Overview
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Wednesday that the Celular Seguro program will send direct alerts to phones the government has marked as stolen to notify current users and urge returns.
- Officials say the registry covers about 2.5 million devices and includes identifying data such as IMEI (chassis) numbers and addresses linked to those phones.
- The proposal favors collecting returned phones at Correios postal branches rather than police stations to lower barriers for people who bought devices without knowing they were stolen.
- Government messaging frames the effort as a way to avoid prosecuting consumers who unknowingly bought stolen phones while warning that keeping such devices can constitute the crime of receptação.
- The measure follows an MJSP study and a planned discussion with Justice Minister Wellington César Lima e Silva and remains under review with technical, legal and communications details to be announced in the coming days.