Rating: Half the handsets stolen in UK capital are iPhones
Met Police Poster
London’s Metropolitan Police – who have responsibility for the UK’s capital city, have released some frightening figures on smartphone orientated crime. In December [2012] some 9,700 mobile phones were eithen stolen by robbery or theft. That figure is up a shocking 64 per cent on the same month three years earlier. A disproportionate number of these phones – roughly 50 per cent, are believed to have been Apple iPhones. As we grow closer to the industry’s showcase – MWC Barcelona, it illustrates two things. Firstly, the need to install or enable sophisticated security software on the handsets themselves. Secondly, it emphasises the need to take out insurance to protect against such losses.
The London thefts also disclose the phone thieves favoured modus operandi.
Judging from the experiences in London, the most likely victim of a street mobile phone robbery is a young male in his twenties.
Females are more likely to have their smartphones stolen from their handbags [pocketbooks] in night clubs.
The UK shows that phone robbers either ride along on their bicycles or on scooters and then snatch the smartphone from an unsuspecting victim.
A video published by London’s Evening Standard magazine (below) shows exactly how the typical phone robbery is effected.
Which is a stern warning for those attending MWC 2013 this February in Barcelona. How many people attending a mobile phone conference aren’t going to be carrying a handset? Hide your badges as soon as you leave the Fira.
Just password protecting your smartphone isn’t sufficient. If you are standing there texting or talking over the phone, thieves immediately bypass your PIN protection.
Secondary protection on the smartphone is essential to prevent thieves stealing your identity and purchasing goods from eBay, for example.
This secondary protection is actually built into the latest versions of the Apple iOS. However, there is a hidden danger.
GoMobile News knows of at least one avid iPhone fan who installed secondary protection but forgot the password.
It appears that Apple is security conscious because our iPhone reader had to visit an iPhone store to get the locked removed – a factory reset doesn’t override the secondary password. Quite right too.
The video clip of the two second heist can be found on this London Evening Standard web page.
