On Monday morning, Samantha Egerton rode MAX to work with Jay-Z laying down rhymes through her iPhone's earbuds. The rapper has famously advised listeners, "You got to learn to live with regrets."

Egerton would rather not –at least with the expensive smartphone that allows her to text, send emails, check her schedule, surf the web and dial up a soundtrack on her daily Lloyd Center-to-Beaverton commute.

"Whenever that door opens, I hold onto my iPhone extra tight" the 19-year-old retail worker said. "Just in case someone's Apple picking."

On

, that term means something far less charming than what people gather to do on Sauvie Island in the fall. It's the nickname for a pretty rotten act – brazen thieves are snatching iPhones, iPads and other mobile devices out of the hands of transit riders and dashing out open doors at stops.

Last year, TriMet police went undercover to bust up an Apple-picking ring in the Portland area. A few days ago, the transit agency sent out a notice saying it's "cautiously optimistic" that smartphone snatchings won't spike like this time last year.

But with both Apple and Samsung releasing new models of their wildly popular mobile devices, transit agencies across the country worry that criminals may be just waiting for the new harvest.

Transit Police officers Kristi Butcher and Brandon Gentry received achievement medals from the Portland Police Bureau for their investigation that broke up a smartphone robbery ring in 2012.

"It's amazing how some people in crowded public places become totally focused on their electronics and don't pay attention to what's happening around them," said Transit Police Division Cmdr. Mike Crebs. "Think of it this way: That iPhone in your hand is just like holding $400 that everyone can see."

In 2011, the last year that TriMet crime statistics are available, nearly 70 percent of the 496 reported serious, or "part one," crimes on TriMet were thefts – 347 on trains, buses and platforms compared to 317 in 2010.

Transit police have understandably blamed electronic devices. Since 2006 – the year before Apple's iPhone sparked a handheld electronics revolution – the number of reported thefts on TriMet has skyrocketed 65 percent.

Protect yourself from 'Apple picking'

* If your smartphone isn't in use, keep it out of sight.

* When listening to music, it tucked away in a pocket (and think about replacing Apple's tell-tale white earbuds with iPhones.).

* Watch for people casing riders for electronics devices.

* Be vigilant when a bus or train is coming to a stop and the doors are about to open.

* Sit or stand in an area that is visible to others.

* If your device is snatched, report it stolen (don't chase after the thief).

But figures from TriMet's Lost and Found department suggest that many many riders who reported thefts actually just absentmindedly left their gadgets behind on a train or bus.

For example, in 2012, 2,820 phones and electronic devices were turned into Lost and Found, but just 947 were claimed by their owners.

But Apple-picking leaves no doubt. Between March 2012 and the end of February, TriMet police recorded 72 cases of riders having smartphones ripped from their hands as they used them.

Robbers have reportedly snatched smartphones from Portlanders walking on busy sidewalks, sitting on park benches and even strolling through college halls. But zoned-out commuters on the city's trains and buses provide the greatest opportunities, police said.

Security video of two snatch-and-run robberies released by TriMet over the weekend showed young men eying their victims, both women, but acting free and easy until the train or bus stopped.

As soon as the vehicle doors opened, the men jumped up, grabbed the iPhones and got away in a blur. In one case, a woman on a MAX train held on as long she could before losing her grip.

Other riders on the train appeared to offer little more than frightened and bemused looks as the thief rushed past them.

The

, which gathers data from police departments, says about 40 percent of thefts in the largest U.S. cities now involve mobile phones, with Apple's iPhone and its high resell value the most popular target. Smartphone snatching on TriMet spiked to 19 reported incidents in May 2012, compared to seven the month before, prompting transit police to start an undercover operation to lure robbers.

Think of it as Operation: White Earbuds. Officers would ride MAX together in teams, wearing street clothes and pretending to be glued to their iPhones. The big break came when a teenager took the bait.

"He put up quite a fight when we tried to arrest him on the platform," Crebs said. But we eventually received some good information that helped us get names and connect the dots."

The Portland Police Bureau recently honored Officers Kristi Butcher and Brandon Gentry with achievement for their pivotal work in breaking up an Apple-picking operation.

The pair spent more than 190 hours reviewing TriMet security video. Among other things, the footage showed suspects quietly stalking victims, getting closer and closer, waiting for the opportunity to strike. "One video from a bus showed a person sitting in a seat and several people standing behind her making a plan to steal her phone," Crebs said.

Crebs and other police officials across the country hope a new database created by the nation's largest smartphone service providers to track filched phones will deter criminals. The system is expected to go live at the end of the year, preventing listed phones from being reactivated by major U.S. carriers.

But the reality is thieves are already shifting away from Craigslist as they find ways to cheat that initiative, including turning to global black markets.

In Washington, D.C., and Boston, transit agencies recently sent out new warnings about Apple picking. Meanwhile, in San Francisco, police with the Municipal Transportation Agency and Bay Area Rapid Transit say they historically see dramatic spikes whenever a hot new phone hits the shelves.

Samsung has just released its highly anticipated Galaxy S4 Android phone and Apple's newest iPhone is rumored to be just around the corner. As a result, the Bay Area's transit agencies are revving up their public education again.

TriMet's transit police advises riders not to go after thieves who snatch their smartphones. Instead, report it stolen, they say. Roman Peck, 25, who rides C-Tran and TriMet to a welding job in Oregon City, said he usually keeps his Android phone tucked in a pocket. "But," he said, "I like to think that no one would get it out of my hand if they tried."

-- Joseph Rose