London's Safety, Street Crimes & Going Viral | Diego Galdino

0:00Welcome to Jimmy's Jobs of the Future. Today we are joined by Diego Galdino. Now you may not recognise the name, but there's a good chance if you spend any amount of time on social media, you will have seen him. He's a former Uber Eats driver who has taken on becoming a vigilante against the crime that is happening across London. He creates these amazing videos and you can see him working alongside police. some people have described him as the Batman of London I think it's a fascinating job that he's created for himself how he's funding it through GoFundMe and what the future might look like for him as well I hadn't realised until this episode that he only started nine months ago he really has become a sensation and I posted about the episode and the fact we were interviewing him a few weeks ago and it really did light up in terms of messages that we got from people So I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we did recording it.

0:59Make sure you subscribe so we can continue to get bigger and bigger guests.

1:09Diego, welcome to Jimmy's Jobs of the Future. It's my pleasure. Tell us, what is your job? So today my main job is like going to the street, try to expose the pickpock, bring the face on social media and help to spread awareness and make the public know that this kind of issues happen in the city. And you've got a real cult following, right? Like people that are listening might not know you, but on social media you've got hundreds of thousands of followers. Yeah, like for me it was everything new, you know. I never dreamed to be like someone on social media, an influencer or something like that.

1:50even on my private Instagram I had like 300 350 friends before to start it I even had like TikTok accountant before and when I get tired of the situations of this big pocket I start the accountant and the account blow up and so when did it start uh I started it on last summer on 15th July. Yeah, 15th July. And we are today in February. And I reached like 750 followers on Instagram. And what persuaded you to start? I think it was like the feeling of, I was excited to see this happen all the time on the city. I arrived at home and was thinking to myself, actually I can do something for help with these people.

2:46I was just like feeling the injustice doesn't help these people like seeing this kind of stuff every single day happen. I could shout, I could like go for the for the pickpops for the victims like making everyone aware that what's happened and my friend was pushing me like bro do account and do some social medias you have like everything you need you have a camera you have the videos you spot them easily so why not and they start pushing me pushing me pushing me and it was a saturday i saw one brazilian lady crying around the buckham palace and i was approaching her as she was speaking portuguese and say what's happened do you need help or something like that and she said oh i just like god i just got stolen they took like my wallet with 300 pounds it was everything I had with me it's my first time in traveling abroad it's my birthday I came here like for enjoy for have a fun funny time and it happened and it was on Friday Saturday working I spot the pickpockets again Sunday I was off I was around it for visit the Buckingham Palace for the first time in six years I I went there properly for watching the policy and this kind of stuff.

4:08I saw them again. I said, oh, no way. And I went home. I already have like some videos that I always like share with my friends, like just for fun. Say, oh, look at these people still in here. Look at these people again here. And on Monday, I started the accounts, like one TikTok and one Instagram account. And here we are like. And day by day, I was like more concentrating these people. uh i prepare better my cameras my my gears yeah and i was pretty lucky i don't know if i was lucky or what else i pass around the area i see then stealing i was recording and i was uploaded like daily you know one video per day one video per day and and you were you were new but each driver before is that yeah yeah delivery food i deliver food in general you know or parcels wherever they pay more it was delivery but your dad was a police officer yeah right so do you think that sort of led you to merge these jobs oh of course like the way that i grew up like the attention that my father brings to me uh it's like uh maybe we see things different that the other people see on the street or something like that but mainly the fact that i'm a brazilian as well there is easy for someone cross the street to point a gun on you and grieve your mobile so we are more scared about the situation and we grow up like that so this instinct come we feel like when we go somewhere else we always like even like here the situation is not like Brazil happy for that but still we have like this feeling this sensation to be alert all the time you know and I would say like the property instinct in the feeling the perception that I turn into it like make it easy for for for catch what we catch um do you think crime is is getting worse in london because it's it's one of the things that i've noticed because if you look at the official figures it says it's going down but then in the last two to three years i've seen more crime than ever and i just feel that people are more brazen with it they're just you know they will walk into a shop pick up a box of chocolate bars and just walk out and it's kind of but you never used to see that uh yeah i mean i have lived here before the pandemic for six months i didn't had this perception because maybe it was a short time and i my perception wasn't on it after the pandemic we started to realize this guy's funny snatchers on the street a lot knife crimes uh kids like going a bunch of in a group of 10 15 kids going to stories stealing and on my perception i would say that's much worse than the reality number that the yeah they met or the mayor exposing you know and what's your you work quite closely with the police officers from the videos that I've seen and so right you seem to have quite a good relationship with them I mean our relationship is from the street you know we didn't we don't have like nothing apart from that yeah of course when I go give you a statement or when I met them with some some some proves or some contents that I have like the words like runoff from my evidence evidence when I have evidence we keep shot in we keep like I keep exposing mapping everything for them like inside the room but everything is informal you know like or sometimes they call me like midnight and say oh Diego I just get like that big box that you expose on on your Instagram account do you have more videos of in the ceiling or about this kind of thing they usually they see you know and when they see me on the street they shake hands or something like that but everything is informal and i'm i'm really like present to help you know then um we had like one situation that some people came with some footage for us we upload in the social media on Instagram and came like more victims of this this pickpocket you know and I was in a room giving a statement for another situation that we have with pickpockets the cops came for me oh they say oh Diego actually do have like some victims of this guy we are looking for them like for two years and I say I have I have everything for him I have a reference number from the the victims i have videos i have like the the taxi number plate that they run off if they pay with credit card i don't know with card you can go there and try to make your investigation and they say okay it's everything that we have and the people knows i have a lot of volunteers on the street that is happening to help us uh last saturday uh one guy told me like it was 7 p.m.

