This is the horrifying moment a thief on a bike snatched a woman’s mobile phone from her hands in the latest example of a crime trend sweeping London.
The balaclava-clad criminal seized the phone in a moment from his startled victim before racing away along a fashionable street near the centre of the capital.
The brazen theft follows a series of similar crimes across the city which have prompted fears visitors will steer clear of London for fear of being the next targets.
The latest incident happened in Albany Place in Marylebone, near Regent’s Park, with footage shared and going viral on X, formerly Twitter.
The account uploading the clip captioned it with the words of warning: ‘Keep your head on swivel when in London.’
The female victim of the theft is seen attempting to chase after the offender while calling out: ‘Hey, come back here.’
Another cyclist in a balaclava had passed by her in the seconds beforehand.
Shocked viewers responded by describing how they were taking extra precautions these days amid rising crime fears in the capital.
One wrote: ‘I keep two hands on my phone at all time if I take it out in London but not much more you can do to mitigate.’
Another said: ‘That is why I have stopped taking my phone out while walking.’
Other comments have included ‘Sad how crazy it’s become’, ‘This culture of stealing and looting needs to end’, ‘What a city’ and ‘Just stay away from London’.
And it was also stated: ‘This is why you always watch your surroundings. This is a nice expensive area in London but still doesn’t matter to thieves.’
The Marylebone crime comes just days after another bike-riding thief snatched a man’s mobile phone out of his hand in nearby Park Lane.
Video footage showed a cyclist riding in the middle of the main road then turning off the road to ride on the path, before lining up behind an unsuspecting pedestrian holding his phone and swiftly swiping it.
Last month two masked thieves were seen snatching a phone and fleeing on their bikes in Hampstead, north London – before crashing into an incoming car.
In February a motorcyclist was shown on CCTV trailing a man down the pavement in Tower Bridge Road before snatching his phone and speeding off.
The victim, a 28-year-old banker named Peter, later told MailOnline: ”I just felt something on my shoulder, then a hand went straight for my phone and it was just a snatch and grab.’
Footage shows Peter lunging towards the motorcyclist trying to grab his phone, before chasing him down the street.
Peter continued: ‘I started chasing the guy but then he began weaving through traffic and I didn’t want to risk it.
‘I’m just disappointed more than anything, because I know these things happen but I just didn’t know it would happen to me.’
And last August a brazen thief on an electric bike snatched a woman’s phone in broad daylight just metres from the Ritz hotel near Green Park.
Dash cam footage showed him rushing through stationary traffic at a red light, mounting the pavement and stealing the gadget from the lone pedestrian.
Figures have shown mobile phones reported as stolen in London every six minutes.
There were almost 91,000 phones snatched from Londoners in 2022, at an average of 248 a day, with only two per cent of the stolen devices recovered.
Former England cricket captain Kevin Pietersen aimed a barb at London’s mayor Sadiq Khan earlier this month over crime rates in the capital.
Pietersen posted a photo showing how he had taken off his expensive watch and wedding ring for a trip to the city, appearing to fear being mugged.
He wrote: ‘Gotta go into London today. No watch and a flimsy piece of plastic on my wedding finger. Well done, @Sadiq Khan!’
Theft, which includes pick-pocketing and shoplifting, makes up about 60 per cent of crime in the West End, according to the Heart of London Business Alliance.
Officer Metropolitan Police data shows ‘theft from a person’ offences – which includes stealing watches, handbags and mobile phones – rose by 27 per cent last year across the capital compared to the previous 12 months.
There were 72,756 of those crimes reported in the year to 2023, up from 57,468 in 2022.
And London’s Westminster district – which includes well-heeled Mayfair – saw such crimes leap by an above-average 40 per cent, with 25,650 rather than 18,310.
High-profile businessman Devin Narang recently used a summit with Labour’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy to warn Indian executives were putting off visiting London due to their fears about falling victim to muggers.
Other figures earlier this year revealed more teenage homicides were recorded in London in 2023 than in 2022 – with 21 killed compared to 14 the year before.
Among those who died, 18 were stabbed, two were shot and one was killed after his moped was struck by a car – though the total death toll was lower than the peak of 30 in 2021.
City Hall Conservatives have accused Mr Khan of refusing to provide £70million to fund additional Met Police reforms despite finding £30million for rail workers.
The mayor has consistently accused the Government of failing to provide funding for frontline policing in the capital.
Last October Mr Khan and Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley met representatives from Apple, Samsung and Google at City Hall, to discuss potential deterrents and measures to reduce mobile phone robberies.
Mr Khan described the summit as a step towards making London ‘safer for everyone’.
MailOnline has contacted the Metropolitan Police about the latest incident.
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Aidan Radnedge
