Crypto Robberies Tied to Phone Thefts Plague London

London is reportedly seeing a wave of cryptocurrency robberies connected to mobile phone thefts.

That’s according to a report Saturday (Sept. 20) by the Financial Times (FT), which noted that these thefts differ from some of the more dramatic forms of crypto crimes, which can involve kidnappings and threats of violence, if not actually violence.

But thanks to the rising popularity of crypto, the report added, thieves don’t need to resort to such measures. Instead, they just bank on the fact that 25% of young men in the U.K. own crypto, and the fact that this demographic is more likely to be confident enough to hold a conversation with a stranger in public after dark.

Among them was Neil Kotak, who told the FT he was approached by a group of men while walking home from a night out.

“They seemed pretty friendly, we were just talking. One of them asked me to take his number for the future. I logged in. At that point, they just grabbed my phone,” said Kotak.

The thieves “did not touch my bank accounts. They only went for my crypto account,” he added.

Kotak tried to disable his phone with a friend’s handset but couldn’t recall his Apple ID password. By then, he says, his crypto was being drained of almost £10,000 ($13,475) worth of crypto from his accounts with Coinbase and Binance.

This trend is happening during a year that has seen a spike in cryptic crime, albeit one driven largely by a record-breaking incident: the $1.5 billion hack against crypto exchange ByBit.

“With over $2.17 billion stolen from cryptocurrency services so far in 2025, this year is more devastating than the entirety of 2024,” blockchain intelligence company Chainalysis wrote in its 2025 Crypto Crime Mid-Year Update, adding that the ByBit incident, the biggest single hack in the crypto sector’s history, accounts for most of the losses.

“By the end of June 2025, 17% more value had been stolen year-to-date than in 2022, previously the worst year on record,” the update continued. “If current trends continue, stolen funds from services could eclipse $4 billion by year’s end.”

A growing share of thefts involve personal wallet compromises, with attackers focusing on individual users, making up 23.35% of all stolen funds activity.

There is also a connection between “wrench attacks,” or physical violence or coercion against crypto holders, and bitcoin price movements, which indicates “opportunistic targeting during high-value periods,” the report said.