On average, ten smartphones are stolen every day in the city of Granada. The Policia Nacional arrested 52 people there during the first three months of the year for mobile thefts.

Logically, the number of smartphone thefts increases as the number of people possessing one increases, but even so, smartphones have become a choice target, because when you steal one, you obtain more than just the phone; you also obtain all their personal data.

In the first quarter of this year, 766 people in the provincial capital reported their smartphone stolen, whilst another 150 reported them as lost.

The problem is that their owners are very often careless, treating them as they do their car keys, putting them down on the bar or on the table where they are sitting – it takes just a couple of seconds for the damned thing to disappear, and then you start trying to remember what compromising info you have on them, like passwords for mail accounts, etc. But it’s not only smart phones, but also iPads and tablets in general.

Some phones are stolen by ‘opportunists;’ i.e., somebody who sees the chance, is short of cash, or just fancies one for his own personal use. But the problem is that there are also gangs that specialize in them, with each member dedicated to one part of the operation: one person steals them, another downloads the personal data to be sold on, and another person actually prepares the phone for subsequent resale, ‘at a bargain price.’

If you haven’t made a note already, write down you IMEI, which you can obtain by dialing *#06# and the number will come up. Its a 15-digit long number and is unique to your terminal or phone. If you lose your phone or have it stolen and report it directly to the Guardia Civil the phone can not only be blocked, but it can also be traced if somebody is using it.

Don’t you wish, sometimes, that you just had a old-fashion mobile and so that you could stop worrying about losing the bloody thing?

(News: Granada, Andalucia)