The menace of mobile snatchers

In the early days of mobile snatching, it used to be big news but nowadays and after years of living with this horrible crime it practically draws no more than a yawn with the advice to the victim that he must be more careful in the future.

The crime has over the years mushroomed almost to an industry and now all parties that include the victim, snatcher, bystanders and law enforcement officials, are aware of where the stolen mobile will go and even how much will it fetch in the stolen mobile market.

You will be surprised to know that Pakistan is amongst the top 3 hotspots for mobile snatching, with Delhi reporting 50,000 phone-snatching cases per year while the number of phones snatched in Mumbai and Bengaluru is also huge. This, however, is not the end of the story for this region as we look at the figures for phone snatching for Pakistan.

According to CPLC data, 19,353 phones were snatched in the year 2024, 17,706 in 2025 that comes to a shocking 55 mobiles snatched per day. Gulshan-e-Iqbal alone had reports of 4,881 cases. There is of course Sao Paulo, which has recorded 200,000 phone-snatching cases in recent years.

Over the years, gun bearing hoodlums have discovered this easy way to make quick money. In big cities, the formula remains the same due to poor motorcycle tracking systems. I wonder how many mobile users are aware of the tracking systems in their mobiles and have them working; specially, in places notorious for phone snatching.

So what is the solution to this growing problem? The UK has set an example.

Once it was the phone-snatching capital of Europe with 80,000 stolen every year but by a few years this dropped to 40 percent. How did they achieve this remarkable feat? The UK police employed methods to make any stolen phone unusable on any UK network within 24 hours of being snatched.

Police worked diligently to target known bike snatch gangs, confiscated bikes and legislation was introduced to send them to 6 months in prison. A TV advertising campaign was launched by the police entitled “Don’t flash your phone”.

In Pakistan and specially Karachi, phone snatching is common. Only some time ago a young man returning from his office after most probably working on his laptop and mobile resisted an attempt to relieve him of his prized possessions and lost his life. Little do the murderers in such episode understand the hard mental work involved in data stored, and for them this is just a piece of metal that sells for a good price.

While working for a foreign firm in the SITE area some years back I have personally encountered these phone snatchers. In those days phone snatching was rampant as it might be today and most of the employees mostly from middle classes kept a dummy mobile to give to these phone snatchers while their original was hidden under the seat or some other place.

Everyone knew the two spots where they could be confronted by a mobile snatcher: the entrance to SITE area from Nazimabad and the other entrance from Mauripur. Twice during my service at this company I came face-to-face with these mobile snatchers.

Stopping at a red light and hearing the knock on the window to see a gun staring at me and the holder demanding my mobile. By the grace of God I got away both times, giving the mobile snatcher only junk for his efforts.

My only question at that time and even now is that the phone snatching occurred quite regularly at particular spots in that area but the culprits were not apprehended and their activities too went on unhindered.

Let us face it. Mobile snatching is a global phenomenon. Some countries, however, have come up with novel ideas to combat this menace, and while some have succeeded others do not seem to have achieved the desired results.

In my opinion, the most effective way to deal with mobile snatchers is to ensure that their actions do not achieve the desired results, and that is by making the snatched phone not more valuable than a piece of stone.

Having the right software in the mobile and knowhow by the mobile owners is essential for this.

In this tussle between technology and brute force chances are that technology will win if applied correctly and in time.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026