Season for stolen phones

Buying a secondhand phone over Christmas could end in disappointment, police and an industry group are warning.

A lot of used phones tend to hit the market around Christmas as people upgraded their devices, Telecommunications Forum (TCF) chief executive Geoff Thorn said.

While most would be genuine, phone companies also saw a rise in the number of phones being stolen or fraudulently obtained in November and December, he said.

Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees have an arrangement to block phones from all three networks if they are reported stolen, making them effectively unusable.

But Thorn warned the system was not foolproof. Buyers can check if phones have been blocked by visiting mindyourmobile.co.nz and entering their unique 15-digit international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number, which transmits to the carrier each time a phone connects to a network.

People can check the IMEI of almost any phone by keying in the code: *#06#

Though about 90 per cent of lost and stolen phones are blacklisted almost immediately, some may not be put on the database for weeks. Thorn said the main reason was that some were obtained on post-paid plans by people who used false IDs and then on-sold them to unsuspecting buyers.

Thorn said a TCF survey found 35 per cent of people thought buying a used cellphone online, from sites such as Facebook, was safe. ‘‘There are no guarantees.’’

Detective senior sergeant Bridget Doell agreed, saying buying used goods online always came with an element of risk.