While Vancouver Police say the number of cellphone robberies on the city’s streets has been decreasing since 2012, they are starting to see a slight rise in the crime.
Cst. Brian Montague with VPD says so far this year, they are investigating 40 cellphone robberies, compared to 31 thefts around the same time last year.
In 2012, 215 robberies were registered by the Vancouver Police. That dropped to 196 cellphone robberies in 2013. The drop was even bigger in 2014 when 131 cellphone thefts were reported. The number was back at 132 last year.
Police are cautioning cellphone users to walk with others if possible, be aware of their surroundings and be attentive to who is around them when they are using their device.
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“These are expensive devices,” says Montague. “There is a market for stolen cellphones.”
In September 2013, a national blacklist was created to help people report lost or stolen phones, but also check to ensure the pre-owned device they are buying has not been reported lost or stolen.
So if a device is lost or stolen, theft victims are asked to report their IMEI device number to their service provider immediately and have the device deactivated and added to the blacklist.
The IMEI number can be found on a white label underneath the battery of your device. Alternatively, you can obtain the IMEI number by entering *#06# on most devices.
A verification process, which denies service to any device that is on the blacklist, is designed to help reduce the black market for stolen devices.
But Montague say the list is only effective if the public is aware of it.
He says most of the robberies they investigate involve “inattentive individuals” who are leaving their phones in coffee shops and restaurants. But in some robberies, victims encounter everything from intimidation to the use of physical force.
Meanwhile, Abbotsford Police are warning the public after reports of three separate incidents involving an iPhone for sale on Craigslist.
In all cases, an iPhone 6 was listed for sale on Craigslist, but when a meeting with the seller was organized, the victims were pepper sprayed and their phones were stolen.
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