Labour MP Dawn Butler proposes an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill requiring mobile phone companies to block stolen phones within 48 hours of a police report and to face financial penalties for noncompliance. The proposal aims to reduce the resale value of stolen devices and deter thieves. In Westminster nearly 35,000 phones were reported stolen last year. Between December 2024 and February 2025, 641,208 in phone theft fraud was reported to the national fraud reporting centre. Currys found 77% of British people view phone snatching as a significant problem. Victim James O'Sullivan lost 21,000 in 2023 and later founded Nuke From Orbit to help block services after theft.
Tech giants have a clear responsibility here: the tools already exist to disable stolen devices, and it's time to use them.
When it comes to defrauding a phone, he said there are different flavours of the same attack.
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