back to article Masked men 'steal' £250k of smartphones from Exertis

The boys in blue are investigating a break-in at Exertis’ Altham warehouse earlier this week when three masked robbers made off with almost £250,000 worth of smartphones. According to Lancashire Police, 170 iPhone 6s mobes and 380 Galaxy S5 Neo devices were stolen by the trio between midnight and 2.30 am on 1 February. Police …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Happened in Stockport last week as well, £100,000 of phones nicked:

    http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/masked-robbers-iphone-stockport-car-10787851

    Same gang ?

  2. Chris G

    Secure premises

    Reading this: 'unbolted security bars from the window and dismantled the beading and glass'

    Anyone who stores valuable and desirable merchandise in a place where you can unbolt the iron bars is either stupid or needs the insurance money.

    And where were the security guards sleeping on the night of the burglary?

    They managed to chase two guys the night before but couldn't stop (possibly) the same people carrying out the blag 24 hours later?

    P.S. anyone wanna buy a cheap phone???

  3. Alistair
    Windows

    Do not understand these people

    IMEI's anyone?

    << was wondering why the fraud system update was so large yesterday >>

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Do not understand these people

      I'm sure they'll sell just fine on eBay, Craig's List and other places where they can make off with the money before the buyer has a chance to discover that they've been blocked (if the buyers even know about such things).

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I'm sure they'll sell just fine on eBay, Craig's List and other places

        Right up until the old bill come knocking.

        I'm sure someone listing 100's of mobiles at super knocked down rates won't be the least bit suspicious.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Joke!

    Ironically, all the Lumia 950s were left behind!

    1. Bluff and Bluster

      Re: Joke!

      Just a quick thanks, made me chuckle!

  5. djstardust

    Presumably

    They will have a note of the IMEI numbers and block them all. Which will be fine until they arrive in Nigeria.

  6. wsm

    Could be linked?

    “We believe this could be linked to the burglary. If anyone witnessed any suspicious activity nearby then please get in touch,” said Kelly.

    Does this mean there are others explanations? Such as the PFY needing some pocket change for the weekend?

  7. Jim Birch

    Why is a phone stealable?

    Couldn't a phone have a tamperproof burned in serial number that is reported back when you register it?

    1. EnviableOne

      Re: Why is a phone stealable?

      it does its called an IMEI International mobile station equipment identifier or something like that, point is they are internantionally unique. As above they get added to a system and are blocked from accessing any network in the uk and depending on how it works in most other civilised countries via a central database.

      SO unless as allready said, they are shipped to nigeria, or unscrupulousy flogged online, they are next to useless.

      1. x 7

        Re: Why is a phone stealable?

        it used to be relatively easy to reprogram an IMEI number - I've seen phones where its been reset to all-zeros

        Is that still possible?

      2. Hans 1

        Re: Why is a phone stealable?

        >SO unless as allready said, they are shipped to nigeria, or unscrupulousy flogged online, they are next to useless.

        BS, you can flash a new IMEI onto the iPhones, you just need a legit IMEI ... the one from your old dumb nokia phone will do fine .... ;-)

    2. leexgx

      Re: Why is a phone stealable?

      samsung phones have Region block as well so

      phone has to be connected to a intended target region for more then 5 minuets i believe on a call before region lock is removed

  8. x 7

    theres a bloody great iron fence and security gates on that site, and you'd have to physically drive a van or truck through the carpark, past the front desk where security sit at night to get to the stores.

    And then you'd need to know where the stuff was stored....

    Has to be an inside job, and I'd speculate at an elevated level. Sounds more like an insurance scam. I don't think Exertis have been hitting sales targets since they absorbed Micro-P

    Its very noticeable that their stock levels have dropped to an all-time low

  9. Shadow Systems

    Joke: Sometimes it sucks to use a Screen Reader...

    It read "£250k" as "Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Pounds" & my first thought was "Holy shit! Those guys give new meaning to ''strong arm'' robbery!"

    Then I forced it to character step through the title & realized it was talking value not weight.

    Screen Readers suck: they turn what's supposed to be funny into stuff that's not & vice versa. =-j

    1. ratfox
      Happy

      Re: Joke: Sometimes it sucks to use a Screen Reader...

      Screen Readers suck: they turn what's supposed to be funny into stuff that's not & vice versa. =-j

      Sometimes, this can be a feature!

  10. Adrianuk

    Still not back to where they were

    Not again when will we get the trackball back and a key to make and close a call its much easier than having to swipe and for navigation text editing etc the track ball is fantastic. I wish the my torch still worked as the PRIV I have now is just not as good a phone without these keys, its a better browser I agree but first and foremost its meant to be a phone. What a shame these classic key attributes are still not on the key one

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