Over 80,000 iPhones stolen in London, police claims Apple is not taking action

London's Metropolitan Police Service (Met Police) has accused Apple of neglecting the national database of stolen devices that allows thieves to trade in stolen iPhones for credit toward new products. This accusation comes after thousands of iPhones were reported stolen in London last year, to what the police are calling an “epidemic of phone thefts” in city. According to a report by The Telegraph, Met Police has informed UK's Members of Parliament (MPs) that the Cupertino-based tech giant “already have access to NMPR and use it every day to check the network status of trade in devices, but they do not check for theft or take action.” The NMPR is a database used to return recovered phones to their owners, but the Met Police claimed Apple does not monitor this register when accepting devices for trade-in.

Apple's trade-in system allows individuals to receive credit of up to £670 off a new device by turning in an old iPhone. The police's claim suggests that the lack of monitoring enables the stolen devices to re-enter the system.More than 80,000 phones were reported stolen in London last year, an increase from 64,000 in 2023. Met Police estimates the cost of replacing stolen phones, borne by users and their insurers, at £50 million in 2024. Over three quarters of these stolen devices are believed to end up abroad, often being stripped for parts. The Met's accusation follows Apple urging the police service to focus on “traditional policing” by following up on theft reports made by the company.

What Apple said Met Police about stolen iPhones

Responding to Met Police’s claims, Apple had previously outlined the systems it has implemented to address phone theft. The company introduced a stolen device protection feature that prevents criminals from wiping phones even if they know the passcode, along with a setting that locks iPhones to the original owner’s Apple account.Apple said it was considering blocking the use of a phone’s IMEI number (a unique 15-digit identifier that can link a phone to an overseas mobile network) once it is registered as stolen.

Police estimate that up to three quarters of stolen phones are sent abroad, with 28% reaching China or Hong Kong and many going to Algeria.However, Apple cautioned that IMEI number blocking could be misused by individuals impersonating owners and making false theft reports. The company also noted that such measures would not prevent stolen phones from being dismantled for parts.Mobile networks have accused Apple of “undermining” efforts to curb phone thefts from retailers by declining to “brick” devices stolen from operators’ stores. Around 80% of smartphones reported as stolen to the Met Police are iPhones.Meanwhile, Apple has earlier claimed that the Met Police are not fully investigating these thefts.In June, Apple executive Gary Davis told UK MPs: “I would want to make sure that as part of all of that the Met Police continues to do traditional policing, which means sending requests to us for stolen devices and Apple responding to those requests for stolen devices. We are not seeing that.”