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The Met Police told mobile phone firms to take urgent steps to prevent stolen phones from being resold and reused and after over two years of campaigning, the Met and Apple have reached an agreement that protects mobile phone users, and is making stolen phones unusable.
The changes to security settings on Apple mobile phones and by Samsung and Google sees the tech firms taking the plague of mobile phone theft seriously. The Met says this will contribute to disrupting a highly organised international business model worth millions.
Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley gave an ultimatum to tech firms to take urgent action or policing would call for the government to legislate and mandate changes.
“For the first time, we are routinely sharing intelligence on stolen devices, building a joint picture of how these phones move and whether they reappear in circulation. That partnership is already making a difference. If stolen phones cannot be reactivated, their value collapses, and so does the incentive to steal them. We are driving up the risk for offenders while cutting off the reward.”
The work undertaken between the Met and Apple sees stolen device identifiers being shared, creating a joint intelligence picture to track phones and identify whether they reappear in circulation. The Met says that early data from this collaboration shows that a significant number of stolen phones in a recent sample have not been successfully reactivated, significantly reducing their value to criminals.
Operation Reckoning is focused on driving down phone theft across London and earlier this month resulting in almost halving phone theft in Westminster in central London. The fifth iteration of this operation saw officers involved carrying out arrests of prolific and violent phone thieves, executing search warrants at shops suspected of handling stolen goods, and deploying specialist pursuit drivers, known as ‘interceptors’, to track and detain offenders on e-bikes.
The Met has seized more than 3,500 illegally modified e-bikes and e-scooters since January last year. It says that offenders are increasingly using high-powered e-bikes to snatch phones and evade police, often riding dangerously through busy areas. Last year the Met invested in its own Sur-Ron e-bikes and is now planning to expand its fleet to pursue offenders more effectively.
Alongside the partnership with Apple, the Commissioner has written to the Home Secretary calling for legislation to require all phone companies to publish data on stolen devices and reconnections, ensuring transparency and accountability across the industry.
Read more – Met commissioner warns industry to act on phone theft crisis.
