Entrepreneur turned campaigner Dave Fishwick has revealed the things he wants everyone to know about keeping their mobile phone safe from thieves, after he spent a day ‘catching baddies’ with City of London police officers.
Fishwick, known as the star of the Bank of Dave documentary and film, spent a day on patrol in a segment filmed for ITV’s Good Morning Britain to highlight the phone stealing epidemic.
And now he has told This is Money the essential things he wants everyone to do to stop themselves becoming a target.
Caught out: Fishwick on patrol with Stu Ford from the City of London police, apprehending potential mobile phone thieves using illegal e-bikes
Fishwick hit the streets with Sergeant Stu Ford, part of the team that this year apprehended Sonny Stringer – as seen in the video below.
One of the most notorious London phone thieves, Stringer admitted snatching 24 devices in a single morning in the City of London in March, and was sentenced to two years in prison.
The Government pledged to crack down on the phone snatching crimewave this week, after it was revealed that incidents soared by 150 per cent in the year to March 2024.
Some 78,000 people had their phone or bag snatched on Britain’s streets in that time, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
It is not the loss of the phone that is the primary concern, as thieves’ real motivation is to access banking apps and drain their victims’ accounts.
And they are now being helped by illegally modified electric bikes, as Fishwick discovered during his day with the force.
On his patrol, Fishwick helped to catch someone riding an illegally modified e-bike, which thieves are using to snatch phones and get away faster.
Criminals prefer these to motorbikes as they are not required to have a registration plate or a licence.
Thieves buy additional battery packs and motors for the bikes, which mean they can go up to 70 miles an hour.
Unlike motorbikes, they are able to ride up and down stairs and in to narrow alleys – and the extra speed and weight of the batteries mean they can seriously harm pedestrians.
Over the last year 325 illegal and uninsured e-bikes and e-scooters have been seized by the City of London Police.
Speaking to This is Money, Fishwick said: ‘The police showed me a dozen bikes that they had taken in the last few days.
‘They were really heavy, they had all these extra batteries on – it was like lifting up half a terraced house.
Team: Fishwick with ITV journalists, Kate Hemingway and Carl Hemp, who have worked on the phone snatching story
‘These bikes are only meant to do 14 miles an hour but one of these could do 71 miles per hour. The e-bikes now have become a very serious weapon.’
Police are now targeting users of these bikes in the hope that it will lead them to phone snatchers – and Fishwick told how he helped apprehend one.
‘We got a baddie on the day I was there,’ he says. ‘Stu raced after the bike and I ended up running at the side trying to keep up.
‘We caught up with this guy. We lifted the back wheel off his bike and he was doing over 50 miles per hour. I got hold of the bike and took it back to the police station and we arrested him.’
Fishwick has been working on the story with ITV journalists, Kate Hemingway and Carl Hemp.
How can people avoid having phones stolen?
From his day with the police, and an interview he previously did with the leader of a phone stealing gang (see below) Fishwick has gained these tips:
1. Don’t show it off
‘We need to get people to stop waving their £1,500 phones around in the air,’ says Fishwick.
‘They wouldn’t do it if they had £1,500 in ten pound notes, so why are they doing it with their expensive phone?’
2. Maps should be heard – not seen
‘We also need to get people to buy Bluetooth headphones,’ he continues. ‘They don’t need to be expensive, there are some for £20 or £30.
‘Many people who have their phone stolen in the street are using a maps app to get directions.
‘But if you put your bluetooth headphones in your ear, the app can tell you where you need to go and you can put your phone back in your pocket.
‘You can also buy a cheap smart watch, and the watch will give you your emails. The thieves will not try and steal a watch – that is what they have told me.’
3. Stand away from the road
‘If you have to get your phone out, make sure you have your back against a shop window, as far from the road as possible, and keep it as close to your chest as you can,’ says Fishwick. ‘Keep hold of it with both hands.
‘If thieves see someone with their phone in both hands, they are taught not to grab it as they will end up pulling the person over and that is when they end up in conflict. There’s an easier person waving £1,500 in the air a few feet away.’
Mapping out their fate: People who use maps to find directions while out in the street could be a target for criminal gangs on the hunt for mobile phones
4. Protect your passcode
‘When you are putting in your passcode, put your hand over it like you would a credit card.
‘And make sure you go into your banking apps and make sure you have a different code for every one.
‘If the thieves get into your phone, they will have taken your money in seconds.’
5. Use face, fingerprint or voice ID
‘Biometrics are really important, you can do a fingerprint, you can do voice recognition, you can do face recognition,’ says Fishwick.
‘These are all things thieves say really slow them down and they hate people using them.’
6. Know your IMEI code
‘We need people do know their International Mobile Equipment Identity or IMEI code,’ he says.
‘If you type into your phone *#06# it will give you a unique 16-digit number. Note that down and if your phone gets stolen, give the police that 16-digit number. It helps them track and block that phone immediately.’
What happens once a phone is stolen?
Fishwick previously interviewed the leader of a phone stealing gang who pays people £2,500 per day to snatch phones and return them to him.
He explained how people steal mobile phones, who they target and what they do with them.
Fishwick was told in the interview that the main places they look for victims are on the streets, and in pubs and bars.
‘They look for people – and I have seen lots in the last few days – who are waving their phones in the air, they are coming out of gyms and putting in their sat nav details to see where they are going to next, they are on their social media and not paying any attention to what is going on.’
In these circumstances, people have already entered their passcode, so the phone is unlocked and the criminals will access whatever saved debit or credit cards or banking apps they can.
In busy pubs, they will be ‘shoulder surfing’ – looking for people entering their phone passcodes, for example to pay for a drink.
They will be banking on the fact that most people have the same passcode for their phone as for their money apps, so they can steal it and get an all-access pass to their money and data.
‘[The gang leader] sends out guys into the West End, into pubs and bars and restaurants, they are very well dressed, and they are looking over your shoulder to see what your code is,’ Fishwick explains.
‘Once they see you put it in they then memorise that, two seconds later they snatch the phone, the code is usually their banking app code as well so then they empty your bank account.’
Crime spree: Phones are being stolen and then banking apps hacked for cash
Unfortunately though, that is not the end of it – as the most sophisticated gangs can now mine a phone for personal data in minutes, and use this to apply for large loans.
‘Within 15 minutes your phone been plugged into a laptop which takes everything out of it, all your emails and every password you have ever given to anything,’ Fishwick says.
‘They have an AI system which automatically applies for as many loans as possible in your name, at home and abroad.’
The money, he says, is paid into shell accounts, often opened by teenagers from ‘tough areas’ of inner cities, who are paid £1,000 by the gang leader to do so.
‘[The gang leader] transfers the money into the kids’ accounts, then uses it to buy Bitcoin and send it around the world,’ Fishwick says.
‘The bank will shut it, but they don’t shut it immediately. Once it’s gone to Bitcoin there is no way of getting it back and that money is used to buy all sorts of things, including drugs.’
‘They will then send the phone to China, where it is easier to unlock and resell a stolen phone or break it up for parts.’
Run a business or got an idea? Ask Dave Fishwick YOUR question
Dave Fishwick, the man behind Bank of Dave, is This is Money’s small business doctor.
Dave Fishwick, aka Bank of Dave, is This is Money’s small business doctor
He is here to answer your business and entrepreneur questions, from how to turn an idea into reality, to starting a side hustle, growing an existing business, or even selling up to cash in.
Dave has years of experience from building up his own successful businesses, to starting Burnley Savings & Loans – the focus of the Bank of Dave TV series and blockbuster Netflix film, and helping out countless other entrepreneurs.
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