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Fighting the fraudsters

THE UK’s largest independent pawnbroker has applauded new measures that aim to stop stolen mobile phones being sold.

North East-headquartered Ramsdens Financial Services, which purchases unwanted handsets as part of the services offered in its network of 68 branches, says that the introduction of a code of practice announced by the Home Office on Friday is a very welcome move.

The company’s CEO, Peter Kenyon, says that the strategy will act as an additional safeguard to checks that Ramsdens already undertakes when it is offered a phone for sale.

“Before purchasing we always check the phone’s IMEI number, which is a unique number assigned to each phone, against the National Mobile Phone Register to check that it has not been blocked or blacklisted.

Peter Kenyon adds: “All transactions in our stores are closely monitored by CCTV and our security processes are designed to stop stolen goods being offered for sale in our store.

“We do not get offered many stolen items as a result but, if we do, we work with the police to apprehend the thief where possible. Such processes recently enabled the arrest of a thief in our Sunderland store and the return of a precious item to its rightful owner.”

The phone recycling company that purchases the handsets off Ramsdens - SHP Ltd – was one of those that had signed up to the Code of Practice ahead of it being announced last week.

As part of it, all companies involved will work closely with police and check the details of every phone they are offered against the database of all phones reported stolen that is currently used by Ramsdens. If the handset has been reported as stolen, the company will refuse to buy the phone and details of the phone and the person trying to sell it to them will be passed to the police to investigate.

The code, which has been developed by the Telecommunications Fraud Forum (TUFF), government and police, will be administered by TUFF who will monitor it to ensure it is being adhered to. Sanctions will be taken against companies that do not comply with it.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .