Thread

My phone detects going on a run as “someone snatching my phone and running off”

75 points · 135 comments · luu

Waterluvian · 1786041461 · focus · HN ↗
Is "snatching a phone and running off" a common enough problem in some regions that this is worth having? Or is this a feature chasing after fears of the bogeyman, leading to concrete inconveniences like this?
1. hbn · 1786041524 · focus · HN ↗
  > Is "snatching a phone and running off" a common enough problem in some regions that this is worth having?
  Yes absolutely
  <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/phone-london-snatch-9.7204104" rel="nofollow">https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/phone-london-snatch-9.7204104
  1. Waterluvian · 1786041776 · focus · HN ↗
    Thanks! Given this was CBC, my jaw hit the floor when I saw London. I live 20 mins from London, Ontario and 70k thefts in a year would be _insane_. Then I realized it was about London, U.K. and my jaw only hit the table. 70k is still insane, though.
    skobes · 1786042706 · focus · HN ↗
    Even the CBC thinks of London, England before London, Ontario.
    Waterluvian · 1786043076 · focus · HN ↗
    Poor London. (Ontario.) (Canada.)
    clort · 1786043086 · focus · HN ↗
    Is it really insane? That is less than 200 per day, in a city of 15 million people.. a single gang of 20 thieves could likely manage that! The real question is, how does this compare to other cities of this size and demographics?
    iamnothere · 1786045415 · focus · HN ↗
    Why compare demographics?
    pavel_lishin · 1786047836 · focus · HN ↗
    I would expect a city that's mostly retirement communities to have less snatch-and-run thefts than a city where tourists make up a large part of the population at any given time.
    aliclark · 1786048609 · focus · HN ↗
    Retired people a probably quite easy targets in this scenario.
    iamnothere · 1786048776 · focus · HN ↗
    [delayed]
    Melatonic · 1786057457 · focus · HN ↗
    [delayed]
    iamnothere · 1786058449 · focus · HN ↗
    In Beijing robberies are 0.55 per 1,000. In Taipei it’s an unbelievable 0.0036 per 1,000, although general theft is higher 2.12). Are all these countries underreporting?
    Singapore is 0.01 per 1,000. Hanoi doesn’t have published statistics but its Numbeo crime index (calculated from surveys) is 28.71 versus London at 55.22.
    I think we can stop excusing London’s numbers.
    Want a non-Asian country in case Asians are somehow magical beings who don’t commit crime? Ottawa is 0.11 to 0.13 per 1,000. Vancouver is 0.73 per 1,000. Sydney is 0.13 to 0.15 per 1,000. Dubai is 0.03 to 0.045 per 1,000.
    London is supposed to be a global city on par with many of these others. So what is going wrong?
    frereubu · 1786044585 · focus · HN ↗
    The number is too high, but dropping: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdx4762znr6o" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdx4762znr6o
  2. throwaway27448 · 1786041887 · focus · HN ↗
    Why bother stealing iPhones? Is it just for the scrap/recycle->repair value?
    hparadiz · 1786041968 · focus · HN ↗
    They send them to countries where they aren't locked or break it down for parts.
    throwaway27448 · 1786042300 · focus · HN ↗
    > They send them to countries where they aren't locked
    iphones will remain locked regardless of what country they're in. I presume you're talking about states who are seemingly unwilling to pursue/prosecute claims of theft?
    kotaKat · 1786043006 · focus · HN ↗
    there's still a fairly lucrative parts stripping market and there are extreme efforts that are used to "unlock" locked devices - it has been known in the Chinese marketplace that you could get paired chips to do SMD rework with a "clean" set of identifiers. they'll swap the SOC, the flash, and the wireless all for a few bucks.
    older iOS devices as well are also vulnerable to having their syscfg rewritten via exploits, so you can "clean" a locked device that way as well with a good set of serials. Apple Watches are a hot one for this.
    hparadiz · 1786043256 · focus · HN ↗
    On top of that a sizable percentage of theft victims don't even bother to report it stolen.
    throwaway27448 · 1786045522 · focus · HN ↗
    You can't activate the hardware with a different ID regardless. It requires the owner to relinquish ownership.
    I'm sure this is different with different components of course depending on how granularly apple tracks their hardware—but the whole package certainly can't be activated.
    bigyabai · 1786041983 · focus · HN ↗
    You can send them to Chinese chop-shops and still turn a decent buck.
    mapmeld · 1786042551 · focus · HN ↗
    There's also a scam where they contact the owner from abroad, offering to return it, claiming they're an innocent trying to activate a used phone they spent their last dollar on, or threatening the original user into unlocking it. They will say that they're hackers, connected to criminals in your home city, using your name and recent photos to say that they're going to expose your text messages. Anything to get an unlock.
2. warkdarrior · 1786041659 · focus · HN ↗
  It's a big enough problem in Brazil that the government has an official app to report incidents of phone theft:
