Apple criticised for lack of anti-theft measures

Apple has been criticised for not putting measures in place to prevent iPhone theft.

David Hanson, a Labour MP who helped set up a police-approved database of lost and stolen phones, said that the database is a crime prevention tool that Apple should be using, and he believes that the company is “negligent” if they don’t. “They [Apple] are contributing to a loophole which will encourage people to steal mobile phones for cash or exchange,” he said.

Channel 4 News reports that iPhones make up about 14 per cent of the total mobile phones in the UK, but new figures show that 28 per cent of the two million phones lost or stolen each year are iPhones.

The report uses the example of Charlie Durrant, who had her iPhone stolen last year. She reported the crime to Apple and her insurer, but was refused a replacement because someone had already received on in her name. Apple’s lack of theft checks meant that the thief was able to get a brand new iPhone in her name.

“I phoned Apple up and they said ‘yes, we’ve replaced it,’ and they gave me the name of the shop and the name of the person who’d helped them, and the time and date,” Durrant told Channel 4. “Three days after my iPhone had been stolen someone had just gone in and got a brand new one, making my insurance invalid. I just found it unbelievable that they could do that.”