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Smartphone Mugging More Popular Than Ever
SternisheFan writes with this snippet from gizmodo: "The Associated Press reports that smartphone robberies now account for nearly half of all robberies in San Francisco, as well as an impressive 40 percent here in New York City. And the numbers aren't just high, they're getting higher fast. In Los Angeles, smartphone robberies are up 27 percent from last year, with no signs of slowing down. The thefts come in all varieties as well. Victims have reported having their phones—iPhones in particular (surprise!)—yanked out of their hands while talking, snatched just as public transit reaches a stop, or even taken at gunpoint." When I was relieved at gunpoint of my (very, very dumb) phone a few years ago in Philadelphia (very, very dumb), it made for a lousy evening. Have you been robbed (or accosted) like this? If so, where?
All of these phones know their serial numbers. Just make it totally impossible to ever register a stolen serial number for new service and this should slow way down.
Dog is my co-pilot.
What, everyone got their smartphone robbed?
Most folks take one look at my crappy company-issued Blackberry Curve, and go look for better pickings (figuring that anyone still carryiong one of these probably doesn't have any money either).
I guess even criminals have more self-respect these days than to be seen trying to fence a entry-level crackberry.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Why can't the cell phone company just brick your phone? I have an iPhone, and it can brick if I jailbreak wrong, so why can't I just call the carrier, tell them it's stolen, and have it bricked. Or like someone else said, never have that phone allowed to register again? Don't they do that over in Europe.
If the Smartphone Bandit tried to steal my iPhone, I would smash in the face, club him over the head, and cut out his liver... His tasty liver.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Most thieves simply use the phone until it gets disconnected, then throw it away and steal another one. Others sell them used on Ebay and Craigslist - once they get your money, they don't really care that you can't get service with it. The FCC is considering requiring the carriers to brick phones that are reported stolen, but that doesn't stop any of the above from happening. Smart thieves are stealing your personal data off your phone and re-selling that for a few extra bucks, or selling batches of them to foreign countries.
Simple, I'll carry around a loaf of cyanide-laced bread and an unmarked beaker of H2SO4.
Some stupid mugger stole my drink, but now he robs no more.
For what he thought was H2O, was H2SO4!
I had somebody ask me to use my smartphone at a light rail station in a reasonably nice part of Denver (at 11pm). I politely refused, but I couldn't help but wonder if this person was out to 1) just make a call, which was obviously not an emergency, 2) call some sort of pay-per-call or txt number that would put $20 on my phone bill and the person would get a commission, or 3) just start running, or pull out a weapon, and steal my phone.
Is this a common tactic for stealing phones?
I couldn't help but wonder if I should have let the person use it (I'm about 6'5, 265lbs, with a 36 inch waist, I exercise, etc - so it's not like I was picked out as being the "easy target")
In the end, I concluded that I was right to refuse a stranger access to my $700 "pocket computer" which contains all of my personal information, and costs about a hundred bucks a month to keep services to, in addition to the cost of the device.
Grandpa: My Homer is not a communist. He may be a liar, a pig, an idiot, a communist, but he is not a porn star.
I used to get random schmoes on the street asking to use my phone as I pulled it out to check the time. Now I have a wristwatch and the worst I've gotten is, "Hey buddy, got the time?"
That line, "got the time", is the exact line a mugger used on me once to determine if I had a watch, before he attempted to mug me for it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Mobile_Equipment_Identity#Blacklist_of_stolen_devices
Hey, how about that. An existing solution. It's not perfect, but it'd make it a bit harder than just throwing the iPhone on craigslist - especially since they'd have to modify the sticker on the phone as well, and if they didn't, it'd be proof the phone was stolen.
Let's not forget that the reason these people steal phones is because there's a market - plenty of other people happy to get a phone cheap off craigslist.
Please help metamoderate.
Oh well, I have karma to burn.....
http://www.theiphonespot.net/muggers-dont-want-android-tend-to-go-for-iphone-owners/
"A pair of would-be robbers targeting Columbia students in upper Manhattan seem to be rather picky as they prowl. Twice at 526 114th St., and once at 556 114th St., the suspects demanded the victims hand over their iPhones, police said. The first victim complied, but the second only had a Droid, according to police. The thieves apparently didn't want a Droid â" so they took cash instead."
Seems to me that IMEI blackilisting after a theft is one thing, but why not allow people to pre-emptively opt in to locking their IMEI so that it can't be used with another account without some additional authentication (a it like registrar locking for domains)?
Obviously not everyone would want it (ie people who switch sims etc) but for a lot of people it would make sense as a default.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
While the IMEI may help track down the theft of an iPhone, the serial number doesn't. Apple's policy is that they support the product not the user, and that theft of property is a police matter.
Disagreeing with you does not make me a troll.
Is this a common tactic for stealing phones?
Maybe. If you handed it to him, he'd probably run. If it was still in your pocket, instinct causes many people to reach for it to see if its still there. Even if you refuse the request, his buddy the pickpocket knows where it is now.
Indeed, I was VERY careful to be aware of where my phone was for the remainder of that trip, and I be "aware" while getting off the last train and walking to my truck.
I'm about 6'5, 265lbs, with a 36 inch waist,
These people work in gangs. So unless you want to add 'skilled at practical self defense' to that (not all martial arts qualifies) that won't matter much. One guy grabs your phone and runs, two or three trip you, knock you down and kick the crap out of you.
