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.

You can on some phone put a sperate pin on certain apps with some phones- DD2 done it for her banking app - then there the pin needed for the banking app access.

Though if you had the banking app open already when phone taken none of that would help.

Honestly, there seems to be a fair amount of ignorance on here. It only takes one theft and your bank account can be drained and loans obtained. Phone doesn't have to be 'open'. Hope people wise up!

All my bank app use Face ID or a pin. Using Apple Pay is the same do even if my phone is open my bank can’t be accessed!

I love this! I'm definitely going to go back to (something like) my old Samsung clam or my old Nokia. Call, text (and Snake😆) only.
Fed up of being addicted to the smartphone.
Sadly I run a business so it's a necessary evil.

On average 248 were stolen EACH DAY in London in 2022

But that means ~8 million people didn't have their phones stolen. Or to put it another way, only 0.003% of phones were stolen.

This was also my experience in October in New York. Hundred of people following google maps holding their phones out in front of them. Saw not a single person robbed or heard a single comment about it.

Exactly, but let's not allow that to get in the way of a good old scaremongering thread 😉

So many casualties each year due to traffic collisions...
Let's go back to using horses and carts.

I hate to say it but when you stand in front of the closing doors on a train with your phone up in the air in full view completely oblivious to who is around you, you can’t be too surprised when it gets snatched out of your hand as the doors close. Take some personal responsibility for your valuables if they are that important to you. In this day and age when crime is so prolific you should keep your phone in your inside pocket on the train, not wave it about in full view of anyone who can snatch it from you and run off. I never understand these people who walk around the streets talking on their phones with it in full view and completely obvious to anyone around them. Stop making yourselves victims and wise up.

It’s even less than that if you add in the millions of daily visitors.

The person that steals it moves it on within minutes to people who can open your phone.

Thats because a lot of people leave them accessible. Walking with it in their hand, scrolling or texting away, oblivious to whats going on around. putting it in a back pocket or open coat pocket that can be picked

My phone is always in my bag or zipped pocket - but then I only use it if I need to

Maybe people should actually keep their phone in their pockets and hidden, not walking round holding it out in front on them and advertising the fact they have a phone to steal.

It may be wise to actually see what's going on around them and stop walking into people and walking into traffic, rather than being glued to the phones announcing their conversations to everyone on the street.

But thankfully iI live in the greenbelt (for now until Rayner bulldozes it all over) and phone thefts are pretty dam rare around here it's not a concrete jungle like london. Believe it or not OP despite what you may see in the media most of the country could not give a shit about the london bubble.

Honestly, there seems to be a fair amount of ignorance on here

Well you started it...

I've lived in London since 2004 and the only time I had my phone stolen was out of a locker at work. London is not some kind of a ghetto. I imagine most phones are being stolen from tourists and from people who leave them in their back pockets. Don't make your phone an easy target and you should be absolutely fine.

I live here
For fifteen years
Work in Central London

I've never had my phone nicked, but then I've never been stupid enough to walk down the street looking at it, or put it in an easily accessible pocket.

Just make sure it's secure in the bottom of your bag, or use a cross body handbag with the phone zipped away in an inner pocket.

The sensible thing to do is to keep you phone out of sight (ideally in a zipped inside pocket) and when you do need to use it, look around you first, think about where you are and move to a safer spot, eg not by the kerb.

The figures for snatch thefts and figures for phone thefts aren't synonyms btw

For example, as reported here (The Telegraph September 2024)
Thieves snatch more than 200 phones or bags every day in England and Wales

the figures are quite different to the ones you cite, and my supposition is that the BBC figures are higher because it includes types of theft other than snatching (the example they give is snatching, the picture however is pick pocketing, and of course phones may be taken in the course of other robberies, burglaries, muggings etc)

People are so stupid with their phones though.

Yesterday in Oxford street (London), a woman was STANDING in the middle of the road, staring at her phone.

What made her move?

The double decker bus BLARING its horn - it was literally right on her arse.

Made everyone jump, including thankfully, her.

This feels like one of those MN posts where someone is scared of their own shadow 😂

Okay so 90k instead of 58k

That's still tens of millions who don't have their phones stolen.

I work and live in London. Haven't had a phone stolen ever

Also live in London, I frequently have my phone in my hand in the street and never had an issue. I think maybe you are reading silly newspapers.

Being aware it's a risk and taking sensible precautions with belongings is always worth doing - weather that a phone, wallet, bag, cash or cards or even keys.

I'm not saying it's impossible for thieves to unlock phone pin/face lock - and the pin on banking app and then the bank log in - but it does cause delay and give you time to contact the bank and let them know there an issue with your account and to put flags your accounts.

I know DD1 few months into uni and DH both had phone charging issues - and then issue with two form authentication to limited their access to uni and work apps/pages as well. I'm not keen my bank forced me to use their app - I'm not keen bus company puts cheaper tickets on phones - but that where I am.

Pushing more and more onto phone isn't great and does add to risk - but they are useful and despite high levels of phone theft in London it's not so widespread it automatically means everyone with a phone will have a problem.

Honestly OP you're being paranoid. I have loved and worked in London my whole life and I don't know ANYONE who's had their phone stolen out of their hand EVER.
But I am sick to the back teeth of idiots who walk around town in slow motion looking at their phones slap bang in the middle of he pavement so they're holding everyone up. So i CAN see the benefit of not having phones out and about on London but it's not the one you're suggesting.

I live in London and work at a university. A huge number of students walk around holding their phones, looking at them as they walk. It's really not surprising that they get stolen, as they don't have much awareness of what's going on around them. I tend to keep my phone in my bag or pocket, my earphones read out messages to me but aren't completely noise cancelling so I can still hear what's going on around me. If I need to look at my phone I wait until I'm inside to do it. I started doing it as a way to reduce screentime but it's also safer that way. It shouldn't be necessary, but there are steps we can all take to make ourselves less vulnerable to opportunistic theft.