Stolen iPhone. I Survived.

Dateline: Alpbach, 27th August 2024.Claer Barrett, writing about the theft of her mobile phone in the Financial Times, summarised our modern age succinctly. Look up and down any London street, she says, and you will see many, many people walking around with their phones unlocked in their hands despite the fact that the latest official figures (from our Office of National Statistics) show that over the last decade mobile phones have overtaken cash and payment cards as the items most often stolen from individuals in the United Kingdom.ShareIt Could Happen To YouAs it happens, I added to this statistical trend because my iPhone was stolen in London a few months ago. Now, given that my iPhone is my bank accounts, my payment cards, my loyalty cards, my event tickets and my everything else, what scared me most was losing my identity, not losing my money! As it happens, I saved both, thanks to some basic precautions.In the UK, mobile phone theft is more than a nuisance. Reported mobile phone thefts grew by a third in the year to January 2024 and losses from mobile banking fraud increased by 17% to £19 million in H1 of 2023, the highest recorded total, with average losses per customer of £2,314. A mobile phone is reported stolen in London every six minutes.The theft hot spot is Westminster, where almost a third of the thefts occur. In fact, that’s where mine was stolen. To cut a long story short, I got distracted by woman begging…Stolen iPhone. I Survived.