Illegal 'unlocking' software sold online

Drug barons are laundering money by selling software over the internet that unlocks chips on stolen phones.

Home Secretary Jack Straw last week called on manufacturers and the police to help tackle the growing number of street robberies that target mobile phones. According to the British Crime Survey, these are up since last year by 14 per cent to 15,000 phone thefts per month.

However, according to exclusive information received by Network News, the upswing in crime could be caused by the easy availability of phone unlocking software which is being 'marketed' by drug barons.

This software can be downloaded from websites and 'unlocks' the handset from the service provider. The handsets are then sold by organised crime in regions such as China and the Baltic.

A source within the telecoms sector said: "We are led to believe that the people who are running these sites are nasty individuals, who use the sites to launder drugs money."

Network News has passed on this information, including some of the websites, to the National Crime Squad, which said its High Tech Crime Unit would investigate the matter.

Mark Nicholas, from the property crime section of the Home Office, said he expected that this type of information would be exchanged between Straw, industry and the police. "This is one of the things that would come out of the meeting," he said.

Greg Smith, chairman of the fraud and security group of the Communications Management Association, said that the CMA welcomed the Government's initiative and was looking to see "what security measures it would recommend to prevent and reduce theft".

BT Cellnet said that Jack Straw should not imply that the industry was not doing enough. A company spokesman said: "The industry is already taking phone theft seriously and cannot be held responsible for street crime."

First published in Network News

See also:

Cyber-cavalry guns for cyber-criminals

Only weeks after the National High Tech Crime Squad saddled up and rode out to crack down on cyber-crime, further support has arrived from the Communications Management Association.  03 Apr 2001

Burglars face being shopped online

Vigilant neighbours will be able to email their local police station about suspected crimes as part of a new Home Office scheme.  20 Feb 2001

Lobby group lambasts new Fraud Bill

Parliamentary lobby group Eurim is urging companies to put pressure on their MPs, demanding they modify legislation giving social security investigators wide-ranging access to their customer databases.  15 Feb 2001

WStore sniffs out credit card fraudsters

Two teenage credit card fraudsters have been prosecuted following shrewd action by online reseller WStore.  24 Jan 2001

Vendor slams 'ignorant' network managers

Network managers are increasingly ignorant about internet security, according to a leading vendor.  24 Jan 2001

Fears for mobile market as Nokia slumps

There are fears that the mobile phone industry may go the same way as the dotcoms, after the financial markets panicked over the annual sales figures of Nokia.  17 Jan 2001

Websites review free SMS policies

SMSboy, a free online text messaging service, could become the latest victim of the UK mobile phone operators' plans to charge each other a fee for every text message sent to a rival network.  11 Jan 2001

Mobile phone theft soars

A mobile phone is stolen in the UK every three minutes - a problem which the government has called on manufacturers and police to help tackle.  10 Jan 2001

Mobile networks feel the strain

Windmills, flag poles and even artificial trees are being used to house mobile phone masts as networks struggle to keep up with the growing number of mobile users.  05 Jan 2001

Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below:

 del.icio.us     Digg this     reddit!