9:25actually I was in Berlin I wasn't here one guy told me oh your guy is here like my guy this one this big pocket that the police is running after him like for two years and didn't have like proof for getting arrested it was 7 p.m. the guys told me oh your guys is around here I just like dropping the message for everyone that I know and when it was 99 p.m. yeah he was arrested you know or But one of my friends like spot him, let him steal inside of the store, grab him, and bring to the police. I say, agora, now, just like link the other reference that the police want from him. So you have like a broadcast group?

10:09Yeah. Okay. Like delivery riders, it's my eyes on the street all the time. security officers like security from stores owner of restaurants like staff from stores everyone helps it's like an informal network the police have these contacts as well but maybe it's kind of hard of tracking everything you know you've been asked this a lot I'm sure but have you thought about joining the police I was thinking too but the way that the politics conduce to the because today i see the police as a political tool yeah yeah so i prefer my freedom uh the way that i like to act in and i don't like to receive certain orders from some manager or something like that i prefer now i i have my here I have I want to produce and I have the my jujitsu trainer he is like retired police officer and he told me don't go don't go the way that you want to make it justice like this how do you want to work you know you're gonna be frustrated so don't go what's what's your working day look like I prefer to concentrate on the street like on weekends but like sometimes I I set my days or today is Friday okay I go to the street I gonna be like full day on the street yeah but like for example today i'm gonna grab a coffee in the in some coffee shops around the central area yeah and then when i see is like past six seven hours i'm street like walking around like talk with people i always bring my cameras with me wherever i go so i always prepare you know but i try to go to the street like recording do everything like four or five times per per week and I need to work in the background as well I need to do everything from the social medias editing videos setting meetings answer emails like everything I do basically alone you know so you're doing it all on your own all the other thing and so when we put when I put on LinkedIn that we were getting you on the show like we got a really big reaction from people and I I found it fascinating in terms of like we've had very senior politicians, we've had billionaires come in, and I think we got more questions about the business model in view than anyone else.

