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.

That's not possible.

This is a story on the BBC news app today about a man whose phone was stolen on the London Underground. He had facial recognition and pin security but the thief/fraudster managed to bypass this, empty the man’s bank account plus take out a loan for £7000, which he pocketed of course. Ironically the phone owner had already tried to get a loan with the same bank, HSBC, and was turned down. The bank can’t explain why they agreed the loan with the fraudster. Phone theft on trains has risen by 56% since last year apparently. So, food for thought🤔

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mobiles/steps-to-take-before-your-phone-is-stolen/

This is helpfu

I don’t think this is as common as you think. This has happened to anyone I know personally and I’ve not heard people talking about it beyond the media. But you do what you like

Don’t walk about outside while using the phone

They're also the people cowering in their bedrooms if there's a knock on the door and the people living their lives at home because they're convinced that other people make them sick by breathing in their vicinity.

@Cotonsugar the key here is to not be sat on the tube right next to the door with your phone out!

If you have bank notifications on your lock screen they can access your bank easily by getting them to send a code to the phone. Not sure exactly how they do it but I heard about it on a radio show.

Good for you! Glad it's made a difference.

How's anyone supposed to play Pokémon Go with a brick

Yes, you need to turn off notifications as they can view the code when it flashes up.

Completely agree with You

OP YABU
Born and bred in London and at 60 I have never had a phone stolen off Me.

What could be useful would be a 'two part' phone. So you have a screen that you hold but the main processing takes place on a small unit that you have in your pocket or bag. So if the screen is snatched they do not have access to the data etc.
Or is that how Apple watches work?

I know what you mean - phones waved around everywhere

Snatchers will go for the ‘softest’ looking targets. Not a reason to be careless, but there’s a good chance that if you’re keeping your phone out of sight and thinking about finding a safe enough spot when you need to use it, then there will be other easier targets around

Then there’s those of us who commute to London every day, walk about all the time and need a phone for work!

There’s been so much “London isn’t safe” (and it’s all Sadiq Khan’s fault) hyped up nonsense on SM, people think it’s some dystopian crime-ridden nightmare, not a normal city that’s much safer than a great many others. I’ve been lectured on X by people who have never been to London. Whenever a crime is reported they use it to imply that it’s happening at uniquely high rates.

Crime has fallen everywhere in the western world for the past 30 years. Nobody quite knows why. But the perception of crime has increased. That's much easier to explain (omnipresent media, looking for clicks).

Yeah. You can get safety cords for your phone. Saw a TikTok of a girl in London who had someone try to grab her phone and she had one

It’s really not that hard.

There’s been so much “London isn’t safe” (and it’s all Sadiq Khan’s fault) hyped up nonsense on SM

It's almost as if some people have something against Sadiq Khan personally, but I can't imagine what that might be.

There are plenty of easy targets around. There was a woman on the news this morning on the phone stealing report at the railway station wafting her phone around, the policeman gently told her to be careful

lol what should the people who work and live in London do? Don’t be silly. Keep your phone in a zipped pocket or cross body bag and they won’t have a chance. I see swarms and swarms of people every day wandering around obliviously with their faces glued to their phones. I could easily snatch a few every day if I wanted to. If you don’t behave carelessly you’ll be fine!

I had my phone snatched out of my hand in London by a guy on a bike last time I was there, so it is an issue but I do think I was unlucky.

My Mil had money stolen in London. We were in a crowded pub and bags kept being pulled back - I was brought up to be wary so kept mine very tightly with me - while MIL made fun of me. Next place she went in her bag and all her cash was gone - luckily she'd left cards at home. Months later I'm being told of this master mind pickpocket - Mil did nothing wrong in story - FIL had to tell me it was the incident I was there for - it bore no relations to actual events.

I'd learnt earlier to ignore people as few month prior I'd been talked into leaving a bad in an empty field with mate on field work trip - for short period as mate was exhausted and while I thought it a bad idea it was taking longer to argue - and it was a deserted field in view I thought. They were nicked - we did get them back via police but I'd canceled all my cards so was left with no access to money long distance from home.

MIL was recounting to barman one her mates stories - her bag wrapped round her leg under table yet stuff taken- someone piped up they'd been there woman had left her bag unattended on table for prolonged period when she went to chat to friends.

DH lost a case of a train - it was stolen case turned up expensive stuff was taken- he'd literally not check on it for entire journey and at other end when he saw a colleague - after first saying he was near the case. He's now worse than me for checking on cases and trying to stay near them.

Some people are spectacularly unlucky - but most have a lapse in judgement and get unlucky and then don't want to admit it because hindsight is 20/20.

sounds like he was shoulder surfed- i.e. thief watched him unlock his phone and memorised the pin before they stole it.

This is an overreaction. 248 a day is not many considering how many people are in London every day with their phones. The more obvious mitigation is for people to stop being dumb with their phones – stop leaving them out on table tops in cafes and restaurants, stop keeping them in your back pocket, don't leave your bag unzipped. Phones kept in stupid places will prompt most phone thefts.