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.
But after hearing evidence from the Met and providers including Apple, Google, and Samsung, the committee concluded the tech industry could do much more to reduce demand for stolen phones.
In her letter to the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, Onwurah said: “We pressed Apple, Google and Samsung on why they have not implemented robust technical measures, such as cloud-based blocking or IMEI-linked device locks. This would mean that handsets could not connect to cloud accounts in foreign countries if they were registered as stolen, something that only the cloud provider can do, rendering the phones far less valuable when shipped overseas.”
In written evidence to the committee, Apple said it was “committed to safeguarding” users to the best of its ability, and had already introduced security features including the Find My app, Remote Wipe, Lost Mode, Activation Lock, and Stolen Device Protection. On IMEI, the company said it was concerned about the wider privacy and security implications, but it was considering how IMEI blocking could be enacted, “giving appropriate consideration to the potential risks and trade-offs.”
Google said it was “absolutely committed” to addressing the challenge of device theft. As it provides the operating systems for Android phones, it also partners with the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) community to help protect devices more widely.
“Other techniques, such as blocking devices via an IMEI number may be a practical option from an operator perspective. As the operating system (OS) provider, we believe we can better serve users by giving them direct control over blocking their phone via their Google account,” it said.
Samsung said it had taken “extensive steps” to reduce phone theft, including releasing a suite of new features for Samsung and Android devices, as well as working with partners through the Home Office. ®
