Why do people steal cell phones?

Question

Why do people steal cell phones? It seems like I'm hearing about how someone just got their cell phne stolen everyday, but why? As soon as it's stolen the owner just calls up a number and reports it and it's shut off. I think re-actvaing it would be difficult because don't the phone people have a way of the checking the codes in the cell phone to see if it was stolen don't they?

Answer 1

Cellphone providers usually don't block out the ESN (serial number or imei) due to the fact there is no law prohibiting it and it's against their interest (now they have someone who's a happy customer with a phone that may buy more ringtones/wallpapers/games to personalize it {thief or whomever they sold it to} and the victim is usually left in a state to buy a phone at a higher price renewing their contract thus maximizing the carrier's profit). It sucks because if you buy insurance then you line the carrier's pockets even more (it's a rip off, USA carrier's should ban any stolen phone's ESN like they do in Europe). Carrier's should do this willing but unfortunately it may take the government intervention to force this (thus making the phone pretty much an ebay item thus out of the hands of your average "snatch-n-grab" thief's ability to profit from it).

There is a way to minimize the attractiveness of theft and that's simply to enable and change the default security code (not pin code but security code) on a phone (thus rendering if useless to the would be thief) though some brand of phones have a security over-ride which wipes the phone to the point it comes out of the box. I would also recommend two more things as well, don't use a screen saver use a greeting message of "if you find this phone please call (your alternate number) for a reward when you return it to me" (this is a pragmatic way of using the screen saver and may get your phone returned to you) and the second though you'll need to disable this at night but set the alarm on the phone at an annoying time (or calender event which requires a pin2 code to disable) like 2:30 am everyday (my routine each morning is to enable the alarm at this annoying time and before I go to bed disable it). If they don't have the security code they shouldn't be able to disarm the alarm and the screensaver gives them a means to contact you to possibly retrieve your phone.

Answer 2

cell phone companies do have the capabilities t track a stolen phone, but dont want to waste the time nor money. the only way the will trace a phones where abouts is with a court order!

Answer 3

i had a friend who got his cell phone stolen and all he did was get a new phone and transfer his plan, so i guess they dont have phone tracking technology yet...or my friend is retarded. he probly is retarded...but anyway, not they cant track it and all someone has to do is get a phone unlocked from whatever carrier it is with (like cingular, tmobile) and they can sell it to anybody or use it theirselves

Answer 4

when people steal your cell phone they take your SIM card out and they replace it with theirs

Answer 5

to many junkies out there