How to Protect Yourself from Gym Thieves Stealing Thousands Using Banking Apps

Thieves in London are targeting gym goers as they exercise, copying credit cards and racking up charges in excess of $11,000. Although recent reports are in the UK, similar scams could pop up anywhere — here’s how to protect yourself.

BBC News reports that women in London have reported that they have had huge sums of money stolen from their bank accounts while at the gym. Each case had a similar story, a female victim who leave their belongings in a locker in a popular chain of gyms and returns to discover their phones and cards have been stolen. When checking their bank account, they find that high-value purchases have been made using their credit card.

Visa credit cards are seen on Aug. 11, 2019, in New Orleans. Payment processor Visa Inc. said late Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022, that it plans to start separately categorizing sales at gun shops. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

One victim said that a thief spent £10,000 ($11,391) in Harrods and the Covent Garden Apple store using her account and attempted to spend another £10,000 but she had already blocked her cards.

Another woman had her locker raided at a gym in the city and within 90 minutes £7,500 ($8,543) had been spent at similar stores including Selfridges, Apple, Balenciaga, and Harrods.

Police believe that the thief has a method to circumvent mobile device passwords or face ID. Once they have the phone and the card, the thief registers the card on the relevant bank’s app on their own phone or computer. Since it is the first time that card will have been used on the new device, a one-off security passcode is sent to the stolen phone, which the thief then uses to link the card to their own device and now has full access to the victims’ bank account. The security code is typically visible on the stolen phone even if it is locked as most people leave message previews turned on.

So how can you prevent this from happening to you? The easiest method is not to bring your cards or phone to the gym, or to ensure they are not left together in a locker or other single location.

If keeping your belongings with you in the gym isn’t an option, the suspected technique of the thieves can be stopped outright or at least slowed down by disabling message previews on the lock screen. We’ve included the process for iPhones and Android devices below.

For iPhones:

Go to Settings
Scroll to Messages
Scroll to Notifications
Scroll to Show Previews where there are three choices: Always / When Unlocked / Never
Select either When Unlocked or Never. Your messages will no longer flash up when your phone is locked

For Android:

Go to Settings
Select Lock Screen
Select Notifications
Select Don’t Show Notifications. Your messages will no longer flash up when your phone is locked