A stolen iPhone, $14,000 in losses and London's crypto theft problem

Magnus Ahmad, who had just arrived in London and was enjoying a night out with old friends, handed his unlocked iPhone to a stranger outside a London bar, thinking the man was entering his phone number. Seconds later, another man grabbed it and ran.

Within hours, Ahmad's cryptocurrency wallets and financial accounts had been accessed, leaving him with an estimated $14,000 in losses.

The theft occurred shortly after 1 a.m. on Aug. 8 in Hackney, east London. Two men initially approached Ahma, a former crypto executive who now runs an AI education business, outside a bar and struck up a friendly conversation. They appeared again near The Dolphin on Mare Street, after his friends had gone inside.

"I was putting in his number and he said, 'Oh, let me just do it, it'll be quicker,'" Ahmad recalled in an interview with CoinDesk.

He handed over his unlocked iPhone 14 Pro Max. At that moment, a third man appeared, grabbed the phone and took off running.

Ahmad didn’t think twice, immediately giving chase without considering the risks of being led into a trap where things could get worse.

He ran through quiet East London streets for several hundred feet, shouting at the thief as their footsteps echoed on the pavement. Despite being a competitive racket sports player, he couldn't catch him. He then returned to the bar and asked staff to contact the police, unaware of how quickly his financial accounts would be targeted.

By 1:53 a.m., cryptocurrency was being converted and transferred from his MetaMask wallet. His Phantom and Bybit accounts were also accessed. By 3:22 a.m., six unauthorized card transactions had been completed, including more than $2,000 in purchases at convenience-store chain Costcutter, according to Ahmad.

The thieves also used his Uber account to book a ride and accessed his eToro trading account, where they opened leveraged cryptocurrency positions representing nearly $44,000 in trading exposure. Those positions generated additional losses and costs, rather than a $44,000 withdrawal.

Ahmad estimates his losses at roughly $14,000, including about $9,500 in cryptocurrency, nearly $3,000 in unauthorized card charges and more than $800 in eToro trading losses and costs.

His larger bank balances and other cryptocurrency holdings remained intact after he managed to freeze cards and regain control of key accounts.

"My life savings are also on that phone in bank accounts, and they were not able to withdraw those," he said.

He believes he could have limited the damage by doing that from a friend's phone rather than waiting until he reached his laptop.

"I would do that before calling the police," he said, although he stressed that a police report remains important for pursuing reimbursement from financial institutions.

Remote locking and marking a mobile device as lost can help protect accounts, but, unfortunately, Ahmad said, they do not guarantee that a compromised phone becomes unusable or that stolen funds can be recovered. Victims should also immediately contact banks and mobile carriers and report the theft.

For Ahmad, the financial losses may not be the end of the ordeal. His phone contained photographs of his identity documents and those of people close to him, raising concerns about future identity fraud.

"I really hope this is a PSA (public service announcement), especially to crypto users, because those were the accounts that were most vulnerable on my device," he said.

"Because no one thinks it's going to happen to them."