Daily Mail

Serial thief targeting wealthy women while they work out at gym

- By Rebecca Camber Crime and Security Editor

POLICE are hunting a prolific thief suspected of stealing from scores of wealthy women in gyms across London to fund lavish shopping sprees.

Victims have returned from exercising to find their bank accounts empty after their phones and cards were stolen

from lockers. Police are linking a series of cases after a BBC Radio 4 investigat­ion found a number of women targeted in almost identical circumstan­ces.

One victim whose bank card was taken from a Virgin Active gym in Hampstead last month discovered the thief had spent £10,000 in Harrods and Apple stores.

Her card was also used for fast food purchases, taxis and to withdraw cash from ATMs after the culprit changed the access to her accounts.

The thief even tried to spend another £10,000 after the bank had been alerted and cards blocked.

The criminal has gained access to bank accounts by registerin­g the stolen cards on their own device.

This triggers a one- off verificati­on passcode sent by the bank to the victim’s stolen phone.

The code pops up on the lock screen of the stolen phone, allowing the thief to tap it into their own device.

Within 90 minutes of another locker room raid at a GymBox in the City, the thief had splashed out on £7,500 worth of designer goods in Selfridges, Apple, Balenciaga and Harrods.

Journalist Shari Vahl, from the BBC’s You And Yours programme, also spoke to victim Charlotte Morgan (see feature, right).

Charlotte said £8,000 of her money had been spent while she was at a gym in Chiswick after the thief transferre­d her savings into her current account and went on a shopping spree in Westfield in West London and Regent

Perpetrato­r may be female

Street. The programme discovered that at least eight victims had been targeted in gyms in Putney, Notting Hill and Mill Hill in Barnet.

In all cases, women had put their belongings in lockers at popular gyms, only to return from exercising and discover that their phones and cards had been taken and bank accounts used to make high-value purchases at the same shops.

Police had been investigat­ing cases separately until the BBC alerted them to the similariti­es.

As most of the thefts happened in women’s changing rooms where there is no CCTV, police believe it is possible that the perpetrato­r is female.

It is not known if the thief is acting alone or as part of a gang.

Now, security experts are urging gym- goers to reconsider taking valuables with them and to change their phone settings so that messages do not flash up when a phoneis locked.

The Metropolit­an Police said: ‘ We have been made aware of a number of similar offences in which property has been stolen from gym lockers and bank cards then used.’

A spokesman added that ‘where appropriat­e, [offences] will be investigat­ed as part of a linked series’.

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