The prevalence of mobile phone theft and other forms of mobile phone crime in the UK has become a widespread problem, a survey by Juniper Research said.
The Juniper Research survey findings supported those by Halifax Home Insurance, which claimed that, on average, one mobile phone was stolen in the UK every 12 seconds.
The study also said that based on figures by Halifax combined with government statistics, more than 2 million phones were stolen at a cost of 390 million pounds in 2005 alone.
The survey further considered other security concerns associated with adolescent mobile use, with 27% of 5 to 20 year olds as the actual victims of mobile mugging, or associated with someone who had been a victim.
A further 22% registered having been, or was associated with, a victim of bullying via mobile phone, the report said.