Overview

• London recorded about 80,000 smartphones stolen in 2024, up from 64,000 in 2023, costing victims and insurers an estimated £50 million to replace.
• The Metropolitan Police estimate 75 percent of stolen phones are exported to Algeria and China, with gangs using high-speed e-bikes and Faraday bags to evade tracking.
• Police analysis links mobile phone thefts to roughly half of all robberies in London and to 65–70 percent of knife crime driven by stolen-device raids.
• In the first two months of the new financial year, focused operations contributed to a 50 percent reduction in phone thefts and a 13 percent drop in robberies.
• Law enforcement is urging Apple and Google to disable stolen devices at the network or cloud level, while tech firms warn that overly broad blocking could invite fraud.