The Chinese city of stolen iPhones: How mobiles snatched on UK streets are shipped by criminal gangs to electronics markets in China’s ‘Silicon Valley’ where they are broken down for parts or sold on to locals for knock down prices

Mobile phones stolen on UK streets are being shipped in huge numbers to warehouses in southern China where they are broken down into parts, reassembled and sold on at knock-down prices, experts have told MailOnline. 

An insatiable demand for second hand phones in the electronics hub of Shenzhen is being fuelled by handsets snatched by gangsters targeting busy areas in Britain, including music festivals. 

After being shipped into the city by criminal accomplices exploiting its lax approach to enforcing laws around stolen goods, the handsets are sold second hand if they can be unlocked and returned to factory settings.

If they cannot be sold whole, they are dismantled and the component parts – such as the screen, motherboard and speaker – used for repairs or even pieced together into entire new handsets. 

Shenzhen is located in the south of China next to the border with Hong Kong. Known as the country’s ‘Silicon Valley’ due to its expertise in electronics, it is also home to large retail outlets selling used consumer goods. 

Many stolen phones have been tracked to Huaqiang South Road, a route lined by warehouses with a dock at one end. It is believed one of the warehouses on this road could be receiving stolen mobile phones which are then taken apart and sold on – potentially on the same site. 

Many stolen phones have been tracked to Huaqiang South Road in Shenzhen, which is known as China’s ‘Silicon Valley’ 

Sukru Haskan tracked his stolen iPhone to Huaqiang South Road, a route lined by warehouses with a dock at one end

An insatiable demand for second hand phones in the Chinese electronics hub of Shenzhen is being fuelled by handsets snatched by gangsters. Pictured is a retail outlet in the city

It comes as Londoner Sukru Haskan today told MailOnline of the horrifying moment his own phone was snatched on a street in Knightsbridge in July before resurfacing at an address in Shenzhen.

IT and cyber-security expert Thomas Balogun, who has researched the stolen phone market in China, told MailOnline that Mr Haskan’s experience had become worryingly common. 

‘This is a gang related thing, with gangsters targeting specific events – like festivals – and stealing phones in large numbers before shipping them to China,’ he said. 

‘They have a very big market for used phones, no compliance with the rules against importing stolen goods and weak regulation around individual parts.

‘So they either sell it as a used phone or break it into parts, which are then switched into other phones that don’t work any more or used to build entire new handsets.

‘The phones tend to arrive in a warehouse in Shenzhen which double up as retail outlets that sell used electronic goods.’

Mr Balogun said he had learned through his research of criminals being able to construct new phones from a variety of parts within ‘hours’. 

‘If you come to one of the warehouses and want a particular phone model, even if they don’t have it they can usually put it together from parts in a few hours,’ he said. 

‘So you’ll have a whole new handset made from a variety of parts from different phones of the same model.

‘These are sold very cheaply in China, so the chance of them ending back in the UK is minimal. But it’s possible that phones in the UK might include some parts that have gone through this market.’

Sukru Haskan, who was born in Turkey but now lives in London, said an e-cyclist grabbed his iPhone 14 out of his hand while he was walking on Brompton Street in Knightsbridge towards his home in South Kensington on July 30.

He told MailOnline: ‘He was on one of those e-bikes and he was wearing these thick gloves and he just grabbed it (the phone).’

‘I’m a fit guy, but I didn’t even intend to run after him because by the time I looked he was so far away.’

In a separate incident in May, a thief on a bike was seen snatching a victim’s phone from her hands in broad daylight at a bus stop in central London 

The thief slows down as he approaches them before he snatches the phone out of a young woman’s hands and speeds off

Mr Haskan’s phone appeared in Shenzhen, China, two weeks after it was initially stolen in London

Mr Haskan, 41, who works in finance, used the Apple feature Find My iPhone to track down his stolen device to Huaqiang South Road in Shenzhen.

‘I’ve seen online hundreds of thousands of phones end up in China.

‘I get how you can’t prevent phones being stolen from a metropolitan city. What I’m not happy with is how afterwards, your phone gets transported to a different country with ease.

