Londoners are facing approximately 170 thefts of iPhone smartphones per day. A very popular theft method currently is the robbery of people that walk on the street by thieves on bicycles, according to figures from Scotland Yard.
Ellie Buchdahl, a 24 year old student, recounts how she fell victim of the robbery, leaving a restaurant in the evening. “I wrote a text message and came to a crosswalk. I stopped and looked for cars then started to cross the street, when a cyclist rode up in front of me,” she said. Rider pedaled away, but was followed by another one, who snatched the phone from her hand. Buchdahl ran after the thief and cried for help, but he was going too fast and could not be stopped. “I felt so stupid. I wasn’t physically hurt, but my pride was hurt,” she said.
The device cost is not the only issue: the access to personal data might be a bigger problem. Ellie Buchdahl had bought the smartphone only two weeks ago, since she managed to get a job as an online journalist, but she had no insurance on it and not even set a PIN to protect the data.
“On an iPhone you have everything – Twitter, Facebook, e-mail. I just sent an email to a friend who comes to visit and had given her my address. I was terrified at the thought that the thief could have my home address,” said the girl.
According to Scotland Yard, between April to September, 28,800 thefts of iPhones were recorded, representing about half of all mobile phones stolen in the UK capital – 56,680, or 337 per day, according to The Evening Standard.
The trend is also seen in the U.S., in New York, where the number of thefts of iPhones and iPads increased by 40%, according to police. Here, the police record the purchased devices, buyers name and contact details. In London, police received iPads with satellite tracking applications to help them recover the stolen phones.
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