London is the world’s ‘phone theft capital’, but one Aussie decides to fight back
In short:
About 116,000 phones were stolen in London last year, according to data published by non-government organisation Crush Crime.
The city has been dubbed the world’s “phone theft capital”, with criminals snatching phones out of people’s hands and selling them to organised crime syndicates.
What’s next?
London police say they’re increasing efforts to track down those responsible for the crimes.
Link copiedShare article
Emma Van Der Hoek was walking home, listening to music, texting a friend, when she felt someone brush up beside her.
“The next thing I know, he just snatched my phone out of my hand. It happened very fast,” she said.
“I didn’t clock what happened until a couple of seconds later.”
Ms Van Der Hoek had just moved to London from Sydney when in July she became the victim of a crime now rampant in her new home.
There are claims — including from non-aligned non-government organisation Crush Crime — that about 116,000 mobile phones were stolen in London last year, which equates to roughly one every five minutes.
While figures from the Metropolitan Police contend it is more like 80,000, either way, the numbers have seen London widely dubbed the world’s “phone theft capital”.
Detective Chief Inspector Kevin Ives oversees investigations for the City of London Police, a smaller force than the Met, which has jurisdiction over a compact 2.8-square-kilometre central borough.
“It’s a crime that’s grown in recent years. It’s not a small offence, it’s dangerous — people are travelling at high speed, snatching the phones out of people’s hands,” he said.
“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, so it means you can then steal all of the things that would be accessible on an open phone.”
Authorities say a new smartphone can be worth up to $400 on the black market, and that people who snatch the phones usually sell them on to organised crime syndicates.
From there, many mobiles can end up in China or North Africa.
Crush Crime has released data from the Met it says was obtained under Freedom of Information laws. It claims about 116,000 phones were stolen in London last year.
The group’s founder Lawrence Newport said: “We are in the midst of a phone theft epidemic, and our government is failing to act.”
‘We do lots of enforcement’: police
This week, London’s Metropolitan Police said they had cracked an international gang suspected of smuggling about 40,000 stolen mobiles into China from the United Kingdom in the past year alone.
Dozens of properties were raided as part of the sweeping operation, and 18 people were arrested.
Despite that significant blow, police in the city have faced criticism for not doing enough to track down stolen phones.
Detective Chief Inspector Ives said his officers took the offences seriously.
“We do lots of enforcement. We have our detectives trying to find these individuals, crashing down their doors at four o’clock in the morning, putting these people in prison where they belong and getting these phones back to their owners,” he said.
City of London Police provided the ABC with footage of police raiding the home of a phone theft syndicate member in the city centre last month.
After breaking down the door and searching through the apartment, police found several bags full of phones.
Detectives are using a variety of tactics to combat the thieves and said last week alone they recovered 3,000 phones, which they estimated cost the organised snatching gang more than $6 million.
Tourists are often prime targets, and police are running a public awareness campaign to warn visitors to the city about the looming threat.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated 743,000 Australians had visited the United Kingdom in the past 12 months to July 31.
While authorities are stepping up their efforts to catch phone thieves, the reality is the vast majority of stolen handsets are not returned.
After alerting the Metropolitan Police to her encounter with a phone snatcher, Ms Van Der Hoek was told there was nothing officers could do and the case was closed.
But she found another way to fight back and turned to social media, posting CCTV of the incident.
The video, which included her unsuccessfully chasing after the thief, sparked an overwhelming response.
Footage of her ordeal clocked up more than 6 million views on TikTok.
“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.
While Ms Van Der Hoek is still enjoying her life in London, theft has left her “on edge”.
“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.
