Persistent thief Declan Murphy exploited the fact that many people use the same four-digit PIN for their gym lockers and bank cards.
On September 13 last year the 35-year-old watched as a man accessed his locker at a gym on Mark Lane near Fenchurch Street Station.
He then got access to the locker, stole the man’s bank card and drenched the victim’s phone with water until it now longer worked.
Murphy’s intention was to damage the phone so the man couldn’t access their banking app or see transactions notification, giving him a greater window of opportunity to use the bank card.
When the victim was eventually able to use his phone he saw he had a missed call from his bank, he phoned them back and was told that Murphy had phoned the bank pretending to be him and was given internet access to the bank accounts.
Murphy then spent £18 at a local shop, withdrew £500 from a cash machine and tried to purchase £5,400 of items from an Apple store – though thankfully the final transaction did not go through.
City of London Police are now warning people to not use the same PIN on their bank cards, phone and locks.
Murphy, of Ryder Close in Bromley, was on bail for a number of other thefts when he committed this offence.
He was later identified on the gym’s CCTV
On June 2 he withdrew £1,750 of cash using three different bank cards stolen from a victim at another health and fitness centre in Central London.
On June 5 he stole from another victim at a fitness centre then spent £92 at Zara and unsuccessfully attempted to withdraw £600 in cash.
Murphy later pleaded guilty to three counts of theft and 11 counts of fraud by false representation.
He has now been jailed for two years and three months and has been banned from entering certain gyms across the country.
Detective Chief Inspector Kevin Ives from City of London Police, said: “People who visit gyms expect their belongings to be safe in their lockers and don’t tend to expect anyone to be looking over their shoulder and stealing their PIN.
“Unfortunately, we know this is a method is used by prolific criminals like Murphy.
“Our message is clear, do not have the same PIN code for your locker as your phone or bank card PINs.
“I want to thank the victims on coming forward and helping us with this investigation. I also want to praise the hard work of our Criminal Investigation Department and Proactive Acquisitive Crime Team which resulted in the arrest of Murphy, who has been brought to justice.”