12:55So let me ask a bit about that. Like how you – and one of the great quotes from Michael Martins on there was they described you as the Batman of London. But how do you fund yourself? Like how does that side of it work? in the beginning on the first two three months i was like going like doing the deliveries right but i was like well set with cameras for recording every single day and the people start to push me oh open a crowd found you know like go fund me something like that i opened and yeah i was like getting some money from there uh until the point i think the people see oh this guy is working hard like yeah i have like videos every single day of from people stealing and then day by day they go found me grow up grow up grow up and last december I started in July until December I did like 10 ,000 10 ,000 pounds and then Metro Metro BBC they came to me and said oh Diego how is going your GoFund and this kind of stuff and say oh actually it's going well I can I can survive from this money from that and then like sometimes some news come from me like some broadcast come from me they pay me like some money for go with them or to make interviews and basically my money was from there you know and i could do like this kind of stuff full time and the meanwhile i got like monetized on facebook on youtube as well and then we are making some money from from there and from december until right now no i would say november from now from like three months we reach like 33k on the gofound me so basically my I can survive from there as well you know yeah yeah from a part of the monetization yeah so you've got like a few revenue streams and there's the sort of standard media commentary side which actually I haven't considered before but yeah I suppose you can make some money from that you've then got social media streams but then also the gofundme and of course like my taxi driver the other day came and returned my phone and i gave him a 20 quid tip as well like do you get people sort of giving you tips through the gofundme for when you yeah like uh i mean not from the victims if the victims come from me and try to give me some money never i'm gonna get it you know i'm not doing that for the money or some kind of compensation from that um i'm basically doing that for the instinct of the justice and today i can see that i can make some money from youtube from social medias kind of stuff and to be honest with you it's like much like better to work on youtube social medias than as a deliver writer yeah yeah and but yeah like once like the guy stopped me on the street oh you are the pickpocked guy wait here for a second i have like something for me for you and in the end he bring my 200 pounds in cash and say i it was looking suspicious for me yeah i went to the bank i check if the notes was like it was true notes you know but yeah and then i say how come the guy just stopped me like he just give me the money go away you know and have like some people that it donates me like monthly like 500 like in another month 500 again and the same person, you know.

16:36I don't know, it's an enormous person. They just go in my GoFundMe and donate this kind of money. But, yeah. Are you a fan of Jimmy's Jobs of the Future? Hi, I'm Sonny, one of the producers behind the show. And we don't just make this podcast, we produce some of the best business content out there, working with global brands and founders. Over the past year, we've flown around the world and demand keeps growing. And with four prime ministers trusting us with their appearances on this show, you're in safe hands. So if you're already in the market for a podcast or standout business content, why not start with us?

17:10Drop me a line at sunny at boxlight.io, try our podcast calculator or book a meeting at boxlight.io. That's boxlight.io. Now back to Jimmy. It's amazing that people are doing that, but also you're like, I know from running a YouTube channel that like cameras and there's this equipment costs money. Yeah, like the editing time as well is phenomenal. Yeah, in the beginning, I was like invest in like some oh maybe extra battery and unstop vest uh food or this kind of my all expenses come from the go found me you know and then by day the donation was grew up i was investing in cameras some people donate me a good camera and i was investing a complete computer and better softwares like everyone like sold subscriptions go some money all the time you You need to do some subscription for saving your videos.

18:09You need to subscription for editing your videos. Google Drive. Everything, you need a subscription. I'm so glad that people donate me a lot. It actually helps me building myself from this year. And would you ever want to get to the point where you sort of employ someone to help you with this? like what's the have you even thought about this like oh yeah i have like a lot of people that enjoy with me just for the pleasure to to come with me but yeah sometimes i need to edit like longer videos i don't know how to edit properly i'm gonna spend a lot of time a lot of hours editing it so i need to pay someone else or i'm gonna to to record properly on the street because I actually I need to have like someone for coming with me on the streets because it's not safe anymore to go alone Everyone's already know me.

19:04I want to come to this yeah and yeah like most of my friends they need to work So they're not gonna stop they work for just for coming with me So I need to pay like a daily for them to come with me to hold the camera or this kind of stuff You know, so yeah always I need to pay someone or CPO depends off the occasion where what we are planning to do so always yeah but in the future if the things grow up you of course I need like assistance for answer my emails or something like that or if you want to grow up like maybe a agency or something like that as well I'm open out of everything you know yeah oh because I suppose it's almost like you're you're almost like private security but you're private security for everyday citizens yeah i mean when i go when i go by bike for me i feel like much safer during the day this kind of tough situations i go by bike is very easy for me running away escape do my videos and that's it but when i need to go out during the night it's not like just for the fact to be night yeah I feel more unsafe so I always have like someone with me like you're on the cameras and because I felt that like so watching like a lot of your content like I sit there and I'm scared you know people really come and like swing for you and you're like quite softly spoken person like how how scary is it I mean in that time I have like a focus you know I don't feel like scared I just gonna think like later or this kind of situations could happen or it's already happened like have a third people on the background they punch me or something like that uh yeah but on the time on the action i don't concentrate much like today with day by day with a lot of different situations that we are already carrying oh we are looking around if we don't see if there are someone else or or who are this person, I already know this person, how can I approach him, how is going to be this reaction, you know.

