There’s no denying it, since as long as smartphones have existed, phone theft has been an issue. This isn’t a problem that’s taken lightly or brushed aside; industry, regulators and technologists have made significant advancements on addressing and curbing phone theft. As early as 2002 Europe was at the forefront, with the GSMA creating a shared database of stolen phones that could be barred on all networks. In 2004 the UK launched National Mobile Phone Crime Unit, to better police the problem. And in 2004, the GSMA created a Central EIR or CEIR to increase efficiencies of tracking the stolen phones database across Europe.

It’s not just regulatory solutions, technical advancements have been encouraged as well. In the US, the CTIA, The Wireless Association, recently announced the Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment, dictating that all smartphones manufactured for sale in the United States after July 2015 must have "kill switch" technology. This is a system for remotely disabling smartphones and wiping their data. A kill switch is a step in the right direction to deter smartphone thefts across the country (and hopefully the world) and we commend the continuous efforts from the industry to protect smartphone users.

Despite these initiatives, the issue of phone theft is still a massive, global problem. While there isn’t one single solution that is going to alleviate phone theft, the problem can be stifled with industry collaboration, technology, and widespread awareness for how to stay safe.

Lookout’s Phone Theft in Europe report, a survey of smartphone theft victims conducted by IDG Research, examines the smartphone theft epidemic in the UK, France and Germany. The report highlights regional differences and includes context around how, when and where phones are stolen and also how individuals react to phone theft, including the steps they take to recover their phones. (Source: Lookout.com).

The above shows that phone theft is everywhere in the world.

But what about those who steal/discover very cheap phones and refuse to return them? Isn’t that poverty? I wonder why phone stealers refuse to be faithful in very small things like cheap phone. And these are the people that would be pointing accusing fingers to government people, calling them thieves. Yet, they themselves can’t return a stolen cheap phone that can’t make any difference in their life, except to add to the curses on them.

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