16/10/2025
In London, United Kingdom, a record 80,000 mobile phones were stolen last year in 2024, marking a sharp increase from 64,000 in 2023. This surge has made London known as the European hotspot for phone theft. Police data from March 2024 to February 2025 shows around 106,000 phones were reported stolen, but only a small fraction of perpetrators have been charged.
Most stolen devices are part of a large criminal operation that ships them abroad, primarily to China and Hong Kong. The thefts are often carried out by offenders on e-bikes, who use speed and surprise tactics, targeting both locals and tourists.
The Metropolitan Police have launched significant operations to combat this problem, including a recent crackdown that dismantled a gang responsible for nearly half of these thefts and recovered about 2,000 stolen phones from a single warehouse near Heathrow Airport.
Despite these efforts, mobile phone theft accounts for around 70% of all thefts in London, with approximately 13 phones stolen per hour in 2024.
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