Phone snatchings have increased by 150% year-on-year in London.
The criminals equip themselves with electric bikes to escape as quickly as possible.
The police most often fail to arrest them.
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It only takes a few seconds for these criminals to steal a phone. Installed on electric bikes day and night, they manage to snatch their loot and then leave very quickly, leaving their victim no chance, as shown in the TF1 news report at the top of this article. In London, these thefts have seen an explosion of 150% in one year.
This phenomenon worries the inhabitants of the English capital. “You really have to be careful, especially on Oxford Street. If you are on your phone, you have to look carefully to see if there are people around you”recommends a man. “They are often motorized two-wheelers because then they can leave very quickly without us being able to react”confirms a woman at the microphone of TF1.
Tourists, prime targets for thieves
Tourists are also affected. “We try to be careful when we take out the phone, to always put it away, never take it out in transport. But we always need it to know where we are going”testifies a French woman visiting London.
For ten years, these flights have never been so numerous because demand on the second-hand market is very strong. Maud, an expatriate, had her cell phone stolen while she was quietly sitting in a park. She remembers the scene: “I saw a hand go by, grab my phone and leave. I jumped off the bench, I ran after them shouting 'They're thieves'. But both of them were on electric bikes so really they were going quickly.”
Make stolen phones “unusable”?
As in 99% of cases, the perpetrators will never be arrested. “Hood, glasses, gloves, no silhouette, in a park where there is no camera… There is little chance that we will be able to identify them”laments Maud.
Faced with a lack of police resources, the British government is turning to phone manufacturers. According to cybersecurity expert Eleanor Dallaway, this strategy can be effective because “We need to find a way to erase phones instantly and make them completely unusable. Criminals would then no longer be able to resell them”.
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Another solution that could slow down the explosion of these thefts: prevent bicycles from being unrestrained. By tinkering with the engine, thieves can drive faster than the speed limits.
