Mobile Phone Theft

Recently published Home Office research shows that children of school age are at least five times more likely to become victims of mobile phone theft, including robbery, than adults.

Information for the report, Mobile Phone Theft, was taken from the British Crime Survey (BCS) 2000, two school surveys and analysis of recorded police robbery figures, and confirms that mobile phone crime has dramatically increased in recent years, rising by 190% since 1995 (subscriber numbers have increased by almost 600% since 1995).

Mobile phones are now involved in 28% of all robberies compared to 8% three years ago.

The Government’s initiative to tackle mobile phone crime includes police targeting of hotspots and persistent offenders, education programmes in schools and relaying crime prevention messages to retailers and operators together with a well publicised campaign.

The Home Office is also exploring, in association with the mobile phone industry and the police, the feasibility of piloting a text-bombing initiative similar to the type successfully carried out in the Netherlands.

Key findings from the report show that:

In 23 per cent of incidents victims were using their mobile phone or had it on display when it was targeted

Victims of mobile phone robbery tend to be younger than victims of other types of robbery - 48% of victims are under 18

Mobile phone robbery is in the main a male on male activity - 90 per cent of offenders are male; and 80 per cent of victims are male

Two thirds of robberies are committed by offenders working in groups

The peak age for offenders is 16. One third of all offenders were aged 15 or 16

Mobile phone robbery is more prevalent in city centres

One third of all robberies involve a mobile phone only

Victims under 18 were mainly targeted between 2pm and 10pm, while those aged 18 and over were targeted between 10pm and 6am (more phone robberies than other robberies occurred during the early hours of the morning)

Download the full report ‘Mobile Phone Theft’ PDF (317 Kb) from the Home Office website

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