Instant karma for phone snatcher after video call captures his face
A prolific smartphone thief has been identified after stealing a mobile while its owner was on a video call – allowing the owner to see the thief.
The victim had been walking in the Usaquen neighbourhood of Bogota, the capital of Colombia, on February 9 when their phone was snatched.
The video shows the suspect looking at the screen of the device after he stole it from its owner, who was waiting to cross the street at a pedestrian crossing.
The victim said: ‘He came by on a motorcycle and stole my phone. I had headphones on and I was able to say that I had been robbed.
‘I got home as quickly as possible to lock down all the confidential information I had on the device: my cards and everything else.’
Since the video was published, many other people have come forward saying they were victims of the same man.
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The suspect, despite wearing a motorcycle helmet, was pictured after the phone owner managed to record the call.
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There have been no updates as to whether the police have arrested anyone or not but local media reports say that there were over 129,000 thefts of this kind in Bogota in 2024.https://embed.acast.com/%24/35d3734f-1e29-4d0b-a646-15776be08249
Phone thefts are common in big cities – in London alone, some 78,000 people had phones or bags stolen from them on British streets as of March 2024.
That is a rise of more than 150% on the 31,000 ‘snatch thefts’ in the 12 months before, according to data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
Figures also show that four in five police investigations were closed before a suspect was even found and just 0.8% of ‘theft from the person’ complaints resulted in a charge.
Moment track athlete chases down phone thief and takes her mobile back on just another day in Wild West London
- Have YOU had your phone stolen in London? E-mail tom.lawrence@dailymail.co.uk
By TOM LAWRENCE, NEWS REPORTER
Published: 09:53 GMT, 19 January 2026 | Updated: 13:33 GMT, 19 January 2026
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A phone snatcher picked the wrong target after stealing a mobile from a track athlete while she was filming a TikTok in London.
Elizabeth Lopez Aguilar, 24, was filming in front of the London Eye while on holiday in the capital when a man snatched her phone from right in front of her.
The Texan was in London celebrating her boyfriend’s birthday and they were planning to see Hercules on the West End that evening.
Ms Aguilar was on Victoria Embankment when the theft occurred.
She set her phone up a few feet in front of her and had started speaking to the camera when the thief swooped in with the camera still rolling.
But the thief had no idea he had just targeted a track athlete, specialising in sprinting and long-distance running.
Within minutes, Ms Aguilar and her boyfriend, Abraham Tahtou, chased after him and retrieved the phone.
The sports enthusiast competes in sprint competitions and Olympic distance triathlons and is currently training for an Ironman.
‘I genuinely think the thief had no idea who he was messing with,’ Ms Aguilar said.
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Elizabeth Lopez Aguilar, 24, was filming a video on TikTok in London while on holiday from Texas
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Just seconds after she started filming a man appeared and swiped her phone from right in front of her
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The footage showed the thief running off with the phone before the footage cut out
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She added: ‘I immediately went into running mode and wouldn’t stop until the guy was caught.
‘At first I was laughing because I thought it was my boyfriend playing a prank.
Have YOU had your phone stolen in London?YesNo
‘But then I realised it was real. I was shocked but immediately kicked into full gear.’
Mr Tahtou also joined the chase, and together they were able to corner the thief and retrieve the phone.
However the couple decided against calling the police, leaving the phone snatcher free to roam the streets.
She said: ‘I thought it was a prank at first but immediately sprung into action and chased after him.
‘My boyfriend had also noticed and ran after him with me. We caught him quickly after I was able to grab his arm and take the phone back.
‘We didn’t pursue any additional legal action or call the police as the man did not fight back and immediately left once we recovered the phone.’
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Ms Aguilar pictured with her boyfriend Abraham Tahtou, who helped her catch the phone thief
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Ms Aguilar is just one of thousands of victims, including residents and tourists, who have been targeted by London’s phone snatchers.
Figures released by the Met in August showed 116,000 mobile phones were stolen in London last year, or 320 every single day.
There were 116,656 reported mobile thefts in 2024 – the highest number on record – and more than 50 per cent higher than the total in 2017 of just over 77,000.
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Sadiq Khan plans to raise London council tax by more than £20 a year to fight phone theft
Last year’s total was equivalent to 13 phones being stolen every hour – and it was 1,300 incidents higher than in the previous 12 months.
Despite the number of thefts, only 169 suspects were charged in the year, and seven were let off with a caution.
Police data also showed 61,000 of victims were female and just under 48,000 were male, with the remainder not recorded.
Londoners could now be forced to pick up the bill as Sir Sadiq Khan targets tax increases to try and battle phone thefts in the capital.
The mayor has proposed raising the average Band D bill by more than £20, meaning the amount of council tax the City Hall receives will exceed £500 per bill for the first time.
Sir Sadiq said he was taking the ‘difficult decision’ to raise council tax to ‘smash the phone theft gang’.
The amount of council tax City Hall receives for an average Band D property would increase from £490.38 in to £510.51 in 2026-27 under the new proposals.
The draft budget announced by Sir Sadiq will need to be approved by the London Assembly next month.
Campaigner Dr Lawrence Newport previously said London was in the midst of a ‘phone theft epidemic’.
He added: ‘Our politicians need to wake up to reality: they need to stop this epidemic, and push our justice system to catch, convict and imprison these career criminals.
‘Half of all crime is committed by just 10 per cent of offenders, meaning only a small number of career criminals are committing most phone thefts.’
