BOSTON -- The iPhone is the most coveted cell phone on the market today.

But are cell phone companies doing enough to prevent yours from being stolen?

Boston Police blamed cell phone theft for 14 percent of the city's robberies last year.

Experts think many stolen iPhones end up for sale online. Web sites like Craigslist have dozens of listings.

"I wouldn't be surprised at all if some of them are stolen," said Evan Silbert, president of Warlox Wireless. "There is no way to tell by looking at the phone."

When you report an iPhone stolen, the wireless carrier deactivates the SIM card so that the phone no longer receives service.

But when you replace the card, the phone works like new.

"The SIM card is really what the carrier tracks," Silbert said. "They really don't track the serial number of the phone quite so much, so it will go right back into working service when another SIM card is inserted."

Since SIM cards are so easy to replace, high-end phones have become very attractive to thieves.

"It's something you're guaranteed to be able to sell," Silbert said.

In Europe, authorities have tried to deter theft by tracking serial numbers and disabling phones permanently once they're reported stolen. It's called "bricking" a phone.

But Team 5 Investigates discovered there's no similar program here in the United States.

An AT&T spokeswoman told Team 5 that the company's "focus is on protecting customer information and avoiding unauthorized charges."

She added that the company doesn't have the technology in the U.S. market to disable a phone if it's lost or stolen.

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Full AT&T Statement:

"Our first priority is to take steps to protect our customers against unauthorized charges, and we encourage customers to immediately contact us if they believe their phone has been lost or stolen so that we can suspend their wireless service to protect against unauthorized charges.

Once we suspend service at a customer’s request, no incoming or outgoing calls can be placed or received using the phone’s SIM card, and data services, access to voice mail and access to call forwarding also are suspended.

However, even if we were to completely disable a device on AT&T’s systems, the device could still be used on other networks, using a different SIM card.

As for the iPhone specifically, I’d also call your attention to Apple’s MobileMe service which offers a Find My Phone feature that gives customers the added capability to track, lock or ultimately remotely wipe data from a lost phone. More information on that feature is available from Apple."

Kate MacKinnon
AT&T
Corporate Communications