Phone ‘kill switch’ to end trade in stolen mobiles: Apple agrees to major change to render handsets worthless to thieves after Daily Mail campaign

The booming trade in stolen phones has been dealt a major blow thanks to advances in high technology.

Apple agreed to install a ‘kill switch’ that would render compromised devices worthless.

The tech giant has announced a change to the settings on its phones worldwide, following a campaign led by Britain’s top police officer and supported by the Daily Mail.

It ensures that devices are shut down and rendered unsellable.

The move comes after London became known as the phone theft capital of the world, with around 200 phones stolen every day.

Other companies are now under pressure to follow suit after Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley announced that he was calling on the Home Secretary for legislation that would force them to render stolen mobile phones unusable; This means disrupting a black market worth more than £50 million a year in the UK alone.

Police want to create a national registry of stolen phones and are asking telecommunications giants to share data on whether thieves have been able to reconnect the devices to sell them.

Apple is the first technology company globally to agree to change security settings by enabling anti-theft protection by default to protect users’ accounts and personal information.

The Daily Mail’s investigation has uncovered a massive £180 million criminal network responsible for half of phone thefts in London, with at least 62,000 people smuggled to Dubai, Hong Kong and China.

This prevents thieves from changing passwords to reconnect to the phone network so they can sell on the device.

If the stolen phone cannot be used again, it turns into a worthless ‘brick’.

To fix the issue, Apple enabled ‘stolen device protection’ as the default setting for all users in the latest global system update for its phones.

This means that when users register their phone as ‘lost’ after it’s stolen (by logging into iCloud.com/find on another device, such as a laptop, tablet or someone else’s phone), it effectively acts as a kill switch, rendering the handset unusable until the owner re-enters their passcode.

In a landmark deal, the Metropolitan Police and Apple will now share data on seized phones so police can track them and detect whether they are being put back into circulation.

Since collaboration began disrupting global criminal networks, Apple has seen a significant reduction in successful reactivations of stolen phones.

Last night Sir Mark warned criminals: ‘Let me be clear with those who commit this crime.

‘If your phone is ringing in London, your business model is being torn apart piece by piece.

‘Technology is catching up with you, and so are we. Our officers target you on the streets, identify you through intelligence and shut down the networks that move stolen devices around the world.

‘The risks are increasing and the rewards are disappearing. This is not easy money anymore.

‘We will find you, arrest you and bring you to court. ‘Time’s up.’

He told the Daily Mail that the partnership could eradicate the crime that has devastated the lives of millions of people: ‘We can strike at the heart of this crime by destroying the business model that sustains it.

‘Now the rest of the industry and the government must step in to get the job done.’

The Met Police and Apple will now share data on seized phones so police can track them and determine whether they are being recirculated

Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: ‘If you’re stealing phones in London your business model will be torn apart piece by piece’

The Daily Mail led the way in uncovering the stolen phone trade. Last month Scotland Yard praised the Daily Mail’s ‘fantastic’ investigation after three members of a phone smuggling network confessed to a £180 million operation.

The gang was once responsible for almost half of all stolen phones in London; Many of the devices were taken to a high-rise block in Hong Kong that was infiltrated by Daily Mail reporters last summer.

The newspaper tracked phones stolen from London to warehouses in the suburbs of England before reaching Dubai, Hong Kong and China.

Amir Muhammad Khadikhel (35), Ismat Miakhel (33) and Mansoor Mohammed (30) later pleaded guilty to smuggling 62,000 stolen phones.

London has some of the highest rates of phone theft in England and Wales.

Detectives found adverts on Snapchat offering children up to £380 for stealing a single iPhone, or a £100 bonus for stealing ten. Technology companies have been slow to respond to this problem because phone theft results in more sales.

Figures released under Freedom of Information show that only a fraction of devices have been returned to their owners.

A total of 587,498 phones were stolen in London between 2017 and 27 February 2024, but only 13,998 were recovered.

In March, Sir Mark issued an ultimatum calling on telecom giants to take action or face legislation.

Applying a massive crackdown, the force has managed to almost halve mobile phone robberies in Westminster this year after hundreds of arrests.

The Commissioner said: ‘I gave the technology companies an ultimatum; Take urgent steps to prevent the resale and reuse of stolen phones, otherwise we will call on the Government to intervene and legislate.

‘For the first time, we are routinely sharing intelligence on stolen devices, building a common picture of how these phones move and whether they re-enter circulation.

‘This partnership is already making a difference.

‘If stolen phones cannot be reactivated, their value drops and so does the incentive to steal them.’

Samsung and Google are also now making security changes to tackle the problem.

Kate Adams, Apple’s senior vice president of government affairs, said: ‘We are grateful for our partnership with the Metropolitan Police and welcome the impact of Operation Reckoning, which is helping to reduce phone theft across London.

‘We will continue to innovate, invest and work closely with law enforcement in the UK and around the world to disrupt the stolen phone market.’