Cellphone Blacklisting - why are they still stolen?

Belix

Belix

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Apologies if not the right topic.

My mom has been trying to get vodacom to blacklist a cellphone for which the contract has since been cancelled and it seems to be provving to be an issue for Vodacom. It's been a week and still she has not received any kind of acknowledgment, not the reference number required to be given to the SAPS.

But it got me thinking: It this blacklisting story is so important, why are people still being killed for their cellphones? I though blacklisting meant the phone could no longer be used on any RSA network? It would be better if there was some sort of international body, but at any rate, I cannot believe every stolen cellphone is being used across our borders. To me it seems that the blacklisting is simply not preventing the phones being reused in RSA. Given the issues we've had blacklisting my mom's phone with Vodacom, perhaps some people simply don't do it, SAPS regulations or not.

Can anyone shed some light on this blacklisting issue?
Thanks
 
I have the ability to blacklist a phone on my system and it is relatively easy to do. But for example, it has to be a contract number and the IMEI number needs to have been used with that number so we can match it up. If it is prepaid then customer care needs to do it. Did they give you a reason as to why they have not blacklisted the phone? Did they supply you with the form you need to complete?
 
I've hada phone blacklisted on the vodacom network. Gave it to somebody, they gave it back and could use it on MTN and Cell C
 
OP: You just said how hard it is to blacklist a phone. The crims know this too. They kill you for a phone they can use for a day or a week, and they win.
 
As far as I know, the criminals get around black-listing by simply replacing a microchip in the phone. Blacklisting doesn't really work - there's always a way around things like this. The laws only apply to the law-abiding...

Juice
 
Well i thought that the South African telecoms bodies worked together. I.e. that there is a centralized database of blacklisted IMEI's so the phone cannot be used within our borders...
 
It is profitable for the providers when phones aren't blacklisted as that's one extra customer in their minds. The criminal sells the phone on and the victim gets a new one. However, the defeatist attitude of victims is also a problem, people don't blacklist because they feel "it doesn't work" & too much effort! The networks are a problem too. A blacklisted phone can be put back on the network with a new IMEI number (I think your friendly neighbourhood Nigerian can do this at your nearest Hillbrow street corner for a few bucks).
 
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These criminals probably know how to change IMEI numbers or unblacklist the phone. If blacklisting a phone was worth anything, people wouldnt be able to do anything with them.
 
SAPS said they need an "ITC" number before they can issue a case number. Form from Vodacom had no request for case number anyway. Vodacom confirmed they issue ITC number first when I called them.

Vodacom did send a form, on which we entered EMEI number, last call details etc. As I say, no response so far at all. Perhaps it's because my mom changed over to Cell C after the theft?
 
catweasel said:
You need a case number from SAPS first before you can blacklist a phone.
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This definitely used to be the case, but I had a phone stolen a year ago and SAPS told me I had to blacklist the phone before they would open a case.

Vodacom tracked the phone and the thief, but by the time they got SAP on the scene, the blacklist had kicked in and the thief had got rid of the phone. If SAPS hadn't insisted on blacklisting first, my phone would have been recovered and the thief would have been caught red-handed.

I have subsequently found out that the mobile networks in SA do not share their blacklists, so my phone is probably being used right now on MTN or Cell-C.
 
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I tried for months to get a stolen phone blacklisted on MTN. Eventually gave up, just wasn't worth the hassle.

Couldn't break through the incompetence.

However, in terms of RICA it's a criminal offence to not report a stolen phone and/or to get it blacklisted.
 
ginggs said:
Isn't this a bad thing?
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Why do you ask/say that? First you unhappy cause we wanted the case number first. Now you unhappy cause we do it without a case number. *goes for smoke due to the fact that mybb vodacom members pushing my nerves to the brink of self destruction* :-)
 
QUOTE=ocleroux;3757803]Why do you ask/say that? First you unhappy cause we wanted the case number first. Now you unhappy cause we do it without a case number. *goes for smoke due to the fact that mybb vodacom members pushing my nerves to the brink of self destruction* :-)[/QUOTE]

One way of getting your daughter's cellphone bill down? Or maybe getting my staff off the blurry mobile ---can i blacklist a phone for working hours only?:twisted:
 
CORY said:
QUOTE=ocleroux;3757803]Why do you ask/say that? First you unhappy cause we wanted the case number first. Now you unhappy cause we do it without a case number. *goes for smoke due to the fact that mybb vodacom members pushing my nerves to the brink of self destruction* :-)
Click to expand...

One way of getting your daughter's cellphone bill down? Or maybe getting my staff off the blurry mobile ---can i blacklist a phone for working hours only?:twisted:[/QUOTE]

Once a phone has been blacklisted it is a nightmare to have it unblacklisted. You have to go to the police and get a affodavit thingy to say that the phone has been found and is with its rightful owner.
 
ocleroux said:
Once a phone has been blacklisted it is a nightmare to have it unblacklisted. You have to go to the police and get a affodavit thingy to say that the phone has been found and is with its rightful owner.
Click to expand...
That's why it's a bad thing for Vodacom to blacklist without a case number.
 
ginggs said:
That's why it's a bad thing for Vodacom to blacklist without a case number.
Click to expand...

We cant help it if you guys hide your phones underneath your dirty underwear, cant find it, start to stress, want to blacklist and then find it afterwards when you decide to do laundry after 4 months of build up????!!!! hehehe :-)
 
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