Police crack down on rising mobile phone theft frauds

Last year, 3,642 mobile phones were reported stolen in North Yorkshire. The figure accounts for 5.57 per cent of all crimes.

North Yorkshire Police research found that most mobile phone thefts in the county were from licensed premises, especially nightclubs.

Sergeants Hamish Halloway and Nick Walther, who conducted the research, also came across the results of an investigation by BT Cellnet.

The company looked at insured phones that were the subject of claims and found up to 60 per cent of the claims were made fraudulently.

Sgt Halloway said: "The mathematics are worrying for North Yorkshire. Almost 80 per cent of the mobiles stolen here are insured.

"If 60 per cent of these are the subject of a fraudulent claim, then that means that as many as 1,650 of the phones reported stolen in 2004/5 were not actually stolen.

"If we can cut out the fraudulent claims, then North Yorkshire's crime total would be slashed by 2.65 per cent."

From Monday, anyone reporting that their phone has been stolen will be taken through a questionnaire.

It will include questions that will help officers to identify people who have simply lost their phones, rather than having them stolen.

The new script requires victims to provide very full details of their phones, to make it easier for officers to search police property records and to check the real ownership of mobiles found in the cars or homes of criminals.

Callers will also be given information on how to make their stolen phone inoperable.

Assistant Chief Constable David Collins said: "The deal is this. From Monday, it will take you slightly longer to report that your mobile phone has been stolen, because we will want more information from you.

"Against that, you have a better chance of getting your phone back, there is a better chance of our catching the thief, and you will joining the growing army of people who are making phone theft pointless because they have blocked their stolen mobile."