Smartphone Theft Drops After Spread of Kill Switches

alphadogg writes "Thefts involving smartphones have declined dramatically in three major cities since manufacturers began implementing 'kill switches' that allow the phones to be turned off remotely if they are stolen, authorities said on Tuesday. The number of stolen iPhones dropped by 40 percent in San Francisco and 25 percent in New York in the 12 months after Apple added a kill switch to its devices in September 2013. In London, smartphone theft dropped by half, according to an announcement by officials in the three cities.

Comments

Re:Remember the down side

[mlts]

In Australia, a year or go, it was mentioned on Slashdot that this was a common scam tactic. The seller would sell a phone, call it in as stolen, then pocket both the cash for the phone and either get insurance money or have a new phone. The buyer would be out both, and possibly even have to deal with the law for possessing stolen property.

Only real protection is to make sure to have a bill of sale with the phone's ID numbers on it and a promise that if it is reported stolen by the seller after the sale, this would trigger a fine... likely too much legal work for most people.

Re:Now what's Tyyrone going to do for a living?

[An Ominous Coward]

Tyrone Willingham