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My trip to the office last Wednesday was unexpectedly exciting. When the doors of the tube vehicle are closed, a mobile phone was extracted from the hands of the corresponding passenger. When the train fell, you could not do anything but see the thief escape to the bottom of the platform.

The alleged kidnapping theft increased by 150 percent last year. I have fallen victim to myself Last spring, when I waited to ride a bus in London, and watched the efforts of the government and the industry, it failed to slow down this crime wave.

Foreign trade in stolen phones is one driver. Apple “Find My iPhone” eventually showed its appearance in a Chinese container port. But access to digital portfolios, financial applications and personal data on our phones is the most urgent and profitable goal of organized crime. Loss of expensive device is a blow. But to become a target of fraud, subsequent blackmail, and thousands of thousands of worse.

this week, Powers In order to be announced real estate that has been raid on the real estate, where the geographical stolen materials were announced as part of the new crime and police bill in the United Kingdom. But the disruption of networks behind this complex crime across the border requires a multi -stamp approach from international lawmakers, technology and communications industries.

My own condition was closed with an email on the same day, although I can see my phone flowing from multiple stores and addresses – common frustration with the victims. However, even if the police have the resources to chase all these stolen phones, we should not adhere to ourselves, so the problem will be transformed.

It may take less than 10 minutes for criminals to extract funds and data if they kidnapped an insured phone, or secret victims who are secretly entering the locking code on the screen, says Tony Mobayate, which is a repaired fraud that established crime prevention consultations We are fighting fraud.

“Gangs behind this will line up everything, with Money mule accounts “Ready to transfer stolen money,” he says, referring to those who – often allowed the stolen money through their accounts, for a symbolic fee. Thieves in the phone can be trained remotely by the most knowledgeable gang members, which makes it difficult for authorities to capture KingPins.

“When the street begins to understand the wider fraud capabilities, this problem will grow,” you expect sales. Most people are concerned about their digital portfolios and their banking accounts – but not their e -mail. These are the following limits, from the email messages “Email from the President” fraud Corporate contacts are also sold on the dark web.

Passengers offer an attractive goal. 5G connection to a large part of the London tube network means that it is common for the entire vehicles to be glued to passengers on their phones. On my last trip, no one was able to describe the shape of the Snatcher phone.

Technology companies reach impressive control innovations to make it more difficult for criminals in the field of bargaining on devices – although these will not only protect consumers when they are activated.

Android, Google’s Theft discovery lock Artificial intelligence is used to sense sudden movements that can indicate a phone, and the screen lock automatically. The “special space” feature allows users to create a separate area for sensitive applications, closed with a pin. Apple and Google have strengthened passcode security features – such as restricting any changes to Familiar sites. All this buy victims for more time to log in distance and lock or wipe the stolen devices.

The banks also add new layers of application safety. Even if the criminals have passwords at risk and identification data “Wealth Protection” A feature that means attempts to transfer money from customer savings, encryption or investments will lead to a new personal photo examination.

The balance between the ease of using your device for easy access to criminals is a very personal call. After extracting my own phone, I discharged many financial applications to the iPad at home. I have disabled the “inspection of the messages” to make it difficult for the thieves to display one -time traffic codes and set the shortest possible time before the screen locks automatically. Moderate, but nothing compared to the pressure of your phone’s loss.

Others prefer physical restrictions, such as the phone rope and Bandoliers. It can be said that not using your phone in public places is better – an easier saying than doing it.

Looking at the increasing amount of personal, financial and medical data on our phones, last week House office clash With Apple, which led to the withdrawal of the safer cloud coding services from the UK, is noticeably not specified. Yes, we need to take strict measures against fraud gangs. But this should not come at the expense of giving up safety for millions of consumers.

Claer Barrett is a FT consumer editor and author of FT’s book Carm your financial life Newsletter series Claer.barrett@ft.com; Instagram and Tiktok Claerb