I would not add "skilled at practical self defense against multiple attackers with nothing to lose" to my resume. I was in that situation when I was 18, and 75 lbs lighter, and I wouldn't want to play that game again. I have "good" health insurance, but it's not worth $700 to get a new set of teeth, and I also have homeowners, auto, and phone insurance. At that point, I'd let 'em have it. Hell, I might show them how to use it.
My bigger question is if this was common "step 1" to stealing a smartphone. The person was able to display a (cheap) phone and state that their battery was dead. But, if I had my phone die, I couldn't call anyone because I don't know any phone numbers!
I came to the conclusion that future protocol would be to ask if it was an "emergency" and offer to dial 911 for them MYSELF while they waited. Otherwise, no, you're not using my phone.
Grandpa: My Homer is not a communist. He may be a liar, a pig, an idiot, a communist, but he is not a porn star.
In all seriousness, I read this headline initially as a story about phones inspiring ever-increasing amounts of smirky posing.
that if you don't have a phone, no one can rob you for it.
Or they kick the shit out of you, or kill you because you must be lying to them. Everyone has a phone these days. Crack heads aren't known for their negotiation skills.
??? This isn't a $2 item we're talking about. Some phones almost qualify for grand theft.
Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.
IIRC, CDMA and our form of LTE is not compatible overseas.
That may be so but quite a lot of the iPhones made now have GSM chips in them that work just fine for data and voice overseas - all of the AT&T iPhones ever made, and every iPhone since the iPhone 4 will work overseas with data (even the ones sold to work with CDMA carriers like Verizon).
Not being able to use LTE in some countries is to really that much a roadblock to selling them.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It sounds like you and your wife think the police are there to serve you. I can assure you this is not the role they fulfill in society.
Just make the casing out of C4 instead of brushed aluminum! Then, like 15 minutes after he steals it, send the code to detonate it! Problem solved!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
A device that 1) has a data link to the outside world, 2) has a GPS receiver, and 3) has a microphone ought to be far riskier to steal. Something is not right here.
You should be able to log into your phone account from another device and retrieve the location of the phone, Maybe listen in and record calls from your phone, too.
What The Holy F-ck ... have you not heard of "Find My iPhone"?
It does *exactly* this behaviour. And I have a colleague at work who used it 2 months ago.
They located the house where the phone was, made it play a loud sound, and heard it in the front bedroom. Rang the doorbell, and got shooed away. Went to the local (Australian) police station, whereupon a detective jumped in a car, went straight back to the house, and put the heavy word on the residents.
They got the phone back.
I doubt that happens very much at all, to the point that it'd probably be a major news item if it happens.
Why?
1. IMEI numbers are currently hard to guess. They're not simple
2. No gain on the part of a seller to block a phone they just sold - indeed, odds are that the buyer can track them down to demand a refund for a *STOLEN PHONE*
3. It takes work; Most people aren't that nasty
4. If they can get that close to the phone, they might as well steal it
5. Most people wouldn't think to do it. Even divorcing couples.
Especially your specifying 'second-hand' phones. Unless it's stolen I doubt the seller is going to care; wish you luck with your new(to you) phone.
I don't read AC A human right
Even a 10% cost increase will result in a much smaller market for it. Modding a PS or XBox back in the day was fairly easy, only required a 'bit' of soldering, yet I can say that 99% of consoles were never modded*. It was a mostly effective level of protection.
Making unlocking a $600 cell phone require a couple hour's work and $100 of parts and such phones will mostly be safe from normal theft.
*Slashdot crowds may differ.
I don't read AC A human right
Atlanta, GA 1998 and I was walking around outside the hotel in the early afternoon.
Not a bad neighborhood mostly office buildings, hotels and a few restaurants.
A little car pulls up beside me and stops, then from the passenger side a guy opens the window few inches and asks for directions to some place, kind of mumbling. I said sorry I don't where anything is I'm not from around here. (yes, dumb answer, now I know better) and so I keep walking.
I hear the car door open and turn around. There's this young black kid pointing a gun at my chest. Probably a .22 but looking down the barrel it seemed really big, cannon big. His hand was shaking. I couldn't take my eyes off the gun barrel.
He said "give me 'yo flip phone" It was on my belt (yes, dumb, now I know better) and I handed it over... then he wanted my wallet, handed it over. He told me to "turn around" then "get down"
So there I was kneeling on the pavement and I thought he was going execute me so I said "can I say my prayers?" All I was thinking was who is going to take care of my daughters after I die.
He said 'go on an pray you honkey mutha f##ka" and fired.
I think he must have been heading back to the car as he pulled the trigger because it hit me in the foot. I thought "I'm supposed to be dead" and laid down on the pavement. I heard the car peel out and I could see it tear around corner.
The bullet only grazed me and after I just had to use a cane for a few weeks (yup, luckiest man on earth)
I wonder how long it would last if the muggers started ending up dead. San Fran is a "gun free" zone. So the perps know their victims are probably not packing.
Sure, it's just a cell phone and not worth taking someone's life. But that's not the issue. The issue is that the scum trying to take it from you definitely thinks a cell phone is worth taking YOUR life.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.