Phone Theft in the World: Over 10000 Mobiles Stolen Daily

Two years ago Reuters published an article about smartphone security mentioning a very interesting number: about 113 phones are stolen in the US every minute. That’s right — every minute! This is a massive number!

In a day over 2700 mobile devices are stolen in US, if we do the math.

This year BBC London reveals some more interesting data. In London alone, exactly 314 mobile phones are stolen every day on the streets. This accounts to almost 10,000 mobiles phones a month going into the wrong hands.

Data collected by Norton in 2011, a leader in antivirus product, through a survey revealed that 1 out of 2 people experience loss or theft of smartphone in Miami and New York City.

All this makes us believe that robbers are having a good time. Not to forget this year there has been a huge increase in smartphone adoption. And more smartphones equals more opportunity for robbers to steal. That’s is what you, as consumers, are thinking right?

Not necessarily. People do get caught while stealing cell phones — this lady in Sussex, for instance, was caught for stealing and selling a smartphone online.

As mentioned in another article, the iPhone stealers were caught and fined heavily for reselling the device.

The year 2013 has been a huge one for giants like Apple, Google, and Microsoft. People are buying smartphones at a phenomenal rate — if analysts are right, one out of five people in the world will have a smartphone by the end of this year.

For this reason The FCC has already taken an initiative to bring down smartphone loss and theft by tying up with various carriers.

While it’s not possible to say the exact unit of phones lost, misplaced, or stolen every day, but 10000 is a fair number given the increase in smartphone adoption this year.

Smartphone theft can be reduced if we look at it from another angle. For instance, by the end of December 2013, over 1.5 billion smartphones will be activated. This is a clear sign of smartphones becoming a household product even in remote places. And when everyone has a smart device with them, theft will reduce significantly, at least that’s what we believe.