Our attention was drawn to a story in the media regarding mobile fraud.

First, thirteen operators in Latin America have joined forces to combat mobile handset theft. This is a positive move that will enable operators in Latin America to share information on stolen handsets with their counterparts to ensure these devices are not reused. This helps reduce the sell on value of mobile phone and hopefully ensuring that mobiles are therefore a less enticing target for criminals.

A similar system has existed in Europe for some time, so one obvious question is why has it taken the operator community so long to instigate their own scheme. Nevertheless the initiative is welcome.

Talk to anyone that has a phone stolen (and plenty of people do) and one of the major frustrations is not only the loss of hardware but also the data kept on the device. In the last few years this has become even more of an issue with mobile banking apps, email, private photos and other data all accessible from the handset. It is pretty astonishing that more than half those with a smartphone do not apply any kind of security to the device.