WHEREAS, as of July 2018, there are over 8.6 billion active cellphone subscribers globally, more than the entire world population.[1]  For some users, mobile devices are their sole means of accessing the internet.[2]  The sophistication, and value, of mobile devices has increased and have become an integral part of modern society, thus increasing exposure to the user to potential victimization; and

WHEREAS, every mobile device (cell phone, tablet, etc.) has a unique identifier known as the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identifier). The IMEI is a 15-digit number that is used to identify a device on a mobile network.  The Groupe Spéciale Mobile Association (GSMA) maintains a unique system known as the IMEI database, which is a global central database containing basic information on the IMEI ranges of millions of mobile devices (e.g., mobile phones, laptop data cards, etc.) that are in use across the world’s mobile networks;[3] and 

WHEREAS, when victims or law enforcement report a lost or stolen device to a mobile network operator, participating operators report these lost or stolen devices to a global registry known as the GSMA IMEI Blacklist database operated by the GSMA; and

WHEREAS, as of March 2018, 119 mobile network operators from 43 countries are connected to the GSMA IMEI Blacklist database in order to block the reutilization of lost or stolen mobile devices on mobile networks throughout the globe.[4]  This global mobile device “blacklist” diminishes the value of stolen devices for criminals and deters the trafficking of stolen devices;[5] and

WHEREAS, criminals have developed approaches that render blacklists less effective, just by simply moving the device to a country that does not share blacklist information with the country in which it was stolen;[6] and

WHEREAS, criminals have targeted communities and nations which participate in the GSMA IMEI Blacklist database and shipped millions of dollars of stolen devices to other nations who do not participate in the GSMA IMEI Blacklist database where stolen devices are reactivated. For example, in Britain, criminals riding mopeds and armed with acid are stealing tens of thousands of phones on UK streets to supply a multimillion-dollar black market run by crime lords in Nigeria which does not participate in the GSMA IMEI Blacklist database;[7] and

WHEREAS, Interpol reports that cell phone theft organizations smuggling across borders in Latin America make an average of $550,000 per day. Many of these traffickers are connects to drug cartels that are increasingly investing in smuggling cell phones because they are considered low risk and high reward compared to narcotics[8] ; and

WHEREAS, in addition to robberies, criminals continue to victimize communities and nations by committing widespread identity theft, contract fraud and financial crimes and shipping millions of dolalrs of stolen or fraudulently obtained mobile devices to countries which do not participate in the GSMA IMEI Blacklist database. [9]Now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) will hereby take actions to encourage their respective nation’s governing and regulatory bodies to require mobile network operators to participate in the global GSMA IMEI Blacklist database by reporting lost or stolen devices, and blocking service to any device on the GSMA IMEI Blacklist database regardless of country origin.

Submitted by: Crime Prevention Committee

Co-sponsored by: Transnational Crime Committee and Police Investigative Operations Committee

CPC.03.t2018