The UK’s Home Secretary should use her powers to push the tech industry to deploy stronger technical measures against the surge in phone thefts, according to a House of Commons committee.
Metropolitan Police figures show 117,211 phones were stolen during 2024, an increase of 25 percent on 2019. Only 1 percent of phone thefts in London result in a charge or conviction, the UK’s largest police force said.
As well as trying to catch the criminals stealing phones, the government should focus on cutting demand, according to the House of Commons’ Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, a cross-party group of MPs that looks closely at related spending, policies and administration.
The chair of the committee argues it is within the power of smartphone makers to implement pre-existing technologies that would make stolen devices useless for resale, cutting demand in the international criminal market.
Committee Chair Dame Chi Onwurah said in a statement: “Apple has told us there is no silver bullet to stop phone theft, but there are clearly technological solutions that can help deter it. The committee has yet to hear any convincing reasons why this hasn’t been implemented. Tech companies argue that phone theft is primarily for parts, but there’s little evidence to support this. If this was the case, these technical measures wouldn’t be needed – but they clearly are.
“Given the exploding growth of phone theft, it’s clear existing deterrents from tech companies are not working. To protect the public’s property, well-being and privacy, the government must take a strong stance and hold the long-delayed follow up phone theft summit. Only through such meetings can co-operation between government, police and the tech companies be secured to ensure these technical measures are implemented.”
Speaking before the committee in the summer, Darren Scates, Met Police chief digital data and technology officer, said Apple iPhones make up about 80 percent of phones stolen in London, while estimates suggest the replacement value of stolen phones is £50 million ($67 million) a year.
After they are stolen, most of the devices are collected, distributed, and resold by criminal gangs. About 75 percent were moved abroad – the prime destinations being Algeria, China, and Hong Kong, Scates said.
The data on where stolen phones end up comes from collaboration between police and mobile providers. Police supplied a sample of IMEI numbers – the unique 15-digit identifiers assigned to each mobile device – known to belong to stolen phones.
Scates said the IMEI number could allow stolen phones to be blocked at a network level under an agreement by members of the GSMA industry association, which represents only 10 percent of global phone networks.