This is the moment a woman chased down a thief after her phone was snatched from her hand while vlogging in broad daylight.
Sophie Hockings, 28, was vlogging on a street in London's Highbury and Islington when a masked thief snatched her phone.
A video shows Sophie recording and speaking into the camera when suddenly a man snatched the phone off her hand.
Instinctively, Sophie chased him down as he rode away on a BMX bicycle.
Sophie can be heard boldly chasing after the phone snatcher and shouting at him before he throws the phone back.
The incident took place on March 27th on a private street near Highbury Fields.
She said that the person who snatched her phone seemed very young and was wearing an N95 mask and gloves.
Sophie, who works in PR, said: "He looked really skinny, around 18, he was wearing a mask and gloves so I didn't see his face.
"He looked really shocked. The video was still going so he would have seen his own face. I think he thought he was on video."
She has had her phone stolen once before in Highbury Fields several years ago, but recovered it then as well.
She says that it's widely accepted among locals in the area that phone thefts are a growing problem.
She has had several close friends who had their phones stolen in a similar way.
Sophie said: "It's a really common crime in the area. It happened to me once before in Highbury fields.
"I have four-to-five friends who've had their phones stolen like that. It's becoming a really common thing nowadays.
"I even had local cafés commenting saying that they see this happen all the time."
Despite having recovered her phone, the incident left Sophie shaken.
She said: "It really scared me. I left London for a while after, to be honest.
"It's horrendous that we have to go out in London and expect that to happen."
Sophie Hockings, 28, was vlogging on a street in London's Highbury and Islington when a masked thief snatched her phone.
A video shows Sophie recording and speaking into the camera when suddenly a man snatched the phone off her hand.
Instinctively, Sophie chased him down as he rode away on a BMX bicycle.
Sophie can be heard boldly chasing after the phone snatcher and shouting at him before he throws the phone back.
The incident took place on March 27th on a private street near Highbury Fields.
She said that the person who snatched her phone seemed very young and was wearing an N95 mask and gloves.
Sophie, who works in PR, said: "He looked really skinny, around 18, he was wearing a mask and gloves so I didn't see his face.
"He looked really shocked. The video was still going so he would have seen his own face. I think he thought he was on video."
She has had her phone stolen once before in Highbury Fields several years ago, but recovered it then as well.
She says that it's widely accepted among locals in the area that phone thefts are a growing problem.
She has had several close friends who had their phones stolen in a similar way.
Sophie said: "It's a really common crime in the area. It happened to me once before in Highbury fields.
"I have four-to-five friends who've had their phones stolen like that. It's becoming a really common thing nowadays.
"I even had local cafés commenting saying that they see this happen all the time."
Despite having recovered her phone, the incident left Sophie shaken.
She said: "It really scared me. I left London for a while after, to be honest.
"It's horrendous that we have to go out in London and expect that to happen."
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FunTranscript
00:00 I've got to pop out for a very quick doctor's appointment. This might be a little bit of TMI
00:04 but I have a smear test so this is your sign ladies if you've been meaning to book it go and book it
00:09 do your due diligence.
00:12 So if you haven't already seen I got my phone stolen in London this week out of my hands
00:29 while I was vlogging on the way to my smear test which is a) highly embarrassing b) very traumatic
00:35 and c) very funny probably in that order but I just want to say thank you so much to everyone
00:41 for such a lovely response you guys are honestly so sweet I am absolutely okay I feel so lucky to
00:47 be okay I also feel very lucky to still have my phone um because he for whatever reason decided
00:54 to give it back to me so I do feel very very lucky and to everyone else that this has happened to I
00:58 can't believe how many people this has happened to in London it's horrendous it's literally
01:03 horrendous that we have to go out in London and expect that to happen um but I will definitely
01:09 be so much safer with my phone going forward in fact I don't even think it's going to be leaving
01:13 my bag for the next two to three years put it that way I've even escaped up north because I just
01:18 didn't want to be in London for the next couple of days but I thought we could relay the story
01:23 a little bit more um and give you a little bit more context so I was actually walking around
01:29 Highbury Islington which if you don't know London well it's part of North London and it's actually
01:34 such a family-friendly area of London as well like I chose to live there for a reason because
01:38 it's so safe I've lived there for over three years I really have never felt sort of threatened
01:46 or anything in the local area I've always been really really lucky with that um so this is
01:51 really shaking me to be honest with you I was literally walking on a really nice sort of private
01:57 quiet street I've sort of double checked the area as I always do before I get my phone out
02:01 got my phone out to record a little clip of my vlog and literally at the most bizarre time as
02:08 I've literally just said do your due diligence ladies a huge hand comes past me grabs the phone
02:13 out of my hand and next thing I know he's sort of off on his little bmx bike down the road but
02:18 honestly what happens next is just so bizarre because the guy first of all he looked like a
02:23 like a bit of a kid he looked like he was about 18 years old he had a huge face mask on
02:27 but he sort of slowed down and started to sort of laugh at me and that just triggered me so I'm like
02:34 my instinct is just like run after him so I'm sort of running after him as you can see in the video
02:40 politely asking him to give it back which I should not have been that polite I should have been like
02:45 give me my phone back rather than saying please but anyway for whatever reason he did he threw
02:50 my phone back my phone thank god has remained unscathed and some lovely lovely strangers in
02:55 the street came over to me to make sure that I was okay so if that was you thank you honestly so much
03:01 I was very shaken up at that point I pretty much ran to my doctor's appointment tell you what
03:06 though ladies if that happens to you before your smear test the smear test was the least of my
03:11 worries that day and it actually went so much better than I was expecting it because I was so
03:15 nervous about the smear test before that happened and then well I was no longer nervous about the
03:20 smear test put it that way that was my robbing experience in Highbury & Islington it has been
03:25 overwhelming how many of you have also had your phone stolen in that area like someone even guessed
03:31 the street that it was on which is just mad which makes me think that they literally hover around
03:37 those streets waiting for people unwitting humans like me who aren't from London and clearly are not
03:42 very street smart to basically give them bait and they just grab it straight from your hands um
03:48 so anybody in the Highbury & Islington area anybody in London to be honest anywhere that you are just
03:55 look after your phone keep it safe put it in your pocket don't advertise yourself as someone who can
04:00 be stolen from obviously the blame is fully with the person robbing me but they are out there
04:08 unfortunately and there's not much we can do about it so we do need to stay safe on the streets of
04:12 London so yeah while girlies do book your smear tests and go and get those done the second moral
04:17 of the story is just be safe in London please look after yourselves I am definitely a little
04:22 bit shaken up from the whole experience I'm not gonna lie to you um but yeah thank you so much
04:26 for all your kind messages I am safe I am well I've retreated back up north um and I'm just gonna
04:33 spend Easter weekend just sort of very quietly um not in busy areas of London um but have a gorgeous
04:39 one I'll catch you with you soon also to anyone asking I'm pretty sure he gave me the phone back
04:45 because he saw that I was on TikTok and it was on selfie mode I think he must have thought
04:50 I was on FaceTime or someone would recognize his face or take a screenshot um so yeah actually I
04:56 think the vlogging did cause him giving my phone back so there's a little silver lining for you