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freitasm

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#208220 1-Feb-2017 15:55
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Just received:

 

 

This morning, thieves ram-raided the Spark Ponsonby store with a car and stole a number of mobile devices. This robbery follows a previous ram-raid on the same store a few months ago.

 

All the stolen devices taken this morning and in the previous ram-raid have been blacklisted following the theft, meaning they won’t work on any New Zealand mobile network. This is standard policy for any device in New Zealand, and makes stealing phones a futile exercise.

 

Grant McBeath, General Manager of Sales for Spark Home, Mobile and Business says, “We’re really disappointed by this attack. The individuals responsible have caused damage to the property and taken a significant quantity of stock.

 

“It’s also a really pointless theft. As all the devices have now been black listed, they might as well have stolen some paper weights, as that’s all they’re good for now. To be honest, they won’t even make good paper weights as our devices are so light these days.

 

“It seems such a shame to put yourself at risk, driving at high speed through glass windows, for such a pointless exercise.

 

“We’d advise people to be careful when buying a second hand phone. You can always check whether a phone has been blacklisted following a theft by checking its unique IMEI number on the Telecommunications Forum’s website. If you do find a stolen phone, please hand it to the police.”

 

Spark is reviewing the CCTV footage from cameras within store and is cooperating with the police in their investigation. The store was cleaned up this morning and re-opened for business at 11.30am. There is an ongoing process under way to secure the store further.

 





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  #1714021 1-Feb-2017 15:57
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given they are black listed on NZ networks would they work overseas?

 

i know Americans love unlocked phones




freitasm

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  #1714022 1-Feb-2017 15:58
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Just be extra cautious if buying phones from Trade Me - and even more from Facebook groups.





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ubergeeknz
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  #1714031 1-Feb-2017 15:59
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They'd almost certainly be planning to flog them overseas.  Really there needs to be international sharing of stolen IMEIs to prevent this.




DarthKermit
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  #1714033 1-Feb-2017 16:01
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What's to stop dodgy people from hocking off these phones, fully knowing they're now duds?


xpd

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  #1714034 1-Feb-2017 16:01
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"This robbery follows a previous ram-raid on the same store a few months ago."

 

So... the store didn't learn from that experience ? Bollards etc in front are a good start......





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  #1714035 1-Feb-2017 16:02
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DarthKermit:

 

What's to stop dodgy people from hocking off these phones, fully knowing they're now duds?

 

 

nothing at all


richms
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  #1714047 1-Feb-2017 16:06
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Also dodgey screen repairers etc would be all over them for parts like with regular stolen phones.





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loceff13
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  #1714064 1-Feb-2017 16:36
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Frankly I'd like to see them block phones that default on the 12/24 month contracts too, maybe they do now but a few years ago(2013-15) there were people selling tens of phones on other NZ forums and trademe that their mates defaulted on or intended to default on. That way there might be some chance of a higher recovery rate and not passing on late fees to other customers.


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