IT’S THE WHEEL STEAL
Phone-grab spree
They’re taking cellphone owners for a ride.
Two bike-riding bandits have been snatching smartphones from the hands of unsuspecting pedestrians in Midtown for the past month, cops said.
The rolling plunder has so far claimed eight victims, all pedestrians in the vicinity of Times Square.
In the most recent ride-by incident, on April 15, a 45-year-old woman lost her iPhone to the pair at Seventh Avenue at West 42nd Street at about 10:30 p.m.
Fiften minutes later, the crooks swiped an iPhone from a man, 22, sitting in his parked car with the window down in front of 5 E. 42nd St.
On April 10, the duo yanked a phone from a woman on Broadway at West 35th Street just after midnight.
Cops released surveillance images of the two thieves, believed to be between 30 and 35 years old.
Midtown resident Stephen Beckman, 39, told The Post his close friend experienced an abrupt phonejacking by a thief on wheels near 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue last year.
His buddy was victimized hailing a cab on a rainy day.
“A messenger rode by, had the green light, grabbed the phone [from his hand] and kept going,” Beckman told The Post. “It’s terrible. No one has the right to violate another person.”
Beckman isn’t surprised by the trend. “It’s like candy in the candy store. People are oblivious — they are in their own little bubble. You just have to be cautious,” he said.
But others still want to use their gadgets freely.
“It’s the culture. The phone’s like your second child. Everybody does it,” said Leland Robinson, 19, who works in Manhattan.
Another local was shocked to hear of the spate of thefts.
“It’s scary,” said Jen Tan, 23, who owns an iPhone 6s. “If that happened to me, it would hurt. I paid a lot for it.”