Phone theft at an all time high
These past years hundreds of people in the UK flock to the internet for advice about what to do about phone theft. The topic has become a constant sore on people’s minds, and rightly so.
Phone stolen and Phone theft (Google Trends UK, 2026)
Phone theft on the rise
(Met Police blitz to fight phone-snatching 'scourge', bbc, 2025)
The number of stolen phones has almost tripled in the last four years,from 28,609 in 2020, to 80,588 in 2024. Three-quarters of all the phones stolen in the UK are were taken in London.
(Met Police blitz to fight phone-snatching 'scourge', bbc, 2025)
Thanks to a 2026 FOI request to the Metropolitan polices we know that every 5 minutes a phone is stolen in London .
The police is overwhelmed
Out of those phones only 0.0008% of them are ever returned to their rightful owner. There is essentially little to no chance of you ever recovering what you have lost.
In recent years, more than half of all reported mobile phone thefts in London weren’t investigated at all by the Metropolitan Police
(Mobile phone thefts, commonslibrary.parliament, 2026).
More and more signs are popping up all across London warning people about the threat. The police can’t keep up with the growing number of cases. They ask that we defend ourselves, keep an eye out, and hold on tight.
(Tourist hot spot blasted for ‘normalizing theft’ with phone-snatching awareness campaign, foxnews, 2025)
Getting away with it
(Met Police blitz to fight phone-snatching 'scourge', bbc, 2025)
Phones are becoming more and more expensive with 4 digit prices often being reached in flagship models. The France journal confirmed that this represents more than a 50 millions pound black market industry in London alone. The thieves are stealing and having success doing so.
78% of stolen phones were reconnected to foreign networks, which means that the thieves don’t even need to strip the phones for parts, and instead just resell the phones to other buyers in other countries
(Phone giants under pressure to 'design out' thefts, thenationalnews, 2025).
Be a part of the change
If you are worried about your phone or other belongings being stolen, consider getting a Tether Sticker to secure them. It’s an all in one solution with a powerful automatic anti-theft alarm integrated with Bluetooth tracking.