21:20But, yeah, we always try to do the things on the safest way that we can do, you know. We try to mitigate the physical contact or something like that. When's the most scared you've been? I think it was in the first week, first or second week, that was the situation that I saw two ladies trying to reach the bag of an Arabic woman around the Selfridges. I was recording and doing everything up in my bike with two bags of deliveries on my backpack. And one guy came from the back and punched me and kicked me out from my bike, you know. And that time I had my spray as well. I started to spray on them, like try to contain them with the spray and he went away.

22:11So that was one situation. Another day I was coming from the Daily Mail Studios around Victoria. I already saw like two non-pickpockers around there. I was in a line bike, so I wasn't properly on my bike that I used to cycle. I know everything. I know how to accelerate, where to brake, this kind of stuff. I was in a line bike. And I shout with the guys because they was around some people. I said be careful guys big box and they look like that and then just start to cycle with the bike the traffic light close and they start to come over me and I jump the red the red light once again one car cross and they was very clearly close of me this these two guys they approach me so I just like drop out of from the bike drop off the bike let the bike on the floor because I thought oh if they catch me up in the bike so it's gonna be much worse and then I start to to run away like just with my legs after that one guy approached me with a stick like that and I just like running away spraying my that my head ink on then happened the ink stopped then and another one had like a bottle an empty bottle of beer or something like that and yeah i think this one was the most one like that i would to run away properly and i managed to do that and a part of that like i was spotted and some of them tried to confront me straight away but i'm not there for fighting or something like that you know and you've been hit as well right because oh yeah i saw one of the videos that you had was about getting prepared yeah so today we can manage it but that time is like another well-known pickpock that are are around the area of mayfair every single day stealing like for years uh we cut them so these are known people yeah no people the police know everyone knows the officers they on the cover cops know them properly um we i was spraying on her i hit like front each other when i did that she was with the mobile and she hits me like that you know on the forehead actually is attacked that they use like i have another friend from barcelona yeah she got attacked in the same way uh and they said oh you need to be careful because when they hold the mobile like strong in the hand like that they're gonna hit you so next time you get like far away a little bit more for because they're gonna lose that because mobile is not a gun or something like that but it's one thing that can arm you yeah strong you know and yeah after that she got arrested for assaulted she was released on bail it was 20th of December and the last 10th of January right now it was many just situation with a We were just pickpocked inside Zara.

25:23We caught them, the lady had handed, and we was managing the situation, waiting for the police. She and her colleagues, like, get into the Zara, for stealing again. Say, oh, you're here again, you know that you can be close to me, or something like that. And the guys hand her, catch her, bring her to the room, waiting for the police. The police arrived, did the search, didn't find nothing, and released her. and probably and she was someone's drop my message of her Sunday on the tube yeah she was on the tube again about the spray in the way because it's not pepper spray no no but you're just you're basically marking people yeah right yeah it's just like one head head ink is washable it's not allergic or something like that it's just a way that I found for trying to stop them you know I I used to have it with me when I was a delivery rider, but I haven't used at all, never.

26:25But for the pickpocked, it worked well, because I know that they are pickpocked. I already have evidence for the one that I go with the ink. If I just shout with them, they just gonna cross the street, or I'm not gonna be in that place forever. They gonna cross the street, they go in another area still, you know? another day was like half past eight my friend called me say Diego she's a lady she is helping me since the first week she's so good she grabbed the pickpock to show hold then she arrests do the seats and arrests everything and she said me Diego oh Bulac is here Bulac is the name of the big book he just crossed like Victoria Port station I say okay I was on my bike already I just was cycling around the area i went to victoria station i make all the way that they do victoria station buckham palaces san james park uh the church uh westminster abbey when and after westminster abbey they go parliament square in big bang but when i reach like westminster abbey they was there like 9 a.m in the morning you know i just go straight away with the the spray so basically in that day I frustrated the day of the stealing because they're not going to steal with a full of paint at hand and the clothes or the face or whatever or sometimes they run away from the situations and it's one way that the police can trace then you know like inside the tube or inside of the or another place.

