above it.

I wouldn't rely on one device for everything you are asking for problems.

248/5,000,000 (or however many people with smart phones there in London on any given day) being stolen sounds like a pretty good statistic to me!

She referred to her group of 3-4 closest friends.

Shall I ask her to poll her wider circle for you?

This is a problem, many do have only a phone and also put bank apps on it for convenience but have no access on other devices which need to be registered as safe.

There are station like IL nearest one which have no station and no ticket office.

They can still buy on the train though not all staff are trained well enough to know that - my bit of UK in similar small stations they are already taking that away so you have to buy tickets on phones or well in advance and get the sent via mail.

There are bus tickets cheaper one that I can with one bus service only get on my phone.

I suspect this is much less an issue in London with Oyster cards - but still it is creeping in in some locations.

“You can’t get into any apps on my phone without my fingerprint”

Wrong.

Huh, I've only ever lost 1 phone in my life at the airport in Malaga in 2003. There are some irresponsible phone users who are completely oblivious to what's going on but they still don't deserve to be robbed.

I was in London last month, the only worry I had was if I'd have enough charge to get back on the coach. I'd more than likely loose a paper ticket.