MICAF, short for Mobile Industry Crime Action Forum is an organisation set up by the United Kingdom mobile telecommunications industry, including mobile handset manufacturers, to address the issues of mobile phone theft.
According to a report published by MICAF, 98 percent of all the mobiles that are reported stolen in the UK are blocked within 48 hours of the theft. This is done by blocking the phone’s IMEI across all the networks present there, effectively rendering the phone useless.
The only alternative would be to use the phone outside the UK.
Now, going by the number of cell-phones stolen here in India, especially in the metros, it is high time that this is made a law in India. It would certainly help in cutting down, if not totally abolish the crime.
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( Also posted on the IndiaGSM Blog )
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Damn. Wish they would do something like this in India. :-(
Ohh yes. I remember you lost a phone recently :(
Yeah. And the amount of red tape reqd to block your phone is unbelievable. ~X(
huh? i thought it was relatively simple. Just contacting the operator with your IMEI should do it I guess..
Plus, if you file an FIR, you can get a replacement SIM of the same number you lost.
^ You’ll get the replacement SIM. But forget about the phone :|
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article rcent of all the mobiles stolen in the UK are blocked, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.