28:00Where are the worst areas of London for pickpockets I would say like on my perspective when i start last summer was like westminster uh all the buckham palace big bend this kind of things uh victoria station like it still happened there but not how often not how strong it was before you know i think the numbers really decrease about pickpockets and phone tests about the area like that mainly for my presence i mean the police are there as well sometimes but I really believe the job that you have been doing the area but I would say like South Kensington yeah around Harwood's Chelsea that stores West End they concentrate a lot you know and they are everywhere unfortunately they are everywhere like in the train stations the shops the restaurants different groups acting on the cities and it's but whilst it's low level crime like it's organized right so like are you worried about your safety in in that sense or you know is there not some sort of gang boss that's like how do we stop this Diego I mean I worry about it I worry about my safety kind of stuff but well they manage you how they gonna do the things you know all there all the action is going to have a reaction so they know that we know them all of them we have like once i told for the guy once you cross my way the thing is going to be different you know one of the pimp of the big box so we keep them apart from social medias and this kind of stuff she he's well known for the for the police for the society and for the everybody like security officers, owners, stores from the street, everyone knows them.

29:53I don't know how come this guy is still on the street, to be honest. But yeah, we had like one confrontation once, and I was with a CPO guy, he's a friend of mine, he came with me just like as a volunteer, just for enjoying the moment as well. And he likes to do this kind of stuff. And I told him, you already know us, we know you as well, once you cross our way, the thing is going to be different, you know. and we have like kind of a deal the things works right now interesting yeah but they are very organized you know like uh they have like if who to selling the items uh once they get like something stolen like one watch one luggage or something like that two three days is already abroad the items you know they are they are not like low level they are not they are not doing that for getting food in the end of the day or for praying the the rent or something like that they do that professionally you know they just come here for stealing the profession of them are stealing they go stealing forever if they get a job for them yeah yeah exactly if they get in jail like for one year for 10 years once they are released they're gonna go to the street again stealing or here or in another country so how do we stop it right you You think it's got a little bit better in Westminster, but how do we stop this?

31:16How do we break it up? Make these people deported.

31:25The laws are soft as well. the police don't have like research money and budget for investigation and for to have officers full-time on the street investigating making the arrests so I think it's like more political and laws things that need to be changing you know how has your job changed because one of the things that strikes me about okay get police on the street fine but police make everyone else feel safe there but they also are basically a beacon to the pickpockets of get away don't do this whereas i think one of the things that's kind of probably helped your job is like being inconspicuous sort of blending in how's that changed as you become more notorious and well known uh you mean like the way that i bring it to the social media yeah like i suppose now do the pickpockets see you almost and be like yeah you're almost police officer in your own right but more well known uh yeah like some of them like drop me man says oh don't paint me or we already going from the city some of them like snitch each other you know because they are a clan of gypsies like some of the groups do have like different groups that stealing on the street so one family don't like your other family so they come to me I say oh these people are acting in some place they drop with names they drop pictures or everything I really so they said so you get you're getting the criminals reporting each other yeah yeah they are very dirty you know they're very dirty they They have no morals at all.

33:09And the fact to be recognized, I think, for me, to be honest, is not one thing that feeds my ego. Well, it's still good when someone approaches you and says, oh, congratulations, keep it up, you're doing a great job. It's nice. It's nice. Apart from that, to be on TV or to be well known for me doesn't make many difference. make a difference like if i want to grow up develop my job or develop something bigger you know like for tv or something like that but it's not my goal at all to be honest what can people do to help you right we'll put the gofundme link in the show notes etc but what can people do to sort of help you you know good for the ego to be stopped and said you know thank you and so on but like what can people do?

