Mobile phone theft

Mobile phones can help to improve personal safety by giving users a lifeline to assistance when in trouble. But there has been an accompanying threat, to youngsters in particular, in the high levels of mobile theft.

Our approach was to work closely with police, the Home Office and other mobile phone operators to tackle mobile phone crime and we have seen the number of street robberies, many of which involve phone theft, decrease by 24 per cent from a worrying high point in 2002 of 470,000 stolen mobile phones.

Following the introduction of the national system to bar lost and stolen mobiles in 2002, we have continued to stress through joint publicity campaigns that 'stolen phones don't work any more'.

Once barred the phone will no longer work, even if the sim card is changed. We continue to distribute a leaflet we produced jointly with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust advising customers on how to avoid becoming a victim of mobile related muggings.

By calling 08710 123123, your sim card and actual handset can be blocked immediately. More than 10 million mobile phones have already been registered to the database.