What does a thief do?

[paroots]

While evaluating anti-theft apps, I'm wondering what a thief is likely to do if the phone happens to be locked. What is the consequence of switching SIM cards? Wouldn't it remain locked? He could flash a new ROM, but I doubt the average thief would know how. I'm interested in what a thief most likely would do with a freshly stolen locked Android phone? Thanks
Pete

 

[chanchan05]

Hard reset it? Its not like he cares for the info inside, and it's pretty easy to google how to hard reset a locked phone. Or sell it on Ebay.

 

[paroots]

Hard reset it? Its not like he cares for the info inside, and it's pretty easy to google how to hard reset a locked phone. Or sell it on Ebay.

Thanks. So the hard reset wipes all apps and data, right? I've been using NRT v1.5.3 to root, make Nandroid backups, etc. I suspect it could do the hard reset. That's probably not what NRT calls a 'Flash to stock'?
Pete

 

[mikedt]

Presumably the person who had the phone stolen would report it to the carrier and police. Then the carrier should blacklist the IMEI, rendering it useless as a phone. Even if the thief or fence manages to wipe it and insert a new SIM, it still wouldn't work.

 

[paroots]

Presumably the person who had the phone stolen would report it to the carrier and police. Then the carrier should blacklist the IMEI, rendering it useless as a phone. Even if the thief or fence manages to wipe it and insert a new SIM, it still wouldn't work.

Thanks. If that's the case, why does stealing phones pay? Maybe not everyone gets the IMEI blacklisted? Of course, everyone loses in that case: both the owner and thief.

The anti-theft app, GotYa has the option to unlock the phone after a user-settable number of failed logins. The idea is to encourage the thief to continue using the phone and thereby allow his picture to be taken and location to be determined. Of course, this also exposes any personal data to the thief and gives the thief the opportunity to disable the gps. It's kind of a catch 22.
Pete

 

[mikedt]

Thanks. If that's the case, why does stealing phones pay? Maybe not everyone gets the IMEI blacklisted? Of course, everyone loses in that case: both the owner and thief.

Yup, I bet that's what happens. Probably not everyone reports stolen phones to their carriers. Also AFAIK IMEI blacklisting is not completely global. I've heard that many stolen phones end up in Africa, in countries like Nigeria, Congo, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Somalia. It's also illegal to change or attempt to change a phone's IMEI in many countries and jurisdictions as well.

 

[dan330]

blocked/bad/stolen phones... can be used on OTHER and/or smaller carriers.

if ATT blocks the phone.. other carriers do not know that (like TMobile)!
where there is a will...there is a ways.

 

[dnapro]

Thanks. If that's the case, why does stealing phones pay? Maybe not everyone gets the IMEI blacklisted? Of course, everyone loses in that case: both the owner and thief.

The anti-theft app, GotYa has the option to unlock the phone after a user-settable number of failed logins. The idea is to encourage the thief to continue using the phone and thereby allow his picture to be taken and location to be determined. Of course, this also exposes any personal data to the thief and gives the thief the opportunity to disable the gps. It's kind of a catch 22.
Pete

In the case of a UK registered handset if the phone is reported to the network it is blacklisted for use on ANY carrier in the UK. One of the main reasons for some phones not being reported to a network as lost or stolen is because phones get bought and sold at a very fast rate on the pay as you go market and people don't know what an IMEI is what and what SIM they are using and also lots of pay as you go phones are unregistered with any personal details and there is no government legislation at present that requires all mobiles to be registered to an individual.

 

[paroots]

blocked/bad/stolen phones... can be used on OTHER and/or smaller carriers.

if ATT blocks the phone.. other carriers do not know that (like TMobile)!
where there is a will...there is a ways.

Thanks. So the block is carrier by carrier. I wonder that if AT&T blocks it, does that also count for the AT&T mvno's, such as Straight Talk, or does one also have to separately block each of those?
Pete

 

[mikedt]

Thanks. So the block is carrier by carrier. I wonder that if AT&T blocks it, does that also count for the AT&T mvno's, such as Straight Talk, or does one also have to separately block each of those?
Pete

I would have thought the US would be the same as most countries. Stolen phone IMEIs are reported to all carriers for blacklisting, whether they're an MVNO or not. I believe there's a central database that should work internationally. To render stolen phones useless in many countries.

EDIT it seems IMEI blacklisting has only just started happening in the US.
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/...rs-to-allow-customers-to-brick-stolen-phones/
...IMEI blacklisting has been in place across the EU for a number of years now.

 

[Granite1]

ESN blacklisting has been around for a while. Stolen phones and unpaid bills wil reselt in a bad ESN. Once the device gets one, might as well enjoy it as a music player / WiFi device. You can't get it activated on any network until the original lock is lifted.

 

[mikedt]

ESN blacklisting has been around for a while. Stolen phones and unpaid bills wil reselt in a bad ESN. Once the device gets one, might as well enjoy it as a music player / WiFi device. You can't get it activated on any network until the original lock is lifted.

ESN blacklisting has been around for years. I remember buying my first phone second-hand 20 years ago, a rather bulky analogue ETACS NEC 9A, because new phones were just so expensive in those days. Had to get the ESN changed before I could use it, Probably the ESN was blacklisted due to outstanding monies owed.

Changing a phone's ESN wasn't illegal, and was very easy to do back then, you just needed a PC with the appropriate cables and software. There was also a major problem with analogue phone ESN cloning as well, resulting in a blacklisted phone. Was very easy to grab ESNs over the air and clone an ESN, and voila....you got free phone calls. I had a friend, every time he went to London. his ETACS phone got cloned and blacklisted. I think the UK carriers implemented immediate automatic ESN blacklisting, if two phones with the identical ESNs appeared at the same time. That was at the time when GSM was first widely introduced, and ETACS analogue phones were still common.

ETACS was pretty much the same as AMPS in the US.

I'm pretty sure manufacturers these days, try to make it extremely difficult or nearly impossible to change ESNs and IMEIs, like permanently burning them into the phone's main chipset. As well as attempting to change ESNs and IMEIs, is now illegal in many countries and jurisdictions. Punishable by up to five years in prison in the UK. I've seen evidence of IMEI tampering happening in the UK at a local Cash Converters. Someone was trying to sell a Nokia N95 I think, phone came up on the IMEI database as being a Motorola. Cash Converters wouldn't touch it.

 

[paroots]

Thanks to everyone.
Pete

 

[dan330]

in usa.. bad esn phones are sold on craigslist to be used on other smaller carriers.
so i am guessing there is no shared database.

i might/could be wrong