Police alert: thieves grab cellphones from people’s hands on Near North Side

Police are warning residents of recent robberies of people’s cellphones on the Near North Side.

In each of the four robberies, one to four males approached the victim and forcibly grabbed the cellphone from their hands, Chicago police said.

The robberies happened in the evening hours of:

• Jan. 9 and 10 in the 300 block of East Illinois Street;
• Jan. 9 in the first block of East Huron Street; and
• Jan. 5 in the 500 block of North Rush Street.

In two of the robberies, the thieves fled in a black car, police said.