The Federal Communication Commission and the Ministry of Information and Technology of Colombia announced a memorandum of understanding aimed at cracking down on mobile device theft in the South American country.
Colombia has long been a hot bed of violent insurgent groups and narcotics traffickers. In addition to its role as hub of the cocaine trade, Colombia’s position bordering five other Latin American countries, and in easy flying distance of the U.S. and Caribbean, has made it a hub of black market trade in general, but with special emphasis on smartphones.
In 2013, a police raid in Bogota recovered more than 400 stolen cell phones acquired in bulk. Drug traffickers, smugglers, right- and left-wing paramilitary groups and others all buy and use smartphones stolen in the U.S. However, the main market is the everyday citizens of Colombia and the neighboring nations. Illegally acquired smartphones are cheaper than legally imported ones and represent a multilayered profit center for smugglers. After buying stolen phones, thieves can first mine them for useful personal information like e-mail addresses, Social Security numbers, passwords or credit cards numbers. Then, once these are acquired, they can refurbish and sell the phone.
Despite an improving security situation over the last 15 years, the U.S. State Department still warns would-be visitors to Colombia, “Violence linked to narco-trafficking continues to affect some rural and urban areas.” While “Violent and petty crime remains a significant concern in Colombia.”
The joint memorandum states both the U.S. and Colombia will continue to work with mobile device and service providers to block activation of stolen devices and actively work to reduce theft of stolen devices. Several means to reduce the profit margin for stolen devices have emerged over the last few years including kill switches, which wipe personal data from phones. Additionally the memorandum seeks to add safe guards to national networks to make it harder to activate a stolen smartphone. Both the FCC and MINTIC hope their collaboration and collaboration with the private sector will help to stem the tide of stolen phones.
