A man in England has been sentenced to over two years in jail and banned from many gyms after stealing locker codes and using them to access people’s bank accounts.
Declan Murphy, 35, from Bromley, admitted to theft and fraud in court. He was sentenced on January 17th... Continue reading here ▶
He also received a “Criminal Behavior Order” that prevents him from entering certain gyms across the country.
Police said that in September 2024, Murphy watched a man enter a four-digit code into his gym locker. Murphy then used that code to open the locker and correctly guessed that the same four digits were also the man’s phone and bank card PIN.
Murphy stole the man’s bank cards and damaged his phone so it couldn’t be used. This meant the victim couldn’t immediately contact his bank or check his accounts. Police said this gave Murphy more time to commit his crimes.
Murphy then took out £500 (about $609) in cash from a nearby ATM. He also tried to buy £5,400 (about $6,575) worth of items from an Apple Store, but that purchase was declined.
Police said Murphy had committed similar crimes in June. He was also out on bail when he committed the September crime. He was using fake membership cards to get into different gyms.
The judge described Murphy’s crimes as planned and well-practiced.
A police chief urged people who go to gyms to be careful with their PIN codes and not use the same code for their locker, phone, and bank cards.
He explained that criminals like Murphy watch people enter their codes and then use them to steal from them.