  <a href="https://www.gov.br/pt-br/apps/celular-seguro-br" rel="nofollow">https://www.gov.br/pt-br/apps/celular-seguro-br
  <a href="https://www.gov.br/pt-br/servicos/comunicar-roubo-furto-de-aparelho-pelo-aplicativo-celular-seguro" rel="nofollow">https://www.gov.br/pt-br/servicos/comunicar-roubo-furto-de-a...
  1. why_at · 1786041863 · focus · HN ↗
    >an official app to report incidents of phone theft
    I can't be the only person to see the irony here. Do they also have a drive-thru to report car theft?
    warkdarrior · 1786041930 · focus · HN ↗
    RTFM
    evandrofisico · 1786044467 · focus · HN ↗
    After you install it you cana "safe contact" or do the reporting on a website which will blocklist the phone's IMEI on all phone companies, block any banking app sessions and remotely wipe the phone.
    It also functions as a public searchable database of stolen phones, allowing a prospective buyer of a second hand device to check it.
    Melatonic · 1786057604 · focus · HN ↗
    [delayed]
  2. [deleted] · 1786042024 · focus · HN ↗
    [deleted]
3. bombcar · 1786041823 · focus · HN ↗
  Ever since phones became pretty immune to reselling-theft (steal phone, reset it, sell it) people have been snatching phones and trying to empty crypto, banks, etc before it locks. Some apps don't reauthenticate.
  1. Waterluvian · 1786041991 · focus · HN ↗
    Interesting point. The article linked in a sibling comment (about 2025 thefts) suggests that they are being resold. Which makes sense if it's a $2000 product that's so stealable. But I do recall there being a lot of difficulty resetting a phone that isn't yours. Do you feel the is article wrong? Are there ways around it? Is "pretty immune to reselling-theft" a newer feature than 2025?
    kotaKat · 1786045863 · focus · HN ↗
    Activation Lock now extends to the serials of the parts inside every iPhone since Apple knows the S/N of everything. If you pull the battery off an Activation Locked phone and put it in another phone it's going to freak out and complain the part is pairing-locked and won't pair to your device but it'll be baseline usable. You'll just keep getting nasty nags in the Settings letting you know you're using stolen parts.
    <a href="https://support.apple.com/guide/security/activation-lock-security-sec0f8dfd030/web" rel="nofollow">https://support.apple.com/guide/security/activation-lock-sec...
    As of iOS 27 beta, there's now an additional "partner finance lock" status that will also be an available parts-lock status (to prevent a 'leased' device from being parted out).
    <a href="https://9to5mac.com/2026/07/21/ios-27-code-suggests-apple-could-restrict-leased-devices-after-missed-payments/" rel="nofollow">https://9to5mac.com/2026/07/21/ios-27-code-suggests-apple-co...
    bombcar · 1786050532 · focus · HN ↗
    If I have your unlocked iPhone, I could probably reset your Apple ID because I have access to your email and your texts so I can reset your Apple ID password unlock your phone unlock. Remove it from Find My and reset it.
    It makes me wonder if there’s some way to put a third lock on there that’s not normally unlocked.
  2. gleenn · 1786042079 · focus · HN ↗
    Bonus security on iPhone - if you long-press on any app, you can click "Require Face ID" and it will make thieves need your face again to open bank or sensitive apps. I did this for all my financial apps amd also email so they can't reset passwords. It isna minor inconvenience but would hopefully prevent an unlocked phone from being stolen and having bank accounts emptied.
    ButlerianJihad · 1786042219 · focus · HN ↗
    Android Private Space <a href="https://support.google.com/android/answer/15341885?hl=en" rel="nofollow">https://support.google.com/android/answer/15341885?hl=en
    bombcar · 1786050465 · focus · HN ↗
    The email is what most people miss. Unlocked phone = SMS and email for most people.
4. datakan · 1786041876 · focus · HN ↗
  Yes, its why those long crossbody lanyards are now so popular.
  <a href="https://www.apple.com/shop/product/mggh4ll/a/crossbody-strap-light-blue" rel="nofollow">https://www.apple.com/shop/product/mggh4ll/a/crossbody-strap...
  1. [deleted] · 1786043300 · focus · HN ↗
    [deleted]
5. dhosek · 1786043633 · focus · HN ↗
  In Mexico, apparently, the scheme is to grab a phone from an inattentive pedestrian from a motorcycle or scooter.
6. mattlondon · 1786044922 · focus · HN ↗
  Massive in London.
  1. rsynnott · 1786050080 · focus · HN ↗
    Eh, it certainly gets a lot of _attention_, and London is very, very big, so the absolute numbers are impressive-looking. The chances of it actually happening to any given person are extremely low, though.
    gengelbro · 1786059173 · focus · HN ↗
    Ha. I was in London for work and had my phone snatched on a work trip the second day. Kings Cross area. Massive pain to get insurance to figure it out and I had to buy a burner.
    Two guys hopped a wide sidewalk, never stopped and were back into traffic in an instant.
    Everyone gave me the "you should't have been dressed that way" response. Police did nothing dispite certainly plenty of evidence (video, from apple, etc. etc).
7. [deleted] · 1786045084 · focus · HN ↗
  [deleted]

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