34:06Oh, actually we have like our GoFund on the social medias. The people can help like with money from there. Or if it's not like just share your content, just leave your comment, like just like drop your footage from some crime, report a crime to the police. It's very important. Like don't be scared or don't be, don't think, oh, the police not gonna do nothing. But actually like report it. It's gonna make like increase the numbers, gonna make like the things happen in the other side yeah if the person can help us like with money it's good if it's not like just share our content and just comment let's just give your feedback you know and there's a great question from Michael Taylor who writes a lot about stocks and shares investing and makes videos on all that side of things he had the question of if you had a hundred thousand pounds what would you spend it off like where could where would you most efficiently spend it to scale oh actually I would invest on my social medias yeah social media is a hundred percent like I can't see that the world today depends from the social medias if I could like like today for example I do everything organic on my social medias yeah like I don't boost like the videos for growing up or this kind of things but it's a way for you getting monetizing for get more views or this kind of stuff yeah or get like some background like a professional background you know like someone doing properly my social means because today's just me I cut the video here uploading the social media go the street with this kind of stuff uh if your videos are excellent i mean they are really engaged like yeah and all the sort of editing and all the side bits that you do on it as well like yeah they are yeah like but i i think it's a little bit amateur i know it's like i'm not 100 professional if i could like turn is it like more professional for reaching more people or developing beside workers, beside brains, this kind of stuff, I would to do that.

36:20Okay, that's interesting. But I also reckon you could probably get some quite interesting people offering to kind of help out a bit as well.

36:31This is such a hard question to ask, but where do you sort of see it in five years' time, right? Because in a way, you want to do yourself out of a job. I mean, I have a lot for developing myself. I really want to be right now a big channel trying to bring some justice in the same way you know actually I have like some good friends from America they have like two thousand two millions on YouTube platform they do amazing job like getting scammers around the world and I want to be in the same way of them or maybe like talking about security and on TV and be a especially it's on security and this kind of stuff.

37:15So, you know, I need to develop myself better. My English, I need to develop this kind of things, like my confidence. And yeah, I really want to be bigger on social media right now, you know, not for the fact I can survive well from there. I can see I am pushing my friends right now as they push me, oh, go to the YouTube, put that. And I'm doing the same way for them. bro leave this delivery job you know go to the social medias do something else you can take my videos you can read it you can make a reaction but just go on social media is going to be much better for you and yeah i just need to develop myself and to be bigger you know um definitely i can i can see that and i can i certainly get that it's more fulfilling than sort of doing delivery driving yeah like if you like before uh i have like one situation that we have in like was doing like a delivery strike for asking better fees better job conditions the kind of stuff oh the bbc came to us they say oh diego can you give an interview for us like talking about it saying never never that i'm gonna put my face on a camera and never gonna put my face for an interview like that and in the first moment that i was engaged with this page uh metro and other metro was the first one that approached me for an interview i just go uh i wasn't confident with my english or something like that but i just go and all the opportunities that i have today for talking in front of the cameras for developing myself i go i just go you know i don't feeling more like that feeling i don't have that feeling oh i'm afraid you are something like that i'm still you know I'm not the person to take a mobile and start to talk in front of the camera like that.

38:58I still don't do that. But I'm going to develop myself and I'm definitely going to do that soon. I can't do that one either. I can't do it. Do you know, have you met Simon Squibb, the What's Your Dream guy? I have watched him, but I never met him before. Oh, you guys should do something together. Definitely. And Phil Carr as well, the guy who does all the sort of tourist videos of places. Do you know him? I know him because before when I arrived here, I was living in Pimplico. In where? Pimplico area. Yes. When I arrived here like six years before. But in the beginning, I was in Pimplico. and I saw a video of guy and they was like oh actually it's Pimplico and they'd go they they stations in the tourist places like teaching people how to to tell the name properly so I used to see some videos of him I wish definitely introduced you to Phil because he he does some quite cool kind of like creator nights and so on if you want to be more in that space it'd be it'd be great well yeah Diego thanks so much for coming on I think what you're doing is amazing like as i said like amazing reaction on linkedin to we were getting you on being called the batman of london like it's an incredible story i hadn't realized actually it was recent as it was it feels like you've been around for a long time i didn't realize it was only six seven months really like it's incredible what you've done with that um and like i said we'll put the gofundme page at the top as well um and yeah like thank you for all your doing and helping keep our city safe It's my pleasure.

40:39Totally my pleasure.

41:08Diego Galdino:.3 % base APY via program banks as of January 30, 2026. It is representative variable, requires no minimum, and is earned on funds swept to program banks. Boost up to$150 ,000. Cash account offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC member FINRA SIPC, not a bank.