Mobile phone thefts

Background The law on phone theft

There is significant public concern over the prevalence of mobile phone theft, particularly ‘snatch thefts’, where perpetrators on bikes and mopeds steal mobile phones from people’s hands (often in busy urban areas).

The exact offence linked to the theft of a phone will depend upon the particular circumstances of the case, such as where the phone was taken from (for example on the street or inside someone’s home) and whether force was used.

The Theft Act 1968 provides for a range of theft-related offences. The basic definition of the offence of theft is set out in section 1:

A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it; and “thief” and “steal” shall be construed accordingly.

Other offences in the 1968 act could apply to mobile phone theft. For example, the use of force in committing theft could amount to the more serious offence of robbery. If someone stores or transports stolen items or helps to sell them on, they could also commit an offence of handling stolen goods.

Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) guidance Theft Act Offences provides a detailed overview of relevant offences under the 1968 act.

The Sentencing Council’s guidelines for theft-general and robbery -street and less sophisticated commercial sets out the process for determining the sentences for these offences.

How prevalent is phone theft?

According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales 2024, an estimated 78,000 people had phones or bags snatched from them on the street in the year ending March 2024.

This is equivalent to 200 ‘snatch thefts’ a day and is a 153% increase on the number of incidents in the year ending March 2023.

London is regarded as the “epicentre” of phone thefts with £50 million worth of phones reported stolen in London in 2024.

According to data obtained by The Independent, the Metropolitan Police dealt with more than three-quarters of all mobile phone thefts (64,244) in the year ending March 2024, followed by:

• Kent Police (1,722),
• South Yorkshire Police (1,577),
• Lancashire Police (1,467),
• Essex Police (1,383),
• West Yorkshire Police (1,256),
• City of London Police (1,314),
• Nottinghamshire Police (1,115), and
• Bedfordshire Police (1,022).

The data obtained by the Independent showed that forces covering large rural areas such as Cumbria and Gloucestershire recorded fewer incidents, with 210 and 34 mobile phone thefts logged.

What happens to stolen phones?

The National Crime Agency says stolen phones are disposed of overseas, including to China, Dubai, Algeria, Morocco, Romania, and Bulgaria. It also suggests some offenders will “access data contained within apps on stolen mobile phones in order to commit additional offences, such as theft from bank accounts.”

Reports published by the Mail Online and the Times state that organised crime groups pay people up to £200 per phone that they steal. Organised crime groups then ship the phones overseas where they are sold on or broken down into parts that can be sold or used for repairs.

It has been suggested that China is the preferred destination for stolen handsets, as China – unlike the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, India and countries in the EU – is not a member of the Central Equipment Identity Register (PDF), which is a global database that mobile networks use to block stolen devices.

Government action Safer Streets Mission

As part of its ‘safer streets mission’, the government is working to “crack down on theft and other crimes that make people feel unsafe in our communities, including strengthening neighbourhood policing […] and restoring public confidence.”

The ‘safer streets mission’ includes a “neighbourhood policing guarantee” so that “each neighbourhood will have named, contactable officers to tackle the issues facing their communities, helping to restore trust that policing is working to keep people safe and meaning no community feels ignored when they need help.” This will include dedicated teams who will spend their time on the beat with guaranteed police patrols in town centres and other hotspot areas at peak times.

Central to the guarantee, is the government’s commitment to put 13,000 additional police officers, PCSOs and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles. The government aims to have the additional 13,000 personnel in place by 2029.

Crime and Policing Bill

Currently, the police must apply to the court for a warrant to search premises and seize items as part of an investigation into suspected theft offences.

The government’s Crime and Policing Bill, which was introduced in February 2025, includes a measure that would give the police a new power to “enter a premises without a warrant to search for and seize stolen goods, such as phones located using GPS tracking technology.”

Section 12.1 of the Library briefing Crime and Policing Bill 2024-25 provides an overview of the proposals.

