Their Phones Were Stolen in London. Then the Threats Started.
By Amelia Nierenberg
“I know who you are and where you live,” read one, full of obscenities and typos. “I’ve killed or far less than a phone before,” it went on. “We will see if you value your life over this phone.”...
A record 81,000 phones were reoorted stolen in London in 2024, the year Mr. Pikula, 37, was visiting from Chicago. Even though that number fell to about 71,000 last year, the scourge of thefts — and the police’s struggle to stop it — has made both residents and tourists uneasy.
Last year, London’s main police force, the Metropolitan Police, started focusing more on international networks that ship stolen phones to China, where the devices are sold on the black market.
https://dnyuz.com/2026/05/23/their-phones-were-stolen-in-london-then-the-threats-started/