Brazilian influencer Tabata Lenk had just been fired from her job in Sao Paulo and was stuck in traffic when two assailants on motorcycles smashed her car window and stole her brand new cell phone from the dashboard.
A video of the robbery in late August, captured on her car’s dashcam, quickly went viral on social media, Lenk said. Reuters reports that the reactions to the video show how a problem that has long plagued Brazilian cities has become a key issue in this year’s presidential election. Although the number of cellphone thefts has been declining since 2023, about 830.000 were still reported last year, according to the Brazilian Public Security Forum.
Although the homicide rate in Brazil has fallen by 40 percent in the last ten years, to 15,4 per 100.000 inhabitants in 2025, according to the Forum, mobile phone thefts are a reminder that the country still has a lot to do to make its more than 210 million inhabitants feel safe.
Mobile phone theft remains the fourth biggest security concern for Brazilians, a survey conducted in March showed, and citizens are more concerned about it than stray bullets and burglaries.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his right-wing opponent Flavio Bolsonaro, who will face off in a close second round of the presidential election next Sunday, are both seeking to show resolve in the fight against mobile phone thieves.
Current President Lula signed a law earlier this year that toughened penalties for stealing electronic devices, up to ten years in prison, and launched a platform for registering devices and reporting thefts, while Bolsonaro has proposed a minimum prison sentence of eight years.
“I only want to deal with the thief and the store that buys and sells (stolen) phones. I don’t want to harm an innocent person who bought such a phone out of necessity,” Lula said in a televised address.
“Mobile phone thieves will go to jail,” Bolsonaro said during a live broadcast on social media after the first round of the election.
Lenk said that after the robbery she felt so unsafe that she only dared to drive alone again after tinting her car windows.
“No one should be afraid to leave their house, walk down the street or use their own cell phone,” Lenk said. “That’s why I believe it’s crucial to elect politicians who are committed to public safety.”
Brazilians love phones.
In Brazil, one of the countries with the highest internet usage, where social networks and electronic payments dominate daily life, the mobile phone has become indispensable, writes Reuters.
Natasa Bacini Pereira, a researcher at the Center for the Study of Violence at the University of São Paulo, said the prevalence of mobile phone thefts explains why the problem has gained such political importance.
“It is much more likely that someone knows a person whose cell phone was stolen or has experienced such a theft themselves than that they have had experience with car theft, murder or kidnapping,” Pereira said.
Mobile phones are expensive in Brazil, and replacing them if stolen is also expensive.
Deutsche Bank research found that due to customs duties, taxes and a weakening local currency, Brazil has the second most expensive iPhone 17 Pro in the world. A new device costs about $2.260 there, compared to $1.181 in the United States.
Even cheaper phones represent a major expense for many Brazilians. According to market research firm IDC, the average price of a mobile phone in Brazil in 2025 was around 2.310 reais ($456,83), which is about two-thirds of the average monthly income in the country.
Thieves are often just as interested in access to mobile banking as they are in the device itself.
With the rapid development of digital financial services in Brazil, fueled by the Pix instant payment system introduced by the central bank, the number of frauds related to stolen devices has also increased dramatically. According to the Brazilian Forum for Public Security, a non-profit organization that advocates for the improvement of public security policies, the number of such frauds more than quadrupled from 2024 to 2025.
After stealing Tabata Lenk’s phone, the criminals withdrew 2.000 reais from her bank account via the Pix system.
“It’s horrible to experience violence when your mobile phone is stolen, but finding out that someone has violated your privacy and managed to steal money from your account causes real agony,” said Lenk.
Search for stolen devices
Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state, accounts for almost a third of all cellphone thefts in the country, according to the Brazilian Forum for Public Security, citing data from local authorities. Last year, 268.184 cellphones were stolen in the state.
Police across Sao Paulo are working to “prevent cellphone thefts as decisively as possible and improve public safety,” said Rodolfo Latif Seba, the chief of the criminal police who coordinates operations to recover stolen phones.
However, only a small proportion of stolen devices are returned to their rightful owners. From June 2025 to September 23 of this year, police in the state of Sao Paulo recovered 38.028 mobile phones, of which 11.445 were returned to the victims of theft, the police said.
Seventeen-year-old student Natalia Eduarda Benvindo couldn’t believe it when police found her stolen phone.
“I asked them, ‘Are you kidding?’ At that moment I couldn’t believe it. Wow! I was really happy,” Benvindo said.
Download the app and follow the news
FOLLOW US ON
News
