Phone snatch victims in London are losing tens of thousands of pounds as the gangs responsible drain their bank accounts and go on luxury spending sprees, a court has heard. One man was robbed in central London and within hours the Apple ID and password on his phone had been changed as thieves went on a £22,000 spending spree including goods from Louis Vuitton.
Another victim’s phone was swiped at a house party and by the time he reported the theft, £25,000 had been taken from his bank account, Amazon purchases had been made, and someone was using his account at Harvey Nichols in Covent Garden. Inner London crown court heard another man’s phone was stolen in the street and his identity was used to hire a series of high-performance cars.
He was then deluged with parking tickets and speeding fines, while the culprits gave his name if they were collared by police. Judge Rosina Cottage KC identified phone muggings in Borough high street, Soho, and Stockwell as she sentenced three men with ties to a criminal gang which has stolen hundreds of thousands of pounds from victims over the course of a year.
Hermon Solomon, 25, admitted handling stolen goods and fraud after he was caught using a stolen phone and another man’s money to shop in Harvey Nichols within hours of the crime being committed. Jacob Raki, 23, admitted a series of allegations of handling stolen goods including a Louis Vuitton scarf, as well as a phone robbery and a count of attempted fraud.
Judge Cottage said Raki gave the name of one of the phone snatch victims when he was stopped three times for driving offences in high-performance rental cars. She said of the victim: “Money was stolen from his bank account, and he started receiving speeding fines and parking tickets for hire vehicles, including those hired by you (Raki).“.
Raki admitted direct involvement in a robbery where the victim’s Amazon account was accessed on his stolen phone, the password and ID were changed, and an online shopping spree was commenced. Judge Cottage said Raki was also tied to the fraudulent purchase of a television “within hours“ of a phone robbery.
A third defendant, Joseph Serry-Kamar, 18, admitted involvement in a phone robbery and possession of a lock knife in Borough high street. He also confessed to crashing a car into a police vehicle in Mansfield while driving without a licence or insurance, after leading officers on an 80mph chase as he sought to evade capture.
Judge Cottage said he ran red lights and drove at double the 40mph speed limit before ultimately crashing. She told the three defendants they each knew they were benefitting from the scourge of “terrifying“ phone snatch robberies, while “buying expensive designer gifts along the way“.
Scotland Yard said it has noticed an “emerging threat“ in phone snatch gangs – including this one – to convert stolen money into cryptocurrency to conceal the fraud. “This violent group were targeting members of the public in the West End and Clapham, using force and deception to steal their unlocked phones“, said Detective Sergeant Isabella Grotto.
“They then accessed the devices and harvested sensitive data, including financial information and cryptocurrency, which they used to defraud the victims. “Officers from the Cryptocurrency Investigation Team – the Met’s pioneering digital asset response – used communications, banking and cryptocurrency analysis to identify a large number of linked offences carried out by the group of suspects, ultimately arresting them and seizing a large number of mobile devices, receipts and fraudulently-purchased items.
“This evidence helped build a case, which fully illustrates the harm perpetrated by the offenders, who are believed to have stolen hundreds of thousands of pounds from their victims over a period of 12 months.“. The Met also put forward a series of security tips in case of falling victim to the scourge of phone snatch gangs, including promptly installing security updates, activating anti-theft features on handsets, securing online accounts and apps with strong passwords, and only storing sensitive or high-value information behind security features like passwords.
Solomon, who lives in Hulme, Manchester, was sentenced to 31 weeks in prison, but is set to be released immediately due to time served while waiting for the criminal case to finish. Raki, of Pembroke Road, Erith, was sentenced to 33 months in prison, with the judge describing his activities as a “one-man crime wave“.
She told him: “You only thought of personal and financial gain – you could be a benefit rather than a drain on society.“. Serry-Kamar, also from Erith, was sentenced to 24 months in a youth offenders’ institution. He was also banned from driving for two years and must pass an extended test to gain his licence.
