Brazil's cellphone crime: a security nightmare in every pocket / Photo: MAURO PIMENTEL - AFP
Brazil's cellphone crime: a security nightmare in every pocket
Eduardo Metzker, 29, was riding his motorcycle in Rio de Janeiro when he was suddenly boxed in by two other bikes. One of the riders put a gun to his head and demanded his phone and passcode.
The software developer watched with horror as the robbers drained up to 80,000 reais ($15,000) from his banking apps, mostly in credit, while he scrambled to block his accounts.
"You know you go out every day, earning a living, saving money, building a life and then someone sticks a gun in your face and takes everything you have. My credit rating was ruined," Metzker told AFP.
Cellphone crime, which can involve violence, financial fraud, and even murder, has become a potent symbol of the security crisis gripping Brazilian cities like Rio de Janeiro ahead of a first round presidential election on Sunday.
"The cellphone appears to encapsulate a growing panic over urban violence," the Brazilian Public Security Forum (FBSP) said in its annual report.
An FBSP survey published in May estimated that around 14 million people had been a victim of the crime in the 12 previous months.
But only about 830,000 cellphones were reported stolen or robbed in 2025, according to the annual report, which draws on police data.
"We walk around completely afraid, constantly on alert," said Caroline Lo Bianco, 36, a dentist who had her phone ripped from her hands through the window of an Uber when she was seven months pregnant.
- A spare phone for robbers -
Ahead of a closely-contested election, both leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his right-wing rival Flavio Bolsonaro have vowed to crack down on the crime.
Bolsonaro promises to quadruple jail sentences for cellphone crimes, while Lula has said "our goal is zero phone theft."
Polls show security is the major concern of Brazilians this election, but Metzker said he does not believe any candidate will make a difference.
"Honestly, they can say whatever they want, I have no faith in them."
Fear of cellphone crime has pushed an estimated 30 percent of Brazilians -- about 65 million people -- to keep a cheap second phone, nicknamed a "robber's phone," according to the FBSP.
Metzker explained that after the robbery, he now carries one phone that he takes out on the street, and one that he keeps at home with all his banking applications on it.
Leonardo Silva, a coordinator for state and organized crime issues at the FBSP, said that cellphone crime was growing more sophisticated.
Criminal "interest has shifted away from the phone itself, its physical value, to the data contained in those devices," he told AFP.
After being robbed, Lo Bianco blocked her bank cards, but the thieves managed to transfer almost $700 from a digital bank account.
They also bought an Xbox on her Amazon app, which she managed to block before delivery.
The thieves even used her food delivery applications to send beer, meat, and McDonalds to different addresses across Rio de Janeiro.
- 'Multiple forms of loss' -
Luiz Fernando Bugiga, a prosecutor with the Special Action Group for Combating Organized Crime (GAECO), said a major police operation in Sao Paulo this month revealed an organized scheme behind cellphone crime with four distinct criminal cells.
Those who steal the phones hand them off to a specialized cell whose members "initiate bank transfers and data theft."
A third group make technical modifications to "legitimize" the phone, allowing it to re-enter the market. The final group is charged with selling parts and devices.
"Cellphone theft creates multiple forms of loss for the victim and therefore multiple sources of profit for the criminal," he said.
For many, just replacing the phone is a major financial blow.
Joel da Silva, 42, who works as a doorman in Ipanema, "went a month without a phone," before being able to buy one over four installments, after being robbed at gunpoint.
He told AFP that in his seven months at his job, he has witnessed four phone robberies from the building where he works.
Lo Bianco, who is originally from the capital Brasilia and was a victim of an armed carjacking in Rio a few years ago, dreams of leaving.
"I tell my husband that if he asked me to move to the Amazon, my bags would be packed the next day."
O.Leclercq--JdB
