Met crackdown on gangs recruiting children to steal phones for money on Snapchat
Criminal gangs in the capital are using social media platform Snapchat to recruit children to steal the latest Apple iPhones for £380.
Advertisements offering cash rewards for stolen mobile phones of different models are seducing even 14-year-olds.
A Snapchat advert seen by police was offering £380 for the latest iPhone 16 Max model, £220 for the iPhone 15 and £20 for the iPhone 12. Thieves would also be rewarded with £100 bonuses if they managed to steal ten or more phones in one go. Guard.
The most expensive awards were given to the latest Apple phones because the Met believes they are less protected and therefore easier to ship abroad and reactivate to international markets in the Gulf and China. But Samsung phones were less expensive because they were more difficult to reactivate for use abroad.
Once stolen, the child thieves were told to message a “handler” on Snapchat to arrange the exchange.
In response to the growing problem, the Met Police are using drones to gather evidence, using Sur-Ron e-bikes to outpace fleeing criminals and using live facial recognition in its biggest crackdown to date against phone thefts. The Met is also expanding its e-bike fleet with 20 additional Sur‑Rons arriving in the coming months, and all riders are highly trained.
London is one of the most notorious cities in the UK to be attacked by phone thieves, and so the Met Police have targeted efforts to reduce mobile phone theft crimes in the city by 10,000 last year.
In the last four weeks alone, officers have arrested 248 people in connection with phone theft and seized around 770 stolen phones as part of intensified activity across London to identify and arrest suspects. A further 122 people were arrested for other crimes as part of the wider operation.
As a result, mobile phone theft crimes in London fell from 81,365 in 2024 to 71,391 last year; This means a decrease of approximately 12.3 percent.
Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: “We are relentlessly attacking phone thieves and dismantling organized crime networks at all levels, from pickpockets and phone snatchers operating on our streets, to executives profiting from their crimes and international networks exporting stolen phones abroad.”
Mr Rowley also called on manufacturers and tech companies to do more to stop criminals from resetting, reusing or reselling stolen phones, saying “police alone cannot solve this problem”.
He added: “We need the courts to play their part by preventing repeat offenders from being granted bail only to go out and reoffend, undermining the hard work officers do to keep communities safe.”
Commander Andrew Featherstone, the Met’s lead on tackling phone theft, said the new “tactics are paying off”, adding that “theft in hotspot areas such as the West End has already fallen by 30 per cent since April last year.”
Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan said: “Thanks to record funding from the City Hall, the Met is investing in cutting-edge technology to accelerate efforts to reduce and get tough on mobile phone crime.
“But we know there is still more to do, so as Mayor I will continue to prioritize neighborhood policing and push the mobile phone industry to go above and beyond to prevent stolen phones being used, sold and repurposed, building a safer London for everyone.”
A Snapchat spokesperson said: “Using Snapchat to organize and encourage any illegal activity, including theft, is strictly against our rules. If we detect this activity we will take action against the account.”
“We encourage people to report any illegal activity using our in-app reporting tools. We also continue to support law enforcement investigations to help keep this activity off our platform and bring criminals to justice.”
