A man has been banned from several health and fitness centers and sentenced to 27 months in jail after he stole gym members’ locker pins and used them to hack into their bank accounts, authorities said.
Declan Murphy of Bromley, England, pleaded guilty to three counts of theft and 11 counts of fraud by false representation on Friday, Jan. 17, according to an official statement from the City of London Police.
Authorities also said that Murphy, 35, has received a “Criminal Behavior Order,” which “bans him from entering certain gyms nationwide.”
The City of London Police did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for additional comment on Sunday, Jan. 19.
According to authorities, Murphy stopped at a London area gym on Sept. 13, 2024, between 8:10 and 9:25 a.m. local time, when he observed a fellow gym member enter a four-digit pin into his locker.
Murphy then used the pin to open the man’s locker, and he also correctly guessed that the four digits were the man’s phone and bank card pin, per police.
Murphy subsequently stole the man’s bank cards and “drenched the victim’s phone, rendering it unusable,” the release said.
The victim later returned to his locker to find his cards stolen, and he was unable to immediately contact his bank or credit card companies, or monitor his card transactions via his banking apps, due to the damage inflicted on his phone.
Police said the tactic gave Murphy a “greater window of opportunity” to commit his crimes.
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Murphy then withdrew £500 in cash (about $609) from a nearby ATM. He also attempted to buy £5,400 (about $6,575) worth of merchandise from an Apple Store that same day, but the transaction was declined, police said.
According to authorities, Murphy committed two similar crimes earlier in June as well. During the September occurrence, he had been out on bail.
Murphy, police added, was using membership cards under false names to gain access to multiple gym chains.
The Guardian reported that the sentencing judge on the case, Edward Connell, described Murphy’s crimes as “pre-planned” and “well-practiced.”
Kevin Ines, Detective Chief Inspector and head of the Criminal Investigation Department and Victim Crime Unit at the City of London Police, has since urged gym goers to take note of this case and to be cautious with their personal pins.
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“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,” he said in the official release from the London Police.
“Our message is clear: Do not have the same PIN code for your locker as your phone or bank card PINs,” Ines added.
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