Thieves snatched his phone in London, UK - it was in China a month later
Thieves snatched his phone in London, UK - it was in China a month later
Akara tells the BBC about the journey his phone took after it was snatched from his hands by thieves.
Early on a Saturday morning in April, Akara Etteh was checking his phone as he came out of Holborn tube station, in central London.
A moment later, it was in the hand of a thief on the back of an electric bike - Akara gave chase, but they got away.
He is just one victim of an estimated 78,000 "snatch thefts" in England and Wales in the year to March, a big increase on the previous 12 months. The prosecution rate for this offence is very low - the police say they are targeting the criminals responsible but cannot "arrest their way out of the problem". They also say manufacturers and tech firms have a bigger role to play.
[...]
Then, in May, just over a month after the theft, Akara checked Find My iPhone again - his prized possession was now on the other side of the world - in Shenzhen, China.
[..]
It is not uncommon for stolen phones to end up in Shenzhen - where if devices can't be unlocked and used again, they are disassembled for parts.
[...]
In the moments after Akara’s phone was stolen, he saw police officers on the street and he told them what had happened. Officers, he said, were aware of thieves doing a “loop of the area” to steal phones, and he was encouraged to report the offence online, which he did. A few days later, he was told by the Metropolitan Police via email the case was closed as “it is unlikely that we will be able to identify those responsible”.
"Police could not help" Funny that
42To be fair, what are they supposed to do? The phone will be handed off a bunch of times within hours of it being stolen. You are not getting your phone back unless the thieves are caught in the act.
24Go knock on the door of where the find my iphone shows up
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Their jobs
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the police say they are targeting the criminals responsible but cannot "arrest their way out of the problem". They also say manufacturers and tech firms have a bigger role to play.
Even though I fully expect the police here aren't doing as much as they could (I mean come on, are they expecting phones to come with wiimote hand straps?) , I'm at least glad their public rhetoric is that they can't "arrest their way out of the problem".
I imagine that's poor compensation when you've just had your phone snatched, however.
16"Manufacturers and tech companies have a bigger role to play"
Yeah Apple is already making the parts junk with the locking but it doesn't seem to help.
13If it makes economic sense to break them down for parts and locking doesn't stop it, I suppose that it might make sense to introduce security holes in phone cases, with a chain that links to a belt or similar.
Bonus -- if you're going to have a chain anyway, can maybe run a cable along it and have attached battery or other phone peripherals elsewhere on you that don't add to phone weight.
8I mean this isn't surprising to anybody. plenty of luxury cars stolen over here to get shipped to the middle east
6Not blaming the victim here, just glad I have different habits.
Stories like this make me glad I'm not one of those people glued to my phone 24/7.
It's way harder to snatch it when it's in your pocket.
But the fun of these stories is when someone writes an article about the thieves trying to scam the victim into giving up their codes. That's always amusing.
4Yeah, let’s blame the victim.
25Fair point.
Let me be perfectly clear that I think you should be able to look at your phone 24/7 without getting robbed.
Still glad I don't, though.
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Pickpockets have been a thing throughout all of human history. The key is to understand your surroundings and be aware of what you can do to minimize your risk.
But hey, continue to be a smug asshat who finds amusement in people being coerced by thieves.
14To be clear: I 100% think people should be able to enjoy their things without being robbed, public or no.
I'm not amused, just glad I have different habits.
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