Phone shops brace for spike in robberies as iPhone 15 goes on sale

Published

8 months ago

September 17, 2023

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Mobile phone retailers are preparing for a spike in organised robberies when Apple’s new iPhone 15 goes on sale next week.

Thefts involving a group of people targeting a shop for goods are sometimes referred to as “steaming” and there were more than 300 incidents of this in telecoms stores last year.

Half of these incidents took place in the last three months of 2022, after an iPhone launch, according to data published by the Crime Communications Strategy Group (CCSG).

Three UK are hoping to combat the rise in robberies by rolling out watermarking technology, in partnership with Selecta DNA and The National Business Crime Centre.

This involves unique codes being placed on high-value products, making them easier for police to track if they are stolen.

Mark Ward, CCSG’s chair, says the group are “making no secret of the fact we are marking phones”.

“It’s a deterrent,” he continues. “We are going to have signs in our stores and we are hoping that will deter people taking them in the first place.”

Apple’s iPhone 15 will go on sale on Friday 22 September. The most expensive version comes with a hefty £1,199 price tag.

Joel Thompson, store manager for Three UK’s flagship store on London’s Oxford Circus, was one of the staff members at a training session on the watermarking technology.

“The worst experience I had was when about four people came into the store, and you could see them really aggressively taking the phones,” he says, adding that this incident took place while customers were browsing. “They also told the staff to step back and don’t get involved.”

Mr Thompson adds that in the eight years he’s worked for Three UK, “the culture has changed” and thieves have become “more aggressive”.

He also questions if the rise in these crimes could be linked to the cost of living crisis.

Paul Fagg, a police inspector working for the National Business Crime Centre, says: “You have got a group of sometimes grown adults running into a store, threatening and intimidating [people].

“We know first-hand the effect that leaves on the victim and staff in that store. So we are very much trying to change the message and the mentality around that business crime is [a] victimless crime.”

Three UK staff have been advised to step back if a steaming incident occurs but business owners who run smaller, independent phone shops cannot afford the huge losses which often occur as a result of these robberies.

Muhammad Fahad, 40, experienced this for himself when men armed with hammers entered his Fone City shop in St Albans earlier this year.

Mr Fahad tried to fight one of the men off. He says: “I just pushed him then he took a hammer from his arm or something. Then he hammered on my hand so then I told myself, ‘just let them be’.”

Five months on, he is still dealing with the consequences. “Basically they took everything, everything. More than £10,000 [worth of products],” he says.

“I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to recover from that pain, emotionally and financially.”

He is calling for more help from police to protect small businesses like his.

UK

Energy price cap: Average bills to fall by more than £100 – but predictions say they will rise again

Published

2 hours ago

May 24, 2024

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Energy price cap: Average bills to fall by more than £100 - but predictions say they will rise again

The average annual energy bill will be £506 cheaper than a year ago from July, the sector’s regulator has announced.

The energy price cap – which limits what can be charged per unit of energy – is due to fall from the month after next.

It means the average annual bill will be £1,568 a year, 7% less than at present.

But while the July figure is a reduction, bills are still more expensive than before.

Before the energy price shock, caused primarily by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a standard 12-monthly bill was £1,084.

Money latest: Energy bills fall – but predictions say they will rise again

So compared with three years ago, energy is costing homes an extra £484.

During the current period from 1 April to 30 June, the energy price cap is set at £1,690 per year for a typical bill.

Energy regulator Ofgem sets the cap four times a year, with the latest announcement applying from July to September.

The overall rate of inflation came down in April – in large part thanks to the current higher cap which came into effect that month and brought prices down for energy users, according to the Office for National Statistics.

However, many households are in debt to energy providers.

“The fall in the energy price cap reduces bills slightly, but our data tells us millions have fallen into the red or are unable to cover their essential costs every month,” said Dame Clare Moriarty, the chief executive of Citizens Advice.

“People cannot rely on lower energy prices alone to escape the financial issues they’ve been experiencing. That’s why we need better targeted energy bill support for those really struggling to keep the lights on or cook a hot meal.”

More expense to come

Latest forecasts suggest bills will increase again coming into winter as wholesale gas costs are on the rise.

Respected research firm Cornwall Insight said it expects the fall announced today “may be temporary”.

It predicts a typical bill will increase to £1,762 from October and remain around this level until the end of March.

Gas prices reached four-month highs earlier this week on concerns that Russia could halt gas flows to Austrian multinational oil, gas and petrochemical company OMV and that US exports to Europe may be damaged by a contractor at a Texas terminal filing for bankruptcy protection.

UK

One-year-old Massah was born in UK – now she’s being ordered to leave to ‘maintain integrity of immigration laws’

Published

2 hours ago

May 24, 2024

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One-year-old Massah was born in UK - now she's being ordered to leave to 'maintain integrity of immigration laws'

A father whose British-born baby is being threatened with removal from the UK is urging the Home Office to be flexible with how it enforces rules on visas.

