Phone Snatching: How to Outsmart Opportunist Thieves

Phone snatching is fast, shocking, and on the rise — especially in busy public places. But with a few simple habits, you can make yourself a much harder target.

In this quick 10-minute tip episode, women's safety advocate and Co-Founder of Streetwise Defence, Julie Waite, breaks down how phone thieves operate (think scooters, pickpockets, cafés, and even muggings), and shares practical, real-world strategies to protect your phone—and your peace of mind.

We cover:

• Where phone snatching is most likely to happen
• The biggest mistakes people make (that make you an easy target)
• What to do instead — safer habits, smarter choices
• Why your phone is as tempting to thieves as a £1,000 cash bundle
• Whether phone straps actually help—or make things worse

Whether you’re commuting, travelling, or walking to school pickup, this episode is packed with actionable tips to help you stay aware, stay calm, and stay safer.

👉 Want to go deeper? Visit our website for our free blog on phone snatching prevention and technical settings to secure your device.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Phone Snatching Awareness
• 2:29 Understanding How Thieves Operate
• 5:41 Preventive Measures Against Phone Snatching
• 8:27 What to Do If Your Phone Is Snatched

Transcript

Julie Waite (00:01)

Welcome to Self Defence for Women, Live an Empowered Life, the podcast that helps you stay safe, feel strong and take control physically, emotionally and mentally. I'm Julie Waite, Women's Safety Advocate and co-founder of Streetwise Defence. This is one of our quick 10-minute tips episodes, perfect for when you're driving, making lunch or just fancy a quick dose of safety know-how.

Today I'm talking about a crime that's fast, opportunistic and far more common than people think, phone snatching. It can happen in broad daylight, in busy places and even when you're just standing still. But don't worry, there are some really simple, effective things you can do to make yourself a harder target and keep hold of your phone and your peace of mind.

Just before we start, have a small request. If you find our podcast helpful, please hit the subscribe button and leave us a review. We're a new podcast and it really helps us reach more women like you.

So the first step in preventing phone snatching is understanding how thieves operate so you know bit more about what to expect. One of the most common ways that phones are snatched is from two guys on a scooter or a moped. So there'll generally be one on the front who is steering it and then there's one on the back that's got their hands free. They will spot someone walking along with their phone out.

for someone who's distracted and not paying attention they will often mount the curb and then simply just ride ride by and grab the phone out of your hand they can also do this from the road if you're standing near the edge of the pavement other ways that it happens similar but just someone on a bike like a push bike this happens there's

the traditional kind of pickpocket where you might be stood waiting to cross the road and you're not maybe you're maybe not paying attention and somebody takes it out of your bag or your back pocket and then there's also muggings as well where someone actually stops and threatens you and then gets the phone off you that way. The other way that a lot of people don't realise is

when you're in a restaurant or a bar and you've put your phone down on a table or on the bar and there's a lot of phones that are snatched that way because you're having a drink, you're enjoying yourself, you don't even notice that the phone is gone. Those are the most common ways. Hotspots are public transport, so near train stations, near bus stations, outside shops, on pavements and while you're waiting to cross the road.

generally because you might be, if you're near a train station or something, you might be, you're thinking about what train you're going to get or you're meeting someone, you might be looking at your phone to see have they arrived yet. You might be lost if you're on the pavement and you're looking at Google Maps and those are opportunist kind of hotspots.

So what not to do first? We'll tell you about things that you can do and what to do if someone does grab your phone as we get into this but what not to do? So the first and really most obvious thing not to do is not to walk along with your phone out. We tend to describe it as would you walk along with a thousand pounds of

bank notes bundled up a big wad of money, would you walk along with a big wad of money out in front of you as you're going along the road, you're walking around London or a busy city or whatever it is, would you walk along with a big handful of cash? Most people would probably say not because it's just, you just attract attention and it's a signal to thieves, look I've got a load of money here, come and take it off me. Similar thing with a phone.

really. Phones are very expensive. There's a lot of very expensive phones now and it's something that people can sell so quickly and easily. There's around about 10,000 phones snatched in London every single month and it's a huge problem. So if you wouldn't walk along with a big wad of cash, don't walk along with your phone out. Also don't stop

kind of looking lost or looking a bit clueless or looking around with your phone in public places and don't put it on tables in bars and restaurants. Sounds really obvious I know but it's what everyone does it's become the habit it's become the norm that you walk along with your phone in your hand because you're looking at text messages you're listening to music listening to a podcast you're looking at Google Maps

you may be even on the phone to someone, but that does make you a really easy target for people that are snatching phones. What you can do then is to put the phone away. So ideally in a zipped pocket, in a zipped bag, in a crossbody bag, in an inside pocket, don't leave it in the back pocket of your jeans, don't leave it in an open with an open bag because those are easy pickings for pickpockets.

