Smartphone  ‘kill switches’ render stolen phones useless

A  Journal analysis of city theft data showed mixed results for smartphone “kill switches,” which render stolen iPhones or Samsung Galaxies useless.

Not all thieves, it turns out, have received the memo on the latest anti-theft technologies.

They are selling “bricked phones,” essentially dead devices that are as useful as a brick, the report said. Some have been able to impersonate the owner to receive the passcodes to turn the devices back on. They have also learned to quickly turn off smartphones to prevent owners, and law enforcement, from tracking the devices’ locations.

Kill switches which were introduced by Apple have been touted as the answer to urban crimes, specifically street muggings. By remotely activating the switch on the device, an owner can remotely turn off their stolen phones rendering them useless to a thief.

Apple installed the switch in its latest iPhones in 2013 and Google’s Android introduced something similar.

But are these anti-theft technologies making phones less of a target, thus reducing muggings and other dangerous crimes?

And an early analysis of the kill switch in phones showed that there was an initial sharp reduction in thefts in New York, San Francisco and London.

The report is just a sign that word has not yet gotten out on the street that these phones are not worth robbing someone for.