Given the widespread use of cell phones in Europe, whether for work, communicating with loved ones or paying in establishments, having one stolen can be a big blow for its owner. After that, one will need to take steps such as restoring email accounts, filing a complaint, or purchasing another device.
Of course, this can be expensive. In Europe, the number of thefts occurring on these devices increases significantly during mass events like festivals or fairs. However, there are countries, such as Brazil, where this figure reaches more than 2 million cell phones per year.
Today the government of this country wanted to act by launching an application that will leave the mobile phone unusable in case the user learns that it is stolen, and that will leave it as “a useless piece of metal”. , according to Anderson Torres, Minister of Justice and Public Safety.
Support from banks
In Brazil, the theft of smartphones has become a problem that many people suffer from and which leads to a large number of procedures. In some cases, they can be more complex if the device was stolen from the owner’s hands while it was on, which can lead to thieves also spending money from the bank account.
This is why the country’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security has decided to launch an application with which it wants to make stolen cell phones completely unusable, so that thieves are not encouraged to commit these thefts. They have been working on it for 6 months, and thanks to this, the process of disable the smartphone’s ability to make calls and connect to mobile networks This may be faster, although the rest of the device’s features will still work. To cancel them, you will need to lock the phone using the Google or iOS device manager.
Mobile taking money from ATM
iStock
It’s something like a panic button, used through a new app. Its name is Secure Cellular and it already works in the American country. The main objective of the application, beyond leave your cell phone unusable for thieves, is to speed up all the steps that must be taken by the person whose device was stolen.
For its use we had the help of the vast majority of banks in the country, who promised that it would take between ten minutes and half an hour to cancel access to the application from the device. Soon the government also hopes to be able to count on the support of operators to also automatically block the SIM card, so that SMS messages cannot be received, which in many cases are used as a two-step verification method.
Simple setup
To use the application correctly, it is necessary to configure it by providing certain personal data to identify the device. Indeed, it seems better to configure it as early as possible so that the data is saved for as long as possible. You need to create an account using the phone number and A password, then add the IMEI number of the phone used. It is something like the chassis number of the device, and if the mobile has dual SIM it will have two. Thanks to this, it is possible to block your use of mobile networks in many countries.
Once configured, the only important thing is to remember the password. And it is possible to report the theft of the mobile phone both from the mobile phone itself, at the moment it happens, and from another device, by logging in with the phone number and said password. The app is available on iOS and Android and is completely free.
This is a great initiative from the Brazilian government, thanks to which users who are victims of theft can quickly report it and the bank, without being asked, act to protect the interests of the user and thus make these procedures a little easier to perform. It must be taken into account that a report in this application does not replace a complaint to the police station, but rather are two complementary actions.
In Europe, cell phone theft is not a very widespread problem, but it is true that it is something that happens every day, and a solution like this could be of great help to people who suffer from it. In general, the procedures are not very complex, but it is true that depending on work schedules it can be a little complicated to carry them out on certain occasions.
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