Comment by hbn
3 hours ago
> Is "snatching a phone and running off" a common enough problem in some regions that this is worth having?
Yes absolutely
3 hours ago
> Is "snatching a phone and running off" a common enough problem in some regions that this is worth having?
Yes absolutely
Thanks! Given this was CBC, my jaw hit the floor when I saw London. I live 20 mins from London, Ontario and 70k thefts in a year would be _insane_. Then I realized it was about London, U.K. and my jaw only hit the table. 70k is still insane, though.
Is it really insane? That is less than 200 per day, in a city of 15 million people.. a single gang of 20 thieves could likely manage that! The real question is, how does this compare to other cities of this size and demographics?
Why compare demographics?
3 replies →
The number is too high, but dropping: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdx4762znr6o
Even the CBC thinks of London, England before London, Ontario.
Poor London. (Ontario.) (Canada.)
Why bother stealing iPhones? Is it just for the scrap/recycle->repair value?
There's also a scam where they contact the owner from abroad, offering to return it, claiming they're an innocent trying to activate a used phone they spent their last dollar on, or threatening the original user into unlocking it. They will say that they're hackers, connected to criminals in your home city, using your name and recent photos to say that they're going to expose your text messages. Anything to get an unlock.
They send them to countries where they aren't locked or break it down for parts.
> They send them to countries where they aren't locked
iphones will remain locked regardless of what country they're in. I presume you're talking about states who are seemingly unwilling to pursue/prosecute claims of theft?
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You can send them to Chinese chop-shops and still turn a decent buck.