Man steals over 100 phones at Coachella, busted by Find My iPhone

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Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/04/17/man-steals-over-100-phones-at.html

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I’m sure that they have their reasons; but phones seem like dangerous targets: thanks to the usual depreciation of consumer goods when removed from the package, any cosmetic damage; and the risk that the phone has a stubborn enough software lock that it will need to be parted out; is confined to one network, etc. the resale value must be substantially below the sticker price; but the sticker prices are high enough that the prosecution might well have the option of going for grand theft rather than petty theft charges(in California the threshold is $950; or $250 for agricultural products, because reasons; or if you steal directly from the victim’s person. Some flagship handsets might qualify on value alone; ‘from the victim’s person’ will frequently apply).

Then you have the whole ‘computer not under your control with a battery of RF options and a multitude of globally unique IDs burned in’ issue.

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Well at least they weren’t moon rocks.

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Stop carrying them in your back pocket.

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Mr De Jesus should have used a Faraday backpack. Or you know, just turned the phones off.

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Is there a way of safely turning off an iPhone?

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Or not stolen them.

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I prefer the competing service, “BlowUpMyPhone”. I just need to be careful when unlocking it. If I fail 3 times in a row I’m forced to wait until I stop sweating and shaking before trying again.

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App idea: Same as Find My iPhone, but instead of playing a beep, play the sounds of sex at maximum volume with the volume controls locked.

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You aren’t incorrect BUT it’s also not terribly difficult to “rinse” a phone (either Android or iOS) and give it a new IMEI identification number, at least as far as the cell company thinks.

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This is just poor planning on the thief’s part. He could set up a Faraday cage in his backpack to prevent all the phones for pinging their GPS location or ringing. Glad he’s an idiot though.

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Pretty elaborate way to say “line your backpack with aluminum foil” xD .

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It’s accurate though :slight_smile: one can also use a fine metallic mesh to block signals as well. Would be a little bit harder to set up but it’d be more durable.

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