A vigilante armed with spray paint and a GoPro has become the new hero in crime-ridden London.
Food delivery rider Diego Galdino has begun taking the law into his own hands to try and stop pickpockets terrorising the streets of the capital.
The 22-year-old son of a police officer moved to the UK from Brazil in 2019 and began delivering on his bike for platforms like Deliveroo and Uber Eats.
He began making videos last year, catching the thieves red-handed and then swooping in to try and stop them.
He posts them under the name Pickpocket London, where they have been viewed more than 26 million times.
When he started filming the criminal activity on the streets, his first instinct would be to call the police when he witnessed a theft in action.
But now, having grown frustrated by their lack of response, he has turned to spraying the pickpockets with red paint.
He said: ‘At first I usually call the police, I see them trying to steal and I call the police straight away. But the police never help.
Food delivery rider Diego Galdino has started spraying the thieves with red paint in an attempt to stop them stealing
Diego moved to the UK from Brazil in 2019 and began delivering on his bike for platforms like Deliveroo and Uber Eats
‘If I shout at them they cross the street and keep stealing. They are not afraid of social media, they don’t care.
‘When I see them properly stealing I go straight away with the spray because it makes them stop. People recognise them, so they cannot steal anymore.
‘It is not like proper paint. It is UV light paint. So it comes out in the wash.
‘After they are sprayed they usually stop.’
In a recent video he was seen being taunted by a man in Piccadilly, who shouted at him saying ‘put the spray here’ and pointing to his face.
He cycled past the man and said ‘no more stealing today here, yeah’ before covering him in red paint.
The crook then came furiously running after him as Diego made a getaway on his bike.
He shouted ‘pickpocket’ at the man as he cycled away while the man shouted back at him.
In a recent video, a man in Piccadilly taunted Diego, telling him to ‘put the spray here’ and pointing to his face
The video has been viewed three million times.
Diego grew up in the city of Curitiba in southern Brazil, moving to London to work as a delivery driver.
His mother died when he was young, while his father was a police officer. Diego said others in his family were also police officers.
This upbringing, he said, gave him a sense for spotting thieves in action.
He said: ‘My city (Curitiba) is not too different. It is dark, cold, multicultural. It rains a lot. Things here are easier for work, money, being around Europe. The politics in Brazil is not good and here is much better.
‘As a Brazilian and with my father being a police officer, we have a constant feeling this situation strange things happen on street.
‘If someone has a suspicious attitude, we have a good feeling for seeing when someone is not acting normal, suspicious. I grew up in a family of police officers so we always know about how criminals operate.’
Diego started the videos after noticing the crimes taking place around him during his deliveries in central London.
The Tiktok star said his first instinct used to be to call the police, but decided to start using paint as it became a more effective deterrent
He began uploading some of the footage to his private Instagram, where it was viewed by just a small number of close friends.
He said: ‘I wasn’t someone who uploaded to TikTok, I didn’t have it before. I didn’t post much.
‘In Central London every single day things happen and having a camera helps protect me.
‘I started to spot thieves and criminal things every single day.
‘After a while my friend said you should do something with that, to let people know what is happening.
‘Last June I created a TikTok and Instagram for it. Since then I have started to hunt them down and try to stop them.’
‘I am so happy how the thing has blown up. It doesn’t feed my ego having thousands of followers, to me it doesn’t make much of a difference.
‘I just want to make people know it has happened and make people aware about pickpocketing in London. I have 99 per cent positive comments. I makes me feel very thankful. I really feel I am making the difference to peoples lives.
In one of his videos a man came charging after Diego after he sprayed him with the paint
‘I get a bit shy when someone approaches me and tells me I am a hero. I really feel shy and I am not doing this for me.’
Diego still has his job as a delivery driver but now also allocates ‘two or three days’ each week to hunt down London’s pickpockets.
After a busy summer he said the streets are quieter now, but has warned tourists and residents of the areas where they need to be the most aware.
‘The busiest areas are mainly Westminster,’ he said, ‘before we spotted 15 pickpockets in one day.
‘Now it is a bit lighter. We are trying to explore new areas. But we can find one every single day.
‘And with Christmas coming it will start to get busier again.
‘I would say the worst areas before we started Westminster hotspots, Buckingham palace, big ben, Westminster abbey and oxford street.
‘If you go to oxford street, around Selfridges, Zara, Primark or H&M, they are there every single day.’
The food delivery rider believes the police could be doing more to help stop pickpockets in London
Diego believes the Metropolitan Police could be doing more to help stop the scourge of thieves roaming the streets.
He said that his videos often help victims spot criminals who have had valuable items taken from them.
‘Police could absolutely do more,’ he said, ‘I have a police arrest some ladies years ago and they are out the next day and they continue in the same areas.
‘The security staff know them. They can stop them and say you are here to steal but the security cannot arrest them. They walk around abusing the street daily and we don’t see the police at all.
‘Whenever I upload I get a lot of people commenting saying these are the people who stole from me, sometimes it is thousands of dollars. People sometimes use my videos in their police report.’
He said in one instance a single pickpocket had stolen a mobile phone and £7,000 from various victims.
Diego added: ‘How come these people not arrested why are police not arresting them?’
Despite his fame, the TikTok star remains humble and maintains that his videos are about the crime in the city and not about inflating his own ego.
He said: ‘I know that people recognise me, but I don’t want to be targeted as a hero or celebrity. I am introverted, I don’t like to show myself on social media. I go to interviews on TV. But I usually don’t talk too much, that’s just how I am.
‘Even my personal social media is private, I upload one picture per year.’
The Met Police has been contacted for comment.