Smartphone Theft Reaches Pandemic Proportions

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Smartphone theft has reached pandemic proportions! Quick, everyone PANDEMIC! :D

And it's not just robbery. Smartphone thefts can lead to murder. The author, Gerry Smith, points to the case of Hwangbum Yang, a Korean-born immigrant who was shot in the Bronx by a for his iPhone. The alleged killer (the case is awaiting trial), one Dominick Davis, left Yang's wallet on the body, but later listed the phone for sale on Craigslist for $400.
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They need to have a kill switch/no registration when stolen and you shouldn't be able to sell a used phone without ID. They could easily lessen the amount of thefts by making the phone useless when it's stolen. Once it's reported stolen the phone should display that on huge letters on the screen.
 
I think they called it right. The carriers are against the kill switch since it would cost them the profits they make on insurance.
 
Sp33dFr33k said:
you shouldn't be able to sell a used phone without ID. They could easily lessen the amount of thefts by making the phone useless when it's stolen.
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Ja ve can't have the citizenry going about selling things villy nilly.

You know what else would slow down the sale of stolen goods? Ban cash and require the sale of all goods to be approved by the police.
 
All they really need to do is not allow the phones back on their networks after they've been reported stolen by the owner. It's not that difficult to do.
 
The alleged killer (the case is awaiting trial), one Dominick Davis, left Yang's wallet on the body, but later listed the phone for sale on Craigslist for $400.
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But see what we need are more luxury prisons like in Norway, then this kind of thing wouldn't happen, and Dominick and those like him would well adjusted contributing members of society. Sarcasm, am I doing it right? ;)
 
Aluisious said:
You know what else would slow down the sale of stolen goods?
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Shoot the criminals and encourage law abiding citizens to apply for CHLs after background checks, and make very harsh penalties for criminals carrying or worse using a weapon for assault? Empower good law abiding citizens and hurt the criminals... seems like a better fix than trying to change the behavior of the good people.
 
A M4 Carbine is a "machine gun"?

I should have known better than to click on a ZDnet article.
 
A couple of years ago, someone had tried to break into my gym locker. The only reason I know this is because there something jammed in the lock when I went to open it. It does not surprise me that people are trying to steal these phones at all.
 
You could do all of the above or just do what I do and carry a $29 Samsung smartphone I bought from Costco at their Verizon kiosk that can do 99.9% of what an Iphone can do at a fraction of the price. Noone would be gunning you down for these.
 
The author, Gerry Smith, points to the case of Hwangbum Yang, a Korean-born immigrant who was shot in the Bronx by a for his iPhone.
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a is not one to be messed with.

My sources say that a is being sought by authorities in multiple countries.
 
cyclone3d said:
Yeah, like they can only specify the ethnicity if it was a white male. :rolleyes:
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We should elect Ron Paul to chancelor of smartphone sales rights protection.

I'm going to start a bitcoin kickstarter on reddit for 3d printed guns so we can protect all our rights and start a revolution against the NSA who are keeping us stuck in the friendzone.

I tell you what we'll do, we'll sell tactical fedoras to raise funds. It'll be a fedora except have ammo-loops in it like soldiers wore in Vietnam. Instead of bullets we can store e-cigarettes, linux flash drives, and bitcoin ASICs for the revolution.

My neckbeard is vibrating in anticipation just thinking about it. I can see we have a huge number of like-minded folks in this thread already. Bronies unite.
 
Bronx...


You could insert a Long list of other things in place of iPhone and still get shot for it there. I will name a few things that springs to mind; Nikes, crack, looked at the wrong ho, bluejeans, watch, sunglasses, just because...I could go on for a while.
 
Someone stole my cellphone once. I logged into the Play Store from my PC, installed a GPS tracker, then called the police and had them meet me at the location it was reporting from (the ghetto obviously). Kid tried to run into a grocery store, they caught him hiding in the bathroom and returned my phone.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Bronx...


You could insert a Long list of other things in place of iPhone and still get shot for it there. I will name a few things that springs to mind; Nikes, crack, looked at the wrong ho, bluejeans, watch, sunglasses, just because...I could go on for a while.
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Tl;Dr, Don't live in the Bronx :p
 
Dekoth-E- said:
I will name a few things that springs to mind; Nikes, crack, looked at the wrong ho, bluejeans, watch, sunglasses, just because...I could go on for a while.
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Yep, which is why its so sad that all anyone is talking about is the iPhone and how we have to try to reduce its stolen value, as if it wouldn't otherwise have been his watch, or designer jacket, or laptop. There were apparently two of them, with a gun no less, so the shooting wasn't even necessary even if you somehow make the excuse that they "hadsta feed my kids" by mugging people.

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...you know, you'd think phones and other trackable items would be the less desired object for theft from the criminal's perspective.
 
I have already said 1000 times this shit will never work. A kill switch always has a way to circumvent it. That is unless they are willing to allow you to enact a chemical reaction that melts the entire phone into a pile of charred plastic and metal.

The reason people move phones to other countries is because other countries wont respect the kill switch or any safty mechanism. Carriers in developing nations with no subsidization system don't care where you get your phone from and never will.

Second even if they did make a kill switch that actually worked the worst case scenario is the phone is still valuable for parts. And what do we all know the most common part of fail is? Of course the screen, so unless the kill mechanism can destroy the screen, and motherboard / SOC its all a giant waste of time.

