Forum Discussion
Telus no longer Blacklists Stole Phone IMEI numbers
So kids phone got stolen today at knifepoint and multiple attempts to contact Telus to report the phone as stolen has resulted in nothing but them tying to sell me an Avanti service for $8 to protect...
I don't think that blacklisting has worked (really forever in my opinion) - its too easy to subvert and is too much of a penalty on legitimate phone buying/selling transactions) and as far as I know it is no longer used by an major provider. Bottom line is that the phone vendor has to brick it to be an effective deterrent to theft. They are not going to really do that given the number of phones that they sell every year and how difficult it is to determine the "true" current owner. Even with AppleID think what trouble Apple would get into if they bricked your phone if your Apple ID was "stolen" and the phone was reported as stolen using this ID but actually you still were in possession of you phone. All that can be done is suspension of the SIM and have a SECURE password. Wiping of the phone is based on the thief being dumb enough to start up the phone in anything but flight mode.
- Personally, I think blacklisting works for the most part. The main drawback is trying to rove a device from the blacklist when it is put on there wrongfully or a rep taking the stolen device report mistypes the IMEI.
When a device is blacklisted by a Canadian carrier, that device is also blacklisted across all US carriers, some South American carriers, and some EU carriers. Stolen devices are usually either sold to overseas buys in countries that do not share blacklist information or are used for parts in repair shops.
Anything that helpsncombat the massive amounts of cellphone thefts each year, is a step in the right direction. These devices can be very expensive! Rewarding criminals by making it easier for them to use stolen devices does not benefit anyone but the criminals.