Try and plan your journey before you go so that you're not having to rely on Google Maps. And if you are lost, then think about where you're to stop. So can you go into a cafe or a shop to check your phone there, find out where you're going, then put it away and go back out? Or if you can't do that, can you stop with your back against a building, check around you first, and then get your phone out, check it, and then put it away?

Just being aware of who is around you generally will really help you. Most, when you look at videos of people getting their phone snatched, we've looked at loads and loads and loads of these, the people are all very distracted. They're generally looking at the phones as they're walking along, and before they even realise it, the phone is gone. So if you are not looking at your phone and you're looking around, immediately that makes you...

⁓ a harder target because these people want the easiest phone snatch they can get. They don't want someone who's switched on and who's going to see them coming. So be aware of who's around you, notice people, notice things, see if you get a gut feeling about something that's a bit dodgy. Avoid putting your phone out on the table in cafes and restaurants. Like I said, that's another hotspot.

Keep it zipped up in your pocket or in your bag and make sure your bag is close to you so that that can't get snatched as well. And then at night, if you're calling a cab or you're meeting someone and you're stood on the side of the road, again, don't be stood there right on the edge of the pavement on your phone or looking at your phone, not paying attention, put the phone away then. We often get asked about these phone lanyards that you can get that you put around your wrist or around your neck.

and if they are helpful, and we would say absolutely avoid those because we've been told with someone we were talking to about doing some training with, CEO, female CEO of a company, she had a phone lanyard around her neck thinking that would help keep it safer. And she actually ended up in a physical altercation with someone because they wanted to get the phone off her.

and they ended up kind of physically wrestling her to grab the phone off her. Also people with the phone lanyards around the wrists, if the thieves aren't noticing, you've got that around your wrist and they're grabbing it on a scooter, you could find yourself getting dragged, getting your wrist broken. So there's no kind of easy fix to this, like, I'll get a lanyard and then it won't happen. The only real...

The only easy fix is to put the phone away and make sure it's securely away. Then we also get asked, well, what if someone snatches my phone? What should I do? Should I fight them for it? Or if someone's trying to mug me and they want my phone. And we would always say no belonging is worth getting into a fight over because you don't know.

the mindset of that person in front of you. don't know how desperate they are. You don't know if they're desperate enough to pull a knife on you, to really seriously hurt you or potentially even lose your life over. A phone is not worth it. So yes, it hurts the ego that you're having to give it up and you're going to have a load of hassle to replace it, but let it go. Don't go chasing after people. Even though, you know, I've seen a lot of this on kind of Reddit and on...

Other chat sites where people are saying, I chased them down and I got it back or I chased them down and they dropped it You may be the one that managed to do that And then there's plenty of other people that chase them down and have ended up getting beat up or worse So just let the phone go even better. Just have it away in the first place The final thing to say is we've got a blog on our website about this about preventing phone snatching and at the end we've got some

settings that you can put on your phone now that just would make it easier if it does get snatched. So some like technical things you can do with your phone. So I'll link that blog in the show notes. Go on that, make sure you've got everything set up and ready with your phone in case it ever did get snatched. But like I say, easiest thing is put the phone away and you are just not going to be the easy target that these criminals are looking for.

If this has been helpful, please share it with someone, share it with a friend, family, share it with someone who's always got their phone out. Kids, generally, I didn't mention schools actually. Schools are a hot spot as well and we have been called in to train at several schools where kids are getting targeted outside the school gates for phone snatchings because people know there's going to be a ton of kids coming out of school and they're all got their heads in their phones. So do share this with your kids as well. Keep them safe.

and until next time, stay safe.