The booming trade in stolen phones has been dealt a huge blow thanks to a high-tech advance.
Apple has agreed to install a ‘kill switch’ that will make snatched devices worthless.
The tech giant announced a change in the settings on its phones worldwide following a campaign led by Britain’s top policeman and backed by the Daily Mail.
It allows the devices to be shut down and rendered unsellable.
The step comes after London became notorious as the global capital of phone theft, with around 200 taken every day.
Now other companies are under pressure to follow suit after Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley announced he was writing to the Home Secretary asking for legislation to force them into making stolen mobiles unusable – thwarting a black market worth more than £50million a year in the UK alone.
Police want to build a national register of stolen phones, asking telecoms giants to share data on whether thieves have been able to reconnect devices to sell them on.
Apple is the first tech company to agree to change its security settings globally, switching on anti-theft protection by default to protect users’ accounts and personal information.
Apple has agreed to launch a kill switch on iPhones that will make stolen devices worthless after a Daily Mail campaign. It comes after London became notorious as the global capital of phone theft, with around 200 taken every day
The Daily Mail’s investigation uncovered a £180million criminal network responsible for half of phone thefts in London, with at least 62,000 smuggled to Dubai, Hong Kong and China
This prevents thieves from changing passwords to reconnect to a phone network so they can sell on the device.
If the stolen handset cannot be reused, it becomes a worthless ‘brick’.
To solve the problem, Apple switched on ‘stolen device protection’ as a default setting for all users in a recent global system update of their phones.
This means when users register their phones as ‘lost’ after they have been stolen – by logging into iCloud.com/find on another device such as a laptop, tablet or someone else’s phone – it effectively acts as a kill switch, making the handset useless until the owner re-enters their password.
In a landmark agreement, the Metropolitan Police and Apple will now share data on snatched handsets so the force can track phones and identify whether they reappear in circulation.
Since the joint work began to disrupt global criminal networks, Apple has seen a significant reduction in stolen phones being successfully reactivated.
Last night, Sir Mark warned criminals: ‘Let me be clear to those driving this crime.
‘If you are stealing phones in London, your business model is being dismantled piece by piece.
‘The technology is catching up with you, and so are we. Our officers are targeting you on the streets, identifying you through intelligence, and shutting down the networks that move stolen devices around the world.
‘The risks are rising and the rewards are disappearing. This is no longer easy money.
‘We will find you, we will arrest you, and we will put you before the courts. Time is up.’
He told the Daily Mail that the partnership could eradicate the crime which has blighted millions of lives: ‘We can strike at the heart of this crime by destroying the business model that sustains it.
‘Now the rest of the industry and government must act to finish the job.’
The Met Police and Apple will now share data on snatched handsets so the force can track phones and identify whether they reappear in circulation
Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: ‘If you are stealing phones in London, your business model is being dismantled piece by piece’
The Daily Mail has led the way in uncovering the trade in stolen handsets. Last month Scotland Yard praised a ‘brilliant’ Daily Mail investigation after three members of a phone-smuggling network admitted to a £180million operation.
The gang was at one time responsible for almost half the phones stolen in London – with many of the devices taken to a high-rise block in Hong Kong that was infiltrated by Daily Mail reporters last summer.
The newspaper traced stolen phones from London through suburban British warehouses, before they landed in Dubai, Hong Kong and China.
Amir Muhammad Khadikhel, 35, Ismat Miakhel, 33, and Mansoor Mohammed, 30, later pleaded guilty to smuggling 62,000 stolen phones.
London has some of the highest rates of phone theft in England and Wales.
Detectives have found adverts on Snapchat offering children as much as £380 to steal a single iPhone, with a bonus of £100 for stealing ten of them. Tech firms have been slow to respond to the issue as the theft of handsets results in more sales.
Figures released under Freedom of Information show only a fraction of devices are returned to their owners.
Between 2017 and February 27, 2024, a total 587,498 phones were stolen in London, but only 13,998 were recovered.
In March, Sir Mark issued an ultimatum calling on the telecoms giants to take action or face legislation.
In a major crackdown, the force has managed to almost halve mobile phone muggings in Westminster this year following hundreds of arrests.
The Commissioner said: ‘I gave an ultimatum to tech firms – take urgent steps to prevent stolen phones from being resold and reused, or we will call on Government to step in and legislate.
‘For the first time, we are routinely sharing intelligence on stolen devices, building a joint picture of how these phones move and whether they reappear in circulation.
‘That partnership is already making a difference.
‘If stolen phones cannot be reactivated, their value collapses, and so does the incentive to steal them.’
Samsung and Google are now also making security changes to tackle the issue.
Kate Adams, senior vice president of government affairs at Apple, said: ‘We’re grateful for our partnership with the Metropolitan Police and welcome the impact of Operation Reckoning in helping drive down phone theft across London.
‘We’ll continue to innovate, invest, and work closely with law enforcement in the UK and around the world to disrupt the market for stolen phones.’
