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When a mother in New York City realized her son's iPhone had been stolen, she did what many parents would do: she opened Apple's Find My app to track the device. What she discovered was both frustrating and eye-opening, as the stolen iPhone embarked on a journey that spanned nearly 8,000 miles, from New York City to Shenzhen, China. The incident revealed the sophisticated operations of the black market for stolen electronics.
The phone's journey began on October 30 in New York City, when it was snatched in a theft. Initially, it appeared in an apartment complex in the Bronx before being stored in a warehouse on Long Island for several days. Months later, the phone reappeared in Shenzhen, a city known for its electronics manufacturing and repair hubs. By the time the phone had reached Shenzhen, it was locked and essentially useless, thanks to Apple's Activation Lock—a security feature designed to make stolen phones unresellable. Despite this, the destination made perfect sense: Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei district is notorious for dismantling stolen devices for parts or reassembling them into "new" phones.
Smartphone theft is a major issue in the United States, with Allstate estimating that 5% of phones—roughly 14.7 million—were stolen in 2023 alone. Since iPhones make up about 50% of the smartphone market, this means around 7.35 million iPhones were stolen that year. The financial impact is staggering, not only in terms of the device's cost but also the potential security risks posed by data breaches.
Interestingly, losing the iPhone wasn’t the mother’s greatest frustration. What truly upset her was the lack of response from local authorities. After filing a police report with the NYPD, she was disappointed by the lack of action. Even when the phone's location was traceable in New York City, nothing was done to investigate.
"I'm not that mad about losing this one phone," she said, "but I wish the NYPD had looked into the Long Island warehouse before it left New York. I bet there are a ton of other phones going through this same path." Her frustration was shared by many online, who voiced similar experiences of police indifference toward stolen phones.
One commenter remarked, "I thought only in India police weren’t interested in stolen phone cases. Looks like it’s the same worldwide."
Others pointed out that filing a police report doesn’t automatically prompt the police to take action. "People don’t understand that filing a report is just a report. It’s not a request for the police to investigate," one user explained.
Shenzhen’s Huaqiangbei district is infamous for being a hotspot where stolen devices are dismantled and sold for parts. Even though Apple’s Activation Lock prevents the reuse of stolen iPhones, individual components like screens, batteries, and chips can still be salvaged and resold. In some cases, thieves trick the original owners into removing the Activation Lock by sending fake messages pretending to be from Apple.
Organized networks are responsible for moving stolen phones from theft hotspots like New York City to international markets, with Shenzhen being a primary destination. These operations are highly organized, often involving bulk shipments and multiple intermediaries.
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