Government Warns Tech Giants: ‘Brick’ Stolen Phones or Face New Laws

Ministers are threatening to impose strict new laws on tech giants like Apple and Samsung if they fail to implement robust anti-theft measures to tackle the booming black market for stolen mobile phones.

Policing Minister Sarah Jones has instructed officials to develop proposals for a statutory anti-theft standard, warning that legislation will be introduced if manufacturers do not voluntarily deliver effective anti-theft protections. Current voluntary agreements have frustrated police chiefs, including Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, who previously demanded that stolen handsets be turned into “unusable bricks” to instantly collapse their resale value.

Proposed solutions include tying handset locks to a unique IMEI number to prevent devices from being wiped and reconnected to new cloud accounts, even when taken abroad. While recent figures show a 20% drop in mobile phone thefts in London, the Home Office has made it clear that further government action will be taken if industry efforts do not drive down the organized criminality behind phone snatching.