The bill completed its report stage in the House of Commons on 17 June 2025. The bill’s first reading took place in the House of Lords on 19 June 2025 and a date has not yet been announced for its second reading.

Mobile phone theft summit

In February 2025, the Home Secretary hosted a mobile phone theft summit to “drive new action to tackle mobile phone thefts and secure a collective effort to grip this criminality.”

The summit – which was attended by police leaders, the National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London and tech companies – discussed ways to break the business model of mobile thieves.

The Home Secretary urged all in attendance to “join forces” to “help design out and disincentivise phone theft, by making phones effectively worthless to criminals.”

The Home Secretary also called for a “much deeper dive on all available sources of data and intelligence” to build a “much more comprehensive diagnosis of the problems and scale of the criminal market, to drive joint solutions.”

It was agreed that the mobile phone theft summit would reconvene in three months’ time. There is no public record of the summit meeting again yet.

Police action

Police forces across England and Wales have launched a number of targeted operations in phone theft hotspot areas.

Operation Calibre

Coordinated by the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s (NPCC) personal robbery portfolio, Operation Calibre is a national week of action to tackle personal robbery, including phone theft.

Operation Calibre is comprised of local community events and prevention activities, including police forces increasing their visibility and operational activity in known hotspot areas.

30 police forces participated in 2023’s national week of action, with 428 people arrested, including 181 people who were wanted for personal robbery offences.

Operation Opal

Operation Opal is the national police intelligence unit that focuses on serious organised acquisitive crime.

In September 2024, it was announced that Operation Opal would “launch an intelligence probe to gather urgent intel on the criminals who steal mobile phones, and where these devices end up” to “provide a stronger picture of the stolen mobile phone market, and identify what more needs to be done to tackle the problem.”

Operation Swipe

The City of London Police launched Operation Swipe in January 2025 as part of its plan to tackle phone theft.

Operation Swipe increases police visibility in hot spots in London’s square mile, supported by “dedicated resources in the control room” who monitor CCTV to “deter, detect, apprehend and prevent phone snatching.”

Following the introduction of Operation Swipe, phone thefts in the first four months of 2025 in London’s square mile were down 30% compared to the first four months of 2024, with 213 phones reported stolen compared with 294 in the same period in the previous year.

In April 2025, the City of London Police launched a ‘fake blue plaque’ scheme to raise awareness of phone theft.

As part of the scheme, the City of London Police spray painted a large blue plaque on the pavement where phones have been stolen, to warn people to “look up, look out” for phone thieves.

Commander Umer Khan OBE, of the City of London Police, has said that the City of London Police will continue to “tackle phone snatching using all available tactics”:

We want the City to be a welcoming place of national and historic significance for visitors, workers and the people living here.

We also want it to be a hostile environment for anyone thinking of coming into the Square Mile to commit criminality. We will get you one way or another - and bring you to justice.

Metropolitan Police operation

The Metropolitan Police have conducted an operation specifically targetting phone thefts in London.

The operation has targeted hotspot areas, and involved the monitoring of CCTV and the use of traffic units and surge and rapid response teams who have high driving skills and can chase after thieves. The operation has been said to have contributed to a 27% decrease in phone thefts in November 2024 and a 43% decrease in December 2024.

During a week of co-ordinated action in February 2025, the Met seized 1,000 stolen phones and arrested 230 people for phone theft.

Criticisms of the police response to phone thefts

In August 2022, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services published a report into the police’s response to serious acquisitive crime (SAC), which includes personal robbery and theft from a person.

The report stated that the “current low positive outcome and charge rates for SAC are unacceptable and unsustainable” and that “too many offenders remain at liberty and most victims aren’t getting the justice they deserve.”

Data released in August 2024 revealed that almost half of all reported phone thefts in London in had not been taken forward for investigation by the Met recent years, with 52% of phone thefts “screened for further investigation” in 2023 and 51% of phone thefts “screened for further investigation” in 2022.