‘Caught Stealing’ stuck in mediocre limbo Published 3:45 pm Friday, August 29, 2025 By Micheal Compton This image released by Sony Pictures Entertainment shows Zoë Kravitz, left, and Austin Butler in a scene from “Caught Stealing.” (Niko Tavernise/Sony Pictures Entertainment via AP) There is a lot going on in the new film “Caught Stealing,” but none of it seems to add up to much. Director Darren Aronofsky’s latest features a very talented cast, headlined by Austin Butler, and some promising source material from Charlie Huston’s novel (he also wrote the screenplay). Unfortunately, it’s a film that can never figure out what it wants to be. Is it a dark comedy with eccentric characters? Is it a pulpy crime thriller? Is it a character redemption story? The answer to all three is yes — and therein lies the problem with “Caught Stealing.” It has too much going on, but none of it really makes much of an impact. Trending Man pleads guilty in Lovers Lane crash BG man indicted in fatal Russellville Road wreck “Caught Stealing” takes place in New York in 1998, with Butler playing Hank — a bartender who at one time was a can’t-miss baseball prospect before a tragedy derailed his future. He still clings to baseball with daily conversations with his mom about the San Francisco Giants. Hank is in a relationship with Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), who is trying to get him to stop living in the past. One night Hank’s neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) asks him to watch his apartment and cat while he goes to London to visit his ailing father. The next day Russian mobsters show up looking for Russ, beating Hank severely in the process to see what he knows. Polls What is the biggest challenge facing Bowling Green? Vote Now View Results This is just the beginning of a series of criminals and police that show up looking for Russ and missing cash, convinced that Hank is his accomplice. Butler headlines a cast that includes a lot of talented people. Regina King as a cop, the musician Bad Bunny (billed by his real name Benito A Martínez Ocasio here) as Puerto Rican gangster and Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio Hasidic Jewish gangsters are among the supporting characters. At times these characters are played for laughs in a way that would suggest “Caught Stealing” is a dark comedy, but then there are moments of such extreme violence that it’s hard to find any humor in the material. Trending Warren County grand jury returns indictments Spartans earn first-ever win over Purples There is also a lot of time spent on Hank’s accident that derailed his potential baseball career. While the specifics come into play in the final act, it still feels wedged into the middle of a crime caper and completely out of place. The script also suffers from revealing its hand way too early (not that it is that hard to figure out the hand before it is actually revealed). Once all the cards are on the table, “Caught Stealing” just spins its wheels going from one forgettable chase to another. I really wanted to like “Caught Stealing,” but at the end of the day it proves to be too exhausting to enjoy – a film that never can figure out what it truly wants to be. If You Go “Caught Stealing” Starring: Austin Butler, Zoë Kravitz Directed by: Darren Aronofsky Rating: R for strong violent content, pervasive language, some sexuality/nudity and brief drug use. Playing at: Regal Bowling Green Stadium 12, Regal Greenwood Mall Stadium 10, Highland Cinemas (Glasgow) Grade: C
Austin Butler Recalls How He “Almost Cracked” a Rib During ‘Caught Stealing’ Fight Scene
The actor says director Darren Aronofsky “put me through the ringer on this film.”
By Carly ThomasPlus Icon
August 19, 2025 5:01pm
https://trinitymedia.ai/player/trinity-player.php?pageURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hollywoodreporter.com%2Fmovies%2Fmovie-news%2Faustin-butler-almost-cracked-rib-caught-stealing-1236348389%2F&contentHash=03a6d37ee99f9e019a0e1bac780ce9f5a1a5498e66d47c2e5f120c89e5515dd9&unitId=2900023281&userId=2113ce02-b530-4600-8c5c-978c4a7f8e61&isLegacyBrowser=false&version=20260119_32344ebfa817e00112b5e2264d7d479718961d21&useBunnyCDN=0&themeId=628&isMobile=0&unitType=tts-player&integrationType=web
Austin Butler is always committed to his stunts in movies and he’ll “just deal with the bruises later.”
During a recent interview with Men’s Health, the Oscar-nominated actor recalled how he “almost cracked” a rib while filming a fight scene for his new movie, Caught Stealing, directed by Darren Aronofsky.
“He [Aronofsky] put me through the ringer on this film. It’s a lot of running away from people chasing me with cars and getting beaten up repeatedly,” he said. “I get beaten up by these two Russians in this film. This one — Nikita [Kukushkin], who’s a short king — he’s got so much power. When he was kicking me, he didn’t want to kick me very hard. He felt bad and I kept telling him, ‘Just kick me. Just kick me harder.’”
Related Stories
Austin Butler in Talks to Star in ‘Miami Vice’ With Michael B. Jordan
Baz Luhrmann’s ‘EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert’ Lands Home at Neon, Universal for 2026 Release
However, after watching back some takes, Butler could tell his scene partner was still holding back as “it doesn’t look real.”
“So he starts really laying into me and kicking me hard,” the Dune: Part Two actor continued. “But then he had this idea of headbutting me in the side like a little ram or something. And he did it so hard it almost cracked my rib with his head. I was very impressed.”
Butler also recounted a scene where he was thrown on a table by his co-star, Bad Bunny, as well as the Russians.
“They had made a soft table that was made of some sort of foam,” he said. “Every time they would hit me on it, the whole thing would bow. And I’m not wearing anything, so you can’t hide pads anywhere. And Darren was like, ‘It looks fake.’ And so they said, ‘Just bring the wooden table.’”
That’s when “they just start slamming me onto this wooden table wearing nothing,” the Elvis actor continued. “It’s little things like that with the camera angles, you can’t use a stunt double. Did have an amazing stunt double, but for the most part, I’ll just say, ‘Yeah, let’s go. I’ll just deal with the bruises later.’”
Butler later joked that he felt “ridiculous” talking about his stunt work “when you have Tom Cruise doing what he does. I’m talking about being slammed into a table. Tom Cruise is hanging off an airplane. … He’s the peak. I’m so silly.”
Caught Stealing, which also stars Zoë Kravitz, follows former baseball player Hank Thompson, who unexpectedly finds himself entangled in a dangerous struggle for survival amidst the criminal underbelly of 1990s New York City. The film hits theaters on Aug. 29.
