Thieves are increasingly targeting mobile phones with over 200 being reported as stolen every hour in the UK. This has provoked the UK Government to issue a call to the mobile industry to do significantly more to halt this crime.
Mobile companies have ‘a social and corporate responsibility to tackle crime', said Minister for Crime Prevention, Alan Campbell. Around 2 per cent of British mobile users reported they have suffered a theft in the last year, with the figure for teenagers being three times higher.
To help the mobile industry implement a solution, the Government has unveiled three potential inventions to help combat this crime wave. One of the first contenders in a competition to provide a winning design sounds an alert and locks the handset if it is taken out of a set range--either through theft or loss--and provides automated backup of important data using Bluetooth technology.
Apart from the above i-migo design, ‘The Tie' electronically matches a handset to a SIM card and protects data stored on the handset with a password and encryption. If stolen, the handset cannot be used with another SIM and data.
The third offering--Touch Safe--makes transactions more secure by using a NFC-enabled small card worn or carried by the user, who discreetly touches the phone to the card to enable the transaction.
The need to do something is apparent given that UK mobile users suffering from crimes such as mobile phone identity fraud, rose by over 70 per cent last year.
For more on this story:
Daily Telegraph
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