Massah, who is 13 months old, was born in the Midlands in April last year. Both her parents have been living legally in Britain since 2021 when her father came to study for a PhD from Jordan and her mother came as his dependant.

The threat to remove Massah comes after the family took a holiday abroad together in January.

Because Massah’s status wasn’t confirmed before the family left the country for the first time together, she technically re-entered the UK as a tourist and officials refuse to recognise the discrepancy.

Her parents have tried applying for a child-dependent visa for their daughter, but this month, they received a letter from the Home Office telling them their daughter “will be required to immediately leave the UK” and will have to re-apply for a visa from abroad.

The letter from the government goes on to state: “In the particular circumstances of your case, it has been concluded that the need to maintain the integrity of the immigration laws outweighs the possible effect on you/your children.”

Massah’s father, Mohammad, says he and his wife have faced sleepless nights. Despite their MP and lawyers trying to argue their case, so far they have made no further progress.

They don’t want to have to take their baby to Jordan in order to re-apply due to the current instability in the Middle East and are concerned that, even if they did, the application could still be refused.

Mohammad tells Sky News that his daughter’s relationship with Britain will be forever changed: “I can’t imagine how I can tell her the story in the future that the country you [were] born asked you to leave while you [were] a year old.”

He shows us the reams of paperwork he has accumulated to find a solution.

“I’m trying to fix everything. I don’t need to consider a one-year-old infant as an overstayer here,” he said.

A Home Office spokesperson told Sky News: “All visa applications are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with the immigration rules.

“We are working closely with the parents of this child to ensure they receive the support and direction they require regarding the application.”

The tightening of the UK’s immigration policy has been a core commitment by the government in an effort to reduce the number of people coming to the country.

Statistics released on Thursday showed the net migration figure has dropped slightly, but it comes as the prime minister confirmed that the removal of asylum seekers to Rwanda will not take place until after the general election.

The Rwanda plan remains a central Conservative pledge, but voters will just have to trust that planes will start going without seeing any evidence before polling day.

The election campaign will be fought in part over the future of asylum seekers.

At one charity in Derby, people who came to Britain by small boat arrive still wearing the clothes given to them at a processing centre near Dover.

With Labour planning to scrap flights to Rwanda, there’s now the possibility that many asylum seekers living in fear will never have to face the possibility of being removed to the African nation.

But Damil, from India, is still anxious: “Maybe after [the] election we are happy with this because the Labour Party will be our next… I don’t know what is going on.

“Still, we are worried about these things. I’m scared about Rwanda and the election too.”

One man, who we’re calling Nahom, was detained and taken to a detention centre earlier this month.

Just a few days ago, he was informed he’d been selected for the first flight to Rwanda – in June.

He spoke to us on the phone from the removal site where he had been notified “on 24 June there will be the first flight to Rwanda”.

But when we reported Thursday’s announcement by Rishi Sunak, he said the message gave him “hope” for his situation: “If the Labour Party [win] there are no flights at all… It’s good news to hear.”

UK

London-born teenager to become a saint after miracle recognised by the Pope

Published

2 hours ago

May 24, 2024

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London-born teenager to become a saint after miracle recognised by the Pope

A London-born teenager is set to become the first millennial to be made a saint after he has had a second miracle attributed to him by Pope Francis.

Carlo Acutis, who died of leukaemia in 2006, aged 15, was beatified in 2020 after appearing to have cured a Brazilian boy, Mattheus Vianna, of a serious birth defect which left him unable to keep down his food.

That miracle, which dates back to February 2014, saw the boy being “fully cured” after he touched Carlo’s relic and said “stop vomiting”, a priest and family friend of Mattheus’s said.

The second miracle saw a girl from Costa Rica who was studying in Italy reportedly being healed after suffering a head trauma.

She was reportedly cured by the boy after he was invoked by her mother, Avvenire, the daily newspaper of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), reports.

Pope Francis took the decision to attribute the second miracle to Carlo during a meeting with the head of the Vatican’s saint-making department, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro.

Carlo was informally known as “God’s influencer” as he used his computer skills to spread the Catholic faith.

Born in London, Carlo grew up in Milan where he took care of his parish website and later of a Vatican-based academy.

The attribution of a second miracle means the boy can now be elevated to sainthood, but the Vatican did not say when this would happen.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that only God performs miracles, but that saints who are believed to be with God in heaven intercede on behalf of people who pray to them.

Typically, miracles are the medically inexplicable healing of a person.

Due to his “important role in evangelisation through the internet”, Carlo was named as a patron of last year’s World Youth Day in Lisbon, organisers of the event said.