Toby Atkinson* was on his way home from after work drinks in Shoreditch when his unlocked phone was swiped clean out of his hands. This alone doesn’t make the 30-year-old special; Britain is in the midst of a phone-snatching epidemic, which sees more than 225 devices stolen on average each day. But, by the end of the evening, Atkinson’s swift mugging would cost him a stomach-churning £750,000.
While a new iPhone these days will set you back between £450 and £1500, thieves are in it for much more than the profits from the resale of a stolen device. In a wave of “cryptomuggings”, robbers are targeting those who’ve invested in digital currency, like Bitcoin, to loot their phones for hundreds of thousands.
