Cellphone theft has emerged as a major issue in Brazil’s presidential election, with incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro competing to demonstrate their commitment to public safety ahead of Sunday’s run-off vote.
The issue has attracted widespread attention despite a decline in phone thefts since 2023. About 830,000 cases were registered last year, according to the Brazilian Public Security Forum.
For content creator Tabata Lenk, the problem became personal in late August when two men on motorcycles smashed her car window in São Paulo and stole a new cellphone from her dashboard while she was sitting in traffic.
Footage captured by her dashboard camera quickly went viral, she said, highlighting how phone theft has become a source of public anxiety and a prominent campaign issue.
Brazil’s homicide rate has fallen by 40 per cent over the past decade to 15.4 deaths per 100,000 people in 2025, according to the forum. However, cellphone theft remains the country’s fourth-largest public safety concern, ahead of stray bullets and burglaries, a March survey found.
Both presidential candidates have responded with proposals for tougher punishment.
Lula signed a law earlier this year increasing prison sentences for theft involving electronic devices to as much as 10 years. His administration also introduced a platform allowing people to register their devices and report thefts.
Bolsonaro, meanwhile, has proposed a minimum eight-year prison sentence for cellphone theft.
“I only want to take aim at the thief and the store that buys and sells the (stolen) phone, I don’t want to harm the innocent person who bought it out of necessity,” Lula said in a televised address.
“The cellphone thief is going to jail,” Bolsonaro said during a livestream following the first round of voting.
Lenk said the robbery left her feeling so unsafe that she only resumed driving alone after having her car windows tinted.
“No one should be afraid to leave their house, walk in the street, or use their own cell phone,” she said, adding that she believed choosing politicians committed to public safety was essential.
In Brazil, where social media and electronic payments are deeply embedded in everyday life, mobile phones have become indispensable. Natasha Bachini Pereira, a researcher at the University of São Paulo’s Centre for the Study of Violence, said the widespread nature of phone theft helped explain its political significance.
“It’s far more common for someone to know of, or have been exposed to, a case of cellphone theft than a car theft, a homicide, or a kidnapping,” Pereira said.
The high cost of mobile phones in Brazil also makes theft particularly damaging for victims. Research from Deutsche Bank found that taxes, tariffs and currency weakness have made the country one of the most expensive markets for Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro. A new device costs about $2,260 in Brazil, compared with $1,181 in the United States.
Even cheaper models represent a substantial expense. Market research firm IDC put the average retail price of a cellphone in Brazil at about 2,310 reais, or $456.83, in 2025, roughly two-thirds of the country’s average monthly income.
Criminals are also targeting the financial information stored on stolen devices. As digital banking and payments have expanded through the central bank’s Pix system, fraud involving stolen phones has more than quadrupled between 2024 and 2025, according to the Brazilian Public Security Forum.
After Lenk’s phone was stolen, the perpetrators used Pix to withdraw 2,000 reais from her bank account.
“It’s terrible to experience the violence of having your cell phone stolen, but realizing that someone invaded your privacy and managed to steal money from your account is downright agonizing,” she said.
São Paulo state accounts for nearly a third of cellphone thefts nationwide. Data from state authorities showed that 268,184 devices were stolen there last year, according to the forum.
Police have stepped up efforts to recover stolen phones. Rodolfo Latif Sebba, a civil police chief coordinating the operation, said officers were working to prevent theft “in the strongest possible way and improve public safety”.
But, only a fraction of stolen devices have been returned to their owners. Between June 2025 and September 23 this year, police in São Paulo state recovered 38,028 phones and returned 11,445 to victims.
For 17-year-old student Natalia Eduarda Benvindo, the recovery of her stolen phone came as a surprise.
“I asked, ‘are you joking?’” Benvindo said. “I couldn’t even believe it at the time, wow! I was really happy.”
Ojo Triumph
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