Red Tape Hot Box on mobile phone theft

We all know what a big problem cellular phone theft is in this country. Police experts and the phone companies estimate that as many as one million phones per year are stolen in Poland. It has become such a problem that many people in big cities are afraid to even talk on their phone when downtown.

Of course, everyone knows that once your phone has been stolen all you need to do is call your network operator and inform them of the robbery. They will block your SIM card, which prevents the thief from using the phone at your expense. The thieves also know this, and most of the time they don't even bother to use the phone, simply throwing the SIM card away. Who needs one anyway, when you've got a fancy Nokia or Ericsson that's worth a couple of hundred złoty? A phone like that will easily find buyers either at the "Russian Market" or the "Wolumen" markets, at a heavily discounted price of course.

However, you should know that mobile phone network operators are able to not only block your SIM card, but also the phone itself. Every mobile has its own unique IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) that works like an ID card. Cell phone networks in most western, as well as in central European, countries use this system to prevent use of stolen mobiles. They even cooperate with each other in fighting phone theft, so that when a card from another network is inserted into the phone there is no chance it can be activated - the phone is "dead". Unfortunately, that is not the case in Poland, where the phone operators somehow find it impossible to perform this same task that their fellow operators in the West find to be pretty simple. Their reluctance to do so can be easily explained: Stolen or not, the phone is still being used, and the network gets its money. So what about the customers, one might ask. Who cares about the clients? They can always come to the operator's store and buy a new phone...

Red tape bugging you? Tell Michał about it at em.pakul@wp.pl