I can still remember the days when mobile phones were a hot item on the list of any pickpocket. Protruding out of pockets, easily stolen, and easily reset and sold. But it seems these days are over.
When a friend of mine was recently pickpocketed, the thief got away with a passport, credit cards, two mobile phones and 5 euros in cash. The passport and credit cards were pretty much worthless to the thief as they were blocked immediately. And it looks like phones these days are, too, as they were dumped immediately in a park, discovered by children the other day and returned after the owner called her own number, which, much to her surprise, actually worked.
I guess thieves have learnt by now that phones have tracking features and can’t be reset or re-flashed without knowing the account password. A tremendous success for the industry to reduce mobile device theft! This makes me wonder if this is reflected in the statistics? If you know, please leave a comment blow.
So in the end, the thief got away with 5 euros in cash and the main hassle for the victim was to go to the police to report the stolen passport and apply for a new one.
“as they were dumped immediately in a park”
That’s also what thieves did 20 years ago. If they get caught shortly after the robbery they don’t have the phones with them. Then they come back later and retrieve them.