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.

Phone theft in London is so common because so many people walk round paying zero attention to their surroundings, with their phone balanced in their hand using it in a busy space. It’s an opportunity crime, and there are SO many potential victims. The amount of times people just walk straight into you because they’re on their phone not looking where they’re going is insane.

And this is by no means intended as victim blaming, but I am saying that people make it very easy for these criminals.

Exactly easy pickings

If you have your lanyard under your clothes that obviously reduces the risk.

My phone was stolen in London this year and the security worked. Other than the device they didn't get anything. I did get lots of scam texts and calls trying to get my details in the months afterwards though.

One step would be to stop keeping them in your back pocket.

100%

People with their heads buried in their phones, AirPods on max, no idea where they are or what's going on

What they want is an open phone- so they want to snatch it while someone is using it so they can bypass security protections. They still shouldn't be able to get into any of my banking or payment apps though which are protected with fingerprint ID or password.

I do use mine on the street for directions sometimes but am on alert with my surroundings just in case.

And when my phone is playing music usually it's locked. It would be a right pain to lose it but not an insurmountable problem.

It’s a good idea to have a phone you can unlock with your face or fingerprint. That way even if it does get stolen it will be no use to anyone else.

I’m also surprised at the number of people who use phones and tablets without any form of protective case or cover.

This happened to my friend in Vancouver, she had a rucksack on with the waist strap fastened, but the robber was on a motorbike. She was dragged along the road and got a fractured spine and a head injury. It is difficult to know what to do for the best.

I am in my fifties and pretty wise! No, I will continue using my smartphone safely here in London and won’t leave it at home. Hope that’s ok with you.

Just don't walk around with your phone out? I work in London, I know one person who's had a phone stolen in the street.

Also my phone has my bus ticket, my train ticket, my work email so I can work on the train, and generally makes life easier. Why on earth would I leave it at home.

My son discovered he could unlock his friend's phone which had a facial recognition lock on it...technology is not infallible.

I got a new phone a couple of months ago. It cost £120 and runs all the apps I need (the 5G version is a bit more but I don't need 5G). If I drop it or lose it that will be annoying, but not nearly as annoying as an iPhone that costs 10 times as much. I'm always amused when I see people who need to replace their iPhone spending £400 on a four-year-old one.

I keep this phone in an old person's phone case (the kind that has a front cover, because old people like me still carry actual physical credit cards in the handy slots). So I like to imagine that it doesn't look like a posh phone. Maybe you can get covers with "this is a cheap Android phone" on them though. I'd like one of those.

The new phone also has a nifty feature whereby if you move it suddenly, it will lock. For example, if someone grabs it from you, that will set this feature off, and the phone can't be used until it's unlocked. So far I've set it off twice myself by pulling the phone out of my coat pocket "too quickly", so I know it works (I can unlock it in half a second with the fingerprint reader).

So if a thief did grab it, there's a good chance that they would drop it 200m away because they can't use it, or at least, not easily. I'm sure there are places that can unlock them for a fee, but it takes time, and the thief doesn't always have that. They know that the clock is ticking on the "Find My Phone" feature, both in terms of tracking them and also the owner "bricking" the phone from a distance. (Whatever your phone, you need to know how to track and brick it from another device.)

For what it's worth the phone is a Samsung A15, but I'm not looking to advertise it and I assume that many other modern phones have something like this feature.

Omg!

For some reason, I always think these are also the people doing six loads of laundry a day and washing towels after one use.

I’ve lived in London since mobiles first became popular & never had one stolen.

Keeping them in back pockets, or walking along holding them out, are both pretty stupid though. Put it somewhere out of the way & if you have to use it, stop somewhere or at least make sure you’re not on the outside of the pavement.

given the london stats above that would mean youve got a 1 in 40,000 chance of having your phone stolen.

That's awful. Your poor friend.

Is Op Louise Haigh?! 🤣

Highlighting risk is one thing, but thinking this risk is so severe as to mean that we should stop using phones or not take them out in public is an inappropriate and unnecessary response.

Around here, the police regularly point out that leaving keys near front door isn't a great idea dueto break ins and car theft. The answer is to keep keys further away from doors/windows, not to stop having a car.

Another Londoner here who has never had their phone stolen in 40 years of living here. The idea of "lawless London" does not fit with my experience at all.

Only until we go all borg-like and phones are linked to chips implanted in our hands 😂

How ridiculous, I live in London, always have, and my phone has never been stolen.

What do you think londoners do? 😂😂. I've lived here 15 years and never had my phone nicked. Just don't be an idiot.

The way people talk about it, you'd expect that people were being held at gun point for their phones everyday.

I've spent so much time in London and never once felt unsafe. I feel safer there than I do at home sometimes.