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Reports of theft and robbery on trains and at stations across Britain rose by 58% between 2018 and 2023, according to data from British Transport Police (BTP). London accounted for the majority of the incidents, but hotspots were also identified in Birmingham, Essex, Kent and Manchester. Convictions in relation to the 23,683 cases recorded in 2023 reached a positive outcome in only 2%. The high number of episodes in December was due to seasonal criminals using the cover of darkness to operate, said Superintendent John Loveless.
There were three main “gadget-grabbers tactics” used, according to the BTP. These included the ‘Plucker’, where a thief steals a phone from someone who has fallen asleep on a train, the ‘Grabber’, where a thief distracts someone then steals their phone, and ‘The Snatcher’, where a thief waits for the train to start moving before snatching a phone from someone’s hand as the doors close.
Thieves are now stealing phones not to sell them on, but to gain access to private information and bank accounts, said musician and actor Niall McNamee, who lost £21,000 from his accounts after his phone was stolen on the London underground. A thief removed the funds via Monzo after taking out a loan for £7,000 in McNamee’s name from HSBC. The thief then used the money to buy items from an Apple store. McNamee stated he noticed nothing until two days after the incident.
Labour MP for Stratford and Bow, Uma Kumaran, stated that phone theft and robbery was a serious problem. She said that “to the person it happens to…you feel like suddenly your whole life is taken off you.” The BBC found that the spate of crimes had led to the formation of police squads intended to catch phone snatchers. An arrested suspect had attempted to block the signal from an expensive phone by wrapping it in tinfoil
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