Overview
- Parliament’s Science, Innovation and Technology Committee urged Shabana Mahmood to reconvene a phone theft summit and press Apple, Google and Samsung to deploy measures such as cloud-based blocking and IMEI-linked locks.
- Metropolitan Police figures cited by MPs show 117,211 phones were stolen in 2024, with only about 1% of London cases leading to a charge or conviction.
- Evidence presented to MPs indicates large-scale export of stolen devices, with police saying roughly 75% move abroad and separate analysis finding 78% later connect to overseas networks.
- Apple told MPs it is considering remote blocking but raised privacy and security risks, Google said its current protections are robust and favor user-controlled blocking, and Samsung pointed to expanded security features and work with the Home Office.
- Police and industry witnesses said IMEI-based blocking is technically possible but constrained by limited international adoption, with GSMA agreements covering about 10% of global networks.