80% of stolen handsets rendered useless in the UK within 48 hours

By on April 11, 2007 in Devices, News

Link: Gov claims mobile phone theft waning as penalty rises | The Register

Mobile phone theft has almost been eliminated, according to the Home Office.

It announced last week that 80 per cent of handsets are now blocked within 48 hours of the theft being notified, and new jail terms have been introduced for those found attempting to reprogramme stolen handsets.

That’s pretty neat. But handsets are still being stolen… or, …er… ‘lost’…

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  • http://www.itagg.com steve procter

    Am I right in thinking that the new law also stops genuine phone shops from unlocking handsets for use on other networks; thereby shutting down an entirely genuine and useful industry.

    I tend to buy handsets out right, as do millions of others. If this law is true then I am now forced to buy a new handset already on the network that I wish to use it on. And if I decide to switch networks well erm how do I do that without buying the handset again on a different network!?

    Surely this can’t be true!? If so then yet again this cretinus government has imposed a law for genuine reasons but has implemented it about as well as tarmacking a road with chocolate icing.

    steve

  • ewan

    If you buy a new handset directly from Nokia, surely that works fine on whatever network you choose?

  • http://mymobilenumbers.com Jeff

    Sure enough this is true i have found a really cool site that you can check any IMEI number before you buy the handset. Its allready doing lots of business on ebay. You can check out http://www.recipero.com/recipero/products/checkmend/

  • http://www.vendingrules.com Vending Guy

    You make an interesting point about sales on eBay Jeff. I see LOADS of cell phone for sale, I have trouble believing that those are all people who are upgrading to a new phone – they must be hot. Too bad they don;t have something like that for the US – or maybe even a global database. The only way to stop the thieves is to take away their financial incentive.

    One question though. It looks like you have to pay to see if your phone was stolen. How many people do you think will pay? The site should probably give the report for free (or a scaled down version) and find another way to monetize the site.

    Chuck

  • http://shkspr.mobi Terence Eden

    @Vending Guy. There is a Global Blacklist. It’s called the EIR (Equipment Identity Register). Any GSM/UMTS provider who deploys it will not allow a stolen phone to work on their network.

    Full details at http://www.gsmworld.com/using/security/index.shtml

  • http://www.vedningrules.com Vending Guy

    OK, that’s good to know. Thanks for the link!

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