Carriers have to do their own due diligence don't give homeless people phones or gasp I know its horrible you might actually have to stop doing bait and switch plans on phones and actually sell them for the real cost.

I would also mention that the smart phone markets days of explosive growth in the USA are probably starting to wind down and the new movement will be toward commoditized phones. Phone prices should come down when their value does so will the theft. Eventually just like flip phones we are going to get to a point where a $100 off contract phone is good enough for the masses, in fact even here ironically on H you see a lot of tech enthusiasts claiming this has already happened. So what will likely happen is by the time the law goes fully into affect the problem will have solved itself.
 
HFBallad said:
...you know, you'd think phones and other trackable items would be the less desired object for theft from the criminal's perspective.
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This is another interesting issue because it clearly shows that the police are doing NOTHING to track these devices or all the stolen devices are being somehow altered to they are not traceable. IE chopped up for parts or moved to a different country. One of these the police can do something about now the other no kill switch will ever stop.
 
rudy said:
This is another interesting issue because it clearly shows that the police are doing NOTHING to track these devices or all the stolen devices are being somehow altered to they are not traceable. IE chopped up for parts or moved to a different country. One of these the police can do something about now the other no kill switch will ever stop.
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The problem is that there are so many phones being stolen that it is a waste of police manpower to even bother on 99% of them. Go ahead and ask your local police department (not in a small town) and I bet they spend almost no resources on going after the stolen phones because they get tons of reports and have more important things to do.
 
[21CW]killerofall;1040634359 said:
The problem is that there are so many phones being stolen that it is a waste of police manpower to even bother on 99% of them. Go ahead and ask your local police department (not in a small town) and I bet they spend almost no resources on going after the stolen phones because they get tons of reports and have more important things to do.
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That isn't true at all, what man power do you need, you triangulate the phone go find the person stop them and take the phone / prosecute. There are tons of police officers doing less with their time on traffic duty. By that logic traffic enforcement is a waste of time because too many people are breaking the law. The whole point of the law is not to stop every crime but to put enough punishment out there that many people will choose not to take the risk and so society will be safer.

I guarantee the police force of many towns in America does not have anything more important to do because I see them everywhere I go all across America sitting out trying to catch speeders.

Something else is going on here, something else.
 
The point is if this works its about as easy and fast as catching any thief is ever going to be. So the man power argument just doesn't make any sense.
 
Did someone say ... pandemic?

Your Highness! Someone can't find their smartphone in Brazil!
 
HFBallad said:
...you know, you'd think phones and other trackable items would be the less desired object for theft from the criminal's perspective.
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Well they have value on the streets because. The criminals know that the cell phone company's and law enforcement do not care to recover stolen cell phones and that they're people that are willing to buy these phones to reprogram them and resell them over seas,online and back on the streets.
 
[21CW]killerofall;1040634359 said:
The problem is that there are so many phones being stolen that it is a waste of police manpower to even bother on 99% of them. Go ahead and ask your local police department (not in a small town) and I bet they spend almost no resources on going after the stolen phones because they get tons of reports and have more important things to do.
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Like write traffic tickets for 6mph over on an empty highway and expired registration stickers by underpass U-turn stings, because that generates tons of revenue in a short period of time.
 
HFBallad said:
...you know, you'd think phones and other trackable items would be the less desired object for theft from the criminal's perspective.
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You'd think people wouldn't commit armed robbery for $20 in a convenience store, but the problem is those people are stupid.
 
i have a android smart phone...I ain't worried... well and i live / work in the leafy suburbs so that helps

but pro tip if you live in a ummmm how can i put this??? urban environment maybe don't walk around with your iphone oblivious to your surroundings and you know maybe keep the phone out of sight as much as possible.

and then also move out of the urban area at teh very first opportunity those places suck some ballz (imho).
 
i see it all around me, people walking down the street, face glued in phone, not watching where they are walking, having NO clue what is around them..

I almost feeling like grabbing some of their phones to see if they would notice for a minute.,.

I intentionally do not move out of the way of people walking not paying attention until your right in front of them and they get a scare cause they almost hit you..
 
HFBallad said:
...you know, you'd think phones and other trackable items would be the less desired object for theft from the criminal's perspective.
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Remember, Criminals are stupid, why prison's are so full..

Besides, these guys just turn around to sell them anyways.
 
uOpt said:
A M4 Carbine is a "machine gun"?

I should have known better than to click on a ZDnet article.
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The sad thing is that the classification of an M4 carbine as a machine gun is a direct quote from a Department of Justice report.

In other words, a DoJ that is hostile to gun ownership rights is trying to misrepresent things they don't like.
 
The M4 is a machine gun :rolleyes: Do you need a Venn diagram or should I wait for you to tap out the definition of assault rifles you read 8 years ago on a gun forum?
 
Aluisious said:
The M4 is a machine gun :rolleyes: Do you need a Venn diagram or should I wait for you to tap out the definition of assault rifles you read 8 years ago on a gun forum?
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So snarky, but you're wrong. The M4 is not a machine gun, the M4A1 is... but even then only by the broad definition. Generally you wouldn't call a mac10 a machine gun for example, you'd call it a submachine gun. If your captain told you to run up the hill with a machine gun to hold a position, he wouldn't expect you to bring a carbine assault rifle.
 
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