Revealed: The Swiss cantons where mobile phones are most likely to be stolen

Pickpocketing offences always rise during the summer months, according to insurance companies. But where in Switzerland are you most at risk of having your mobile phone nicked? A new AXA study has the answer. 

Phone thefts reach a peak in summer months

Claims statistics from the past 10 years at the insurance company AXA show that pickpocketing reaches a peak in the summer. According to an AXA press release, 58 percent more mobile phones are stolen during July and August than in other months. 

“A considerable portion of these thefts occur during holidays abroad, where such an incident is naturally all the more annoying,” said Stefan Müller, head of property claims at AXA. However, that doesn’t mean that thefts don’t occur in Switzerland as well. "In summer, people are outside more often. This gives thieves more opportunities to strike – especially in large gatherings, such as at street festivals or music festivals,” he explained.

According to the report, the number of mobile phone thefts in Switzerland does seem to be falling - down from 3.500 reported to AXA in 2015, to 2.200 last year - but the resulting damage remains the same at around 2 million Swiss francs each year, because phones nowadays are significantly more expensive than they were 10 years ago. 

Where in Switzerland are most mobile phones stolen?

The statistics show that, unsurprisingly, the risk of having your phone stolen is generally higher in larger Swiss cities. More interestingly, however, the statistics also show that the Röstigraben comes into play in phone thefts: four of the top five Swiss cantons with the most reported thefts in the last five years are in French-speaking Switzerland. 

According to AXA, they receive the most claims from policyholders located in the cantons of Geneva, Basel-Stadt, Neuchâtel, Vaud and Fribourg. At the other end of the scale sit the cantons of Ticino, Uri and Graubünden, where comparatively fewer thefts are reported. 

In Geneva, policyholders reported mobile phone thefts almost twice as often as the average for Switzerland, and almost four times more often than people in Ticino.