Victims of phone thefts in London have been critical of the police’s response, with some stating that “the police have not followed up on crimes or have dismissed them immediately” with others stating that the police’s response made it feel “like the case was closed before it was even opened.”

This has led to Detective Inspector Tom Rogerson, from the Met’s Violent Crime Task Force, to acknowledge that there has been a fall in the public’s trust in the Met’s ability to tackle phone thefts.

Industry action

Mobile network operators can take action at the network level to block phones that have been reported stolen. Manufacturers can implement device-level security features that allow users to remotely delete data from lost or stolen phones.

The government and mobile service providers signed the Telecommunications and Industry Crime Reduction Charter in 2015 (PDF). The UK’s four mobile network operators (EE, O2, Vodafone, and Three) made various commitments, including to:

• block handsets from accessing all four networks “as soon as practically possible” after they are reported stolen,
• undertake a programme of work to raise awareness of phone theft, provide advice to customers on what to do if their phone is stolen and to provide advice to customers on how to keep their devices and data secure, and
• work with other stakeholders (device and software developers) to encourage the inclusion of anti-theft measures.

Phone and technology companies have developed a number of new safety features in recent years, including:

• built in trackers such as Find My iPhone and Find My Device that enables people to track their phone if lost or stolen,
• a remote lock feature that can be used to lock a phone when it has been stolen to prevent the thief from accessing the phone, and
• phone sensors that identify when a thief has fled with a phone and can automatically lock the phone to prevent the thief from accessing the phone.

In September 2024, the Policing Minister, Dame Diana Johnson, stated that “phone companies must ensure that any stolen phones can be quickly, easily and permanently disabled, rather than re-registered for sale on the second-hand market.”

Following the mobile phone theft summit in February 2025, tech companies agreed to work with the police to improve anti-theft measures and make smartphones effectively worthless to criminals.

Criticisms of technology companies

Commander Owain Richards, who is leading the Metropolitan Police’s response to phone thefts, has said that whilst the police are making progress that more help is needed from technology companies:

We are seeing phone thefts on an industrial scale, fuelled by criminals making millions by being able to easily sell on stolen devices either here or abroad.

By intensifying our efforts we're catching more perpetrators and protecting people from having their phone stolen in the capital.

But we need help from partners and industry to do more.

That is why we're working with other agencies and government to tackle the organised criminality driving this trade and calling on tech companies to make stolen phones unusable.

Commander Richard Smith, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for Personal Robbery, has also called on industry partners to do more, stating:

[…] we know that we cannot arrest our way out of this problem. Manufacturers and the tech industry have an important role in reducing opportunities for criminals to benefit from the re-sale of stolen handsets.

After attending the mobile phone theft summit, Aleyne Johnson, Director of Government and External Relations, Samsung UK, said:

Samsung is deeply committed to working closely with the Home Office, Mayor’s Office, the Met Police and authorities in London on the issue of mobile phone theft and related crimes and are encouraged by collaborative discussions held at the Mobile Phone Theft Summit today, to look at existing and potential new solutions to help combat this complex issue and improve the safety of mobile phone users.

During the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee’s session on phone thefts in June 2025, Dame Chi Onwurah (Lab), the chair of the committee stated that “it's clear from the mood of the committee that we don't feel that either Google or Apple have a road plan to effective phone protection”. Another member of the committee, Kit Malthouse (Con), stated that “it feels to a lot of people that you're (technology companies) dragging your feet.”

Further reading

Commons Library research briefing CBP-10213, Crime and Policing Bill 2024-25, 6 March 2025, section 12.1

Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, Oral evidence: Phone theft, HC 882, 3 June 2025

Commons Library research briefing CBP-10281, Crime and Policing Bill 2024-25: Progress of the bill, 9 June 2025

Useful links

Recent debates and parliamentary questions about phone thefts are available on the parliamentary database.