WATCH! This Aussie chased a snatcher in the ‘phone theft capital’

When Emma Van Der Hoek felt someone brush past her on a busy London street, she didn’t think much of it.

Seconds later, her phone was gone—and her life would take an unexpected turn.

What started as a simple theft soon turned into a viral moment that captured global attention and reignited debate over London’s phone crime epidemic.

From an ordinary stroll to an extraordinary stand

The Sydney-born expat had no idea she was being filmed when a thief snatched her mobile from her hands and vanished into the crowd.

But her CCTV footage—showing her running after the perpetrator—spread rapidly across social media, amassing more than six million views and turning her into an unlikely symbol of defiance.

‘In a way, I hope it's made more people aware and made more people stand up for themselves and stand up to phone thieves, because it's just become so normalised here,’ she said.

Her video went viral at a critical moment, as official figures revealed phone thefts in London hit 117,211 in 2024, up from 115,261 the previous year.

The city had earned the unwanted title of the world’s ‘phone theft capital.’

A turning point in the crackdown

Van Der Hoek’s viral story coincided with a major turning point in law enforcement.

In October 2025, London police dismantled a sophisticated criminal network accused of smuggling nearly 40,000 stolen phones from the UK to China—believed to be responsible for 40 per cent of all phone thefts in the capital.

The operation traced back to December 2024, when customs officers at Heathrow Airport seized around 1,000 iPhones bound for Hong Kong in an ‘unusual’ shipment.

By February 2025, coordinated raids led to 1,000 phones being recovered and 230 arrests made in a single week.

The results were immediate—phone theft and robbery fell by 13 per cent across London in the first quarter of 2025.

Why Australians are high-risk targets

The threat has become all too real for the 743,000 Australians who visited the UK in the year to July 2024.

Three-quarters of England and Wales’ 78,000 phone thefts by March 2024 took place in London, with hotspots like Westminster and central London recording the highest rates.

Westminster alone saw a staggering 71 per cent increase in reported cases—precisely where Australian tourists flock to landmarks such as Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.

Detective Chief Inspector Kevin Ives explained the risks: ‘Also, people's lives are on their phones, and the way these phones are stolen is that the thieves get access to banking details and other sensitive information. If someone steals a phone from someone's hand, then usually all the apps are open.’

Government data revealed that around £7,000 was defrauded from victims each day after such thefts, as criminals exploited access to banking, cryptocurrency and credit apps.

The hidden economy of stolen phones

Behind the street-level thefts lies a lucrative global trade.

Police reports show that local thieves earn between £200 and £300 per handset—roughly $400 to $600 AUD—while high-end iPhone 16 Pro Max models can fetch up to £5,000 overseas.

The crime is swift and calculated, often involving e-bike or scooter riders who snatch devices from pedestrians before slipping them into foil-lined ‘faraday bags’ to block tracking signals.

The government steps in

In February 2025, the Home Secretary convened a mobile phone theft summit with the National Crime Agency, police chiefs, tech companies and the Mayor of London.

Their shared goal was to ‘break the business model of mobile thieves’ and render stolen devices ‘effectively worthless to criminals.’

New legislation, the Crime and Policing Bill 2024–25, passed its House of Commons report stage in June, granting police expanded powers to recover stolen devices without a warrant.

Operation Swipe: new tactics, real results

Among the most promising efforts is Operation Swipe, launched by the City of London Police in January 2025.

It increases police visibility in high-risk areas with enhanced CCTV and proactive patrols to ‘deter, detect, apprehend and prevent phone snatching.’

Since the operation began, reported phone thefts in the City of London have dropped from 294 in early 2024 to 213 in the same period of 2025—a 30 per cent decline.

Tech companies join the fight

Mayor Sadiq Khan has urged mobile manufacturers to make stolen devices less attractive to thieves, commending Google for its latest anti-theft updates.

The industry is responding with stronger remote-locking systems, enhanced tracking tools and tougher reset restrictions—making stolen phones increasingly difficult to profit from.

The emotional aftermath

Despite the progress, the personal toll remains.

Van Der Hoek admitted that while she still enjoys life in London, the incident has changed her outlook.

‘Phones are replaceable, but what happened to me, them creeping up behind me and then just snatching it from me was quite scary, and I will probably think about it for a while,’ she said.

Her story mirrors that of countless Australian tourists caught off guard by how ‘normalised’ phone crime has become in London.

Looking forward

Commander Owain Richards, who leads the Metropolitan Police’s phone theft initiative, acknowledged the scale of the challenge.

‘It's an invasive and sometimes violent crime and we're committed to protecting Londoners and tackling this issue. We continue to use data and technology to build intelligence and track stolen items,’ he said.

While Van Der Hoek never got her phone back, her story sparked awareness that could save others from the same fate.

Her courage proved that even a single act of defiance can ripple across continents—and remind travellers everywhere to stay alert, stay prepared, and never underestimate the power of speaking out.

While phone thefts in London have made headlines, they’re not the only threat facing travellers abroad.

Across Europe, a new wave of scams is catching people off guard—often when they least expect it.

If you want to stay one step ahead of these cunning tricks, here’s another story worth reading.

Read more: Discover the new scam targeting travellers in Europe—are you too kind to notice?

Have you ever experienced phone theft while travelling overseas—and what safety habits do you follow to protect yourself?