Get the latest tech news
‘They rob you visibly, with no repercussions’ – the unstoppable rise of phone theft
Snatch thefts of mobile phones soared by 150% in the last year, with victims left unable to work, use their bank, travel or use their diaries. Why are police finding it so hard to stop?
They are a form of safety and comfort for people but taking someone’s device robs them of that security.” For Tian, there was weeks of work on her phone – notes for her standup, edited videos for her Instagram feed, all her contacts with bookers, all her connections to home, her Apple Pay, her banking details, her diary, never mind she didn’t know where she was. “That’s the intelligence gap we need support with, both from our own teams and from victims.” As part of a , the government is launching a nationwide probe into the stolen phone market, and is planning a summit with manufacturers and tech companies to develop new anti-theft measures. This epidemic of phone-snatching can only really be produced by awful wealth disparity, the unmanageable hugeness – he’ll have already vanished, once he’s out of the station he’s gone for ever – the weird atomisation of everybody living there which basically means that people can rob very visibly with no repercussions.”
Or read this on r/technology