Declan Murphy, 35, of Ryder Close, Bromley noted the victim's locker PIN and correctly guessed it was the same four digits for the bank card inside.
He struck at Third Space City in the heart of the Square Mile while on bail for other similar offences and is now starting a twenty-seven month prison sentence.
Now City of London Police have warned gym users to use a different PIN for their lockers from their personal electronic devices and bank cards.
Murphy pleaded guilty at Isleworth Crown Court to three counts of theft and eleven counts of fraud by false representation.
He has also received a Criminal Behaviour Order, banning him from entering certain gyms nationwide.
On Friday, September 13 Murphy watched a man put a four-digit PIN into his locker at Third Space City in Mark Lane.
Murphy accessed the locker and stole a bank card and then drenched the victim’s phone in water, rendering it unusable.
The victim came back to the locker and realised that his card was missing and his phone soaked.
Murphy’s intention was to severely damage the phone by soaking it in water, meaning the victim couldn’t access their banking app or see transaction notifications, allowing him a greater window of opportunity.
The victim wasn’t able to contact their bank after noticing a missed call from them.
When he eventually was able to call his bank, he was told that Murphy had phoned the bank pretending to be him and was given internet access to the bank accounts.
After stealing the card, Murphy spent £18.20 on the card in a local shop on Byward Street near the gym and then went on to withdraw £500 from a cash machine in Tower Hill Station.
Later the same day, Murphy attempted to purchase £5,400 worth of items from an Apple store.
CCTV placed Murphy at the gym between 8:10am and 9:25am.
In his victim impact statement, the victim said the incident has left him distressed and anxious.
Detective Chief Inspector Kevin Ives, head of the Criminal Investigation Department and Volume Crime Unit at the City of London Police, said: “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.
“Our message is clear, do not have the same PIN code for your locker as your phone or bank card PINs.
“I want to thank the victims on coming forward and helping us with this investigation.
“I also want to praise the hard work of our Criminal Investigation Department and Proactive Acquisitive Crime Team which resulted in the arrest of Murphy, who has been brought to justice.”
Murphy also committed the following offences:
On June 2 he withdrew £1,750 of cash from a Sainsbury’s ATM on Lombard Street, using three different bank cards stolen from a victim at a health and fitness centre on Cousin Lane.
On Saturday, June 4 Murphy stole from another victim of the fitness centre. The victim said he received a notification message through his banking app that £92.06 was spent in Zara, and there was also an unsuccessful attempt to withdraw £600 in cash.
Murphy was also found to be using membership cards under false names to gain access to health and fitness centres.
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