Ho Chi Minh City police arrested two transgender women early Thursday for snatching an iPhone from a British tourist after pretending to be sex workers and soliciting the man on a downtown street.

The arrestees are Le Thanh Duong, 20 and Nguyen Ngoc Thien, 18, two alleged members of a pickpocket gang that targets foreigners in the backpackers' area in District 1, police said.

The incident happened at around 2:30 a.m. when the duo approached the 21-year-old British man who was walking on Pham Ngu Lao Street.

One of them began to caress the tourist and offered to have sex. She managed to snatch his iPhone before he pushed her out.

She quickly jumped onto a motorbike with the other.

However, they were arrested shortly by plainclothes police officers who had secretly followed them, after finding the suspicious duo driving around. 

The iPhone has been returned to the tourist.

Police are investigating into allegations that the duo belongs to a gang.