‘It’s become a large business, a global trade, and nothing is being done. The police closed my case because no suspects could be found, but it’s part of an international crime organisation.

‘People steal things, I get it, it’s normal, but thousands of phones are ending up in China and no one is looking into this.’

In an eerily similar incident, Emma Hall had her phone snatched by a ‘gang of youths on bikes’ just metes away from her East London flat on Leyton High Street in April this year.

Unlocked phones are increasingly hard to sell on in the UK due to new security measures, but hers also ended up at Huaqiang South Road.

Journalist Clara Gaspar had her phone stolen in March. She used the Find My iPhone app to mark it as lost – providing a phone number in case anyone found it. 

But before long she began receiving threatening texts from a thief in southern China demanding she remove it from her Apple account so it could be reused. 

One of the texts read: ‘You’re going to be destroyed. I’ve killed for far less than a f***ing phone before and we will see if you value your life over this phone so you know how f***ing serious this is.

‘I know who you are and where you live and ur whole family will get slaughtered i’m going to f***ing beat and rape u horribly you f***ing piece of absolute garbage. waste of air. waste of skin u and ur family im gone f***ing murder y’all watch me.’  

Maria-Diandre Opre, a cyber-security expert at Earthweb previously told MailOnline that stolen phones were ending up in China ‘time and time again’. 

Emma Hall, 44, was the victim of a phone theft on April 29 just yards from her London flat

Ms Hall tracked her phone to two addresses in North London before the device popped up again in China weeks later

A screenshot showing Sukru’s phone pinged in the same location in Shenzhen, China

‘This isn’t mere coincidence, but a calculated ploy by criminals to exploit vulnerabilities in law enforcement across borders,’ she said. 

‘For smartphone thieves, one of the biggest draws to trafficking stolen devices abroad is the reduced risk of detection. Some nations simply lack the robust legal framework and tracking capabilities to effectively police these crimes. This allows gangs to offload their ill-gotten merchandise with little fear of consequences.

‘Certain regions have well-established black markets dedicated to disassembling, reprogramming, and reselling pilfered phones.

‘These underground operatives possess specialised expertise to bypass security restrictions and wipe devices of their digital fingerprints before flipping them for a profit. Their intricate networks make tracing stolen stock an immense challenge.’

London has been plagued by a terrifying spate of phone snatching in recent months, where e-bike crooks use high-powered vehicles to steal unsuspecting people’s devices and make quick getaways.

Just yesterday a man was caught on camera taking pictures in London before a thug wearing a dark hood snatched his phone straight out of his hands.

Figures have shown that a mobile phone is 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.

Criminals often target pedestrians in busy locations such as outside stations, shopping centres or concert venues, and usually approach from behind, meaning victims aren’t aware of how vulnerable their phone is until it’s too late.

The worst-hit borough was the City of Westminster, where tourists flock for theatre shows and high-end shopping, with 18,863 reported incidents in the year to December – up 47 per cent from 12,836 in the previous 12 months. 

Crucially, I used Apple’s ‘Find My’ app, which comes downloaded on to every Apple device and which is accessible by desktop, allowing users to mark a phone as ‘lost’, which I did

Camden was the second worst affected, with 4,806 incidents, followed by Southwark (4,376), Hackney (2,761), Newham (2,585), Lambeth (2,394) and Islington (2,117).

In London as a whole more than 52,000 phones were stolen last year.

Commander Owain Richards for Met Police said: ‘We understand the impact that mobile phone theft can have on victims.

‘It’s an invasive and sometimes violent crime — and we’re committed to protecting Londoners and tackling this issue as we make the capital safer.

‘Met officers are targeting resources to hotspot areas, such as Westminster, Lambeth and Newham, with increased patrols and plain clothes officers which deter criminals and make officers more visibly available to members of the community.’

An insatiable demand for second hand phones in the Chinese electronics hub of Shenzhen is being fuelled by handsets snatched by gangsters. Pictured is a retail outlet in the city