One of those most common thefts or misplacement’s you hear about is of cell phones.
Thieves have a made a business out of stealing or finding cell phones and flipping them on craigslist for quick cash. I’ve personally never been a victim but can only imagine pain of losing something you rely on so much. Fortunately, Canadians will be offered better protection due to a new plan being implemented by the association which represents wireless companies.
Beginning September 30th 2012, cellphone customers will be able to register/report a stolen phone. By doing so, your wireless provider will place your phone on a ‘blacklist’ and deny any service to that device.
This new service will come at no cost to consumers but is likely to cost the wireless industry roughly $20 million – something they can write off as the cost of doing business.
It will be up to customers to immediately report a lost or stolen phone to have their device deactivated. Once the device has been reported, the service provider can then add the device to the blacklist. All personal theft should be reported to your local police department as well.
The U.S. is implementing the same plan in November 2013, and is considering legislation to make it a crime to tamper with a device identifier. Australia and the U.K. have already adopted laws to make tampering with device identifiers a crime.
The registry will apply to all GSM, HSPA and LTE phones that are sold now — or any smartphone currently sold in Canada.
