http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/ Engadget Comments for Thieves take off with $50,000 worth of cellphones http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/
But I'm in Iran right now... I wonder where I'm safer ]]>Jun 24th 2007 12:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 25th 2007 10:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 12:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 12:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/
Seems to me that property should keep most expensive phones from being stolen.]]>Jun 24th 2007 12:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/
Cingular, on the other hand, is too lazy to go look it up. Easier just to get insurance to write a check and go sell some more KRZRs]]>Jun 24th 2007 12:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/
In Europe and other countries, they do use the IMEI blacklisting feature because phones tend to be more important in everyone's lives. Kinda really pisses you off when every other country seems to use this feature. They grab your IMEI to tell what model of phone you're using to decide the expensive internet plan they can offer you, but can't implement it to block stolen phones from the network. Do they need more cutomers that bad they will allow stolen phones over here?]]>Jun 24th 2007 2:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/
If there was a global blacklist database, it would probably stop a lot of theft, but the reality is that most operators only care about blacklists for their own network (so they don't have to worry about fraudulent calls).

If these thieves are reselling the handsets in a different country (which seems likely, based on their ethnic "diversity" as described in the article), then selling/using them won't be an issue.

It's also possible (though more difficult, depending on the model), to reprogram the IMEI.]]>Jun 24th 2007 2:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/
Example: MO orders 100k Razrs and the MFR (per the contract) says yes they are locked (knowing, that 100's of websites have unlocking services, apps, etc.). This to me is a breach of contract!

If that subsides $25 Razr is properly SIM Locked then steal away. It will only work on the purchasing MO's network! The thief's disclaimer on eBay will be "only works on X's network". So if someone purchases it innocently and signs up and becomes a good paying customer of the MO who the phone is SIM locked to, isn't that in a round about way, not a bad thing for the MO?]]>Jun 25th 2007 11:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/cell phones in a safe? is that necessary?]]>Jun 24th 2007 12:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/:-)]]>Jun 24th 2007 12:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 12:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 12:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Aug 15th 2007 7:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 12:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 3:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 1:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/
Read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMEI

]]>Jun 24th 2007 1:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/]]>Jun 24th 2007 1:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 1:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/]]>Jun 24th 2007 2:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 1:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 9:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 1:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/
However it's meaningless when exported to countries who care not about IMEI, or to the thieves who flog them on ebay who don't care that the phone is dead to the buyer so long as they get the money before their account is closed and they disappear into the night.

Best thing for phone thefts at the moment is for ebay to just flat ban phone sales. I'm betting the vast majority have some dodgy history.]]>Oct 18th 2007 8:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jul 15th 2007 1:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 2:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 2:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/
(All stupidity aside - that's just a couple miles down the road from me, and I hadn't heard about it until just now. These intertubes are amazing!)]]>Jun 24th 2007 2:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 2:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 3:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/
:)]]>Jun 24th 2007 3:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/]]>Jun 24th 2007 3:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 3:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/
They won't get caught if their not stupid, course majority of robberies the people who do it run on intimidation/scare tactics to get what they want.

Lol, watch on ebay as there is a "Lot of T-mobile Cell phones" for sale soon :)

And IMEI changing is very possible, these phones have been populated by T-mobile, making software for IMEI changing as easy as typing the new number and hitting commit :), of course they can always unlock them and sell them for Cingular, and international GSM carriers. ]]>Jun 24th 2007 3:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/I venture to say that the thieves did not analyze it so much as we have here. Also wonder about their literacy skills.
The whole thing seems ill conceived as a plan!
- Good thing they are not in security/tech fields... but then who knows for sure.
]]>Jun 25th 2007 7:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 4:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 4:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 4:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 7:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 10:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 24th 2007 10:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 25th 2007 1:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 25th 2007 6:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/



]]>Jun 25th 2007 5:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 25th 2007 11:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Seemed like a shifty character, that's why I remembered him.]]>Jun 25th 2007 4:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/24/thieves-take-off-with-50-000-worth-of-cellphones/Jun 25th 2007 4:35PM