Thousands of smartphones and handsets will now be in circulation on the black economy. Stolen handsets can easily be blocked from any UK network within 48 hours. Criminals may try to sell the handsets to unsuspecting members of the public unaware how easily stolen sets can be blocked. The easiest route is to try to get hold of a stolen phone by paying at the till – the entire shop could be worth as little as a few hundred pounds on the street to criminals. The assumption is that this is what happens with valuable handsets shipped to parts of the developing world.”]
Source: https://www.csoonline.com/article/2129307/looted-smartphones-will-be-blocked-by-networks.html