It happens in a heartbeat. The whirr of a bike, the brush of a sleeve, and in seconds your whole digital life can be compromised. The pattern of shock and disbelief happens hundreds of times a day on British streets.
The impact of phone theft is often more than financial.
Fenella Rawling's brand-new iPhone 16 was snatched during a shopping trip in Cambridge in August.
On the device were reams of precious memories of her mother, who has incurable lung cancer, which have now been lost forever as the photos weren't backed up and her iCloud had not been set up.
"These are memories that I will never ever ever get back," she said through tears.
