Mobile phones snatched away from the UK are reportedly being found and sold 5,973 miles away from the country. Over the past four years, London has seen a sharp rise in mobile phone thefts and robberies—with nearly 231,000 cases reported to the Metropolitan Police, marking a threefold increase.
And a recent investigation revealed that of the 80,000 smartphones stolen in London, an estimated 5,600 – or 7 per cent – ended up in Hong Kong. Traders from various developing nations flock to Hung To Road to purchase used mobile phones in large quantities. One can easily get a used iPhone 16 Pro, the latest model, at £500, which will cost double in the UK.
In 2022, Dylan James was heading to work when a thief on an e-bike snatched his iPhone 11 Pro from his hand. Using Apple’s FindMy app, Mr James tracked the phone’s journey. Astonishingly, ten days later, it showed up at 42 Hung To Road in Kwun Tong—nearly 6,000 miles away.
Find My data shows that stolen phones often end up in places like Algeria, China, and Hong Kong. Due to its easy customs process and long-standing trade links, Hong Kong acts as a key hub in the resale chain. Merchants from various developing countries flock to Hung To Road to buy used phones in large quantities.
A thief who stole a locked iPhone 15 in London, for example, could sell it to an initial handler for about £100. This could then be sold on to a smuggler for £200, who will try to flog it to a reseller abroad for around £400, reports Mail Online.
Metropolitan Police Commander James Conway told Mail Online that phone theft is surging in London today because foreign demand has made it profitable again.
Scotland Yard has made it clear that, while it is ramping up enforcement, it cannot arrest its way out of the problem, reports the publication.
Police chiefs and ministers are calling on cloud providers – Apple and Google – to build a “kill switch” into smartphones that would stop them connecting to cloud services if reported stolen.