London Black Market for Stolen Smartphones Revealed by BBC Undercover Cameras

By Eric Priezkalns 23 Apr 2014

About 80 mobile phones are stolen in London every day. The IMEIs of many of these phones are blocked when they are reported stolen, which supposedly renders them unusable. But in practice, the BBC has demonstrated that some dodgy London businessmen will still buy these blocked and stolen phones – even though handling stolen goods is punishable with a prison sentence of up to 14 years. Watch the video at the BBC’s website, to see hidden camera footage of the crooked traders.

Eric Priezkalns

Eric is the Editor of Commsrisk. Look here for more about the history of Commsrisk and the role played by Eric.

Eric is also the Chief Executive of the Risk & Assurance Group (RAG), a global association of professionals working in risk management and business assurance for communications providers.

Previously Eric was Director of Risk Management for Qatar Telecom and he has worked with Cable & Wireless, T‑Mobile, Sky, Worldcom and other telcos. He was lead author of Revenue Assurance: Expert Opinions for Communications Providers, published by CRC Press. He is a qualified chartered accountant, with degrees in information systems, and in mathematics and philosophy.