Apple’s ‘Find My’ lead cops to cache of thousands of contraband iPhones

Apple Find my feature Very useful. If you’ve ever gone out for a night drinking and woke up the next morning without your phone, look me up there. If you’re in a hurry and hail your Uber only to later feel a suspicious presence in your pocket, find me there. And if you’re a British law enforcement team investigating a massive iPhone breakout ring in the heart of London, by the looks of it, there you are.

BBC Reports it Cops in the UK recently broke up a phone call ring involving tens of thousands of devices. How did they accomplish that? The original break in the case involved someone whose phone was stolen, but who managed to trace the device to a London warehouse. We’re left to assume that tracking was possible thanks to Apple’s Handy iOS Geo tracking service.

Detective Inspector Mark Gavin told the BBC: “It was actually Christmas Eve and the victim electronically tracked a stolen iPhone to a warehouse near Heathrow Airport.” “Security there was eager to help, and they found the phone was in a box, among 894 other phones.”

This initial incident eventually led the cops to make an even bigger bust: 2,000 more stolen phones, and a number of arrests. 9to5mac He notices it Cops made several shipments to the same warehouse, which then gave DNA samples linked to potential suspects in the case. The subsequent investigation then led to raids on dozens of residences, and as of Monday, 18 people had been arrested in connection with the ring, which involved phones being suspected of being smuggled into China. Gizmodo has reached out to police for more information.

According to cops, tens of thousands of phones are stolen in London every year, and a recently arrested gang may have been responsible for a large number of them. “This group specifically targeted Apple products because of their profitability overseas,” Gavin said She told the Associated Press. “We discovered that street thieves were paying up to 300 pounds ($403) per earbud and uncovered evidence of devices being sold for up to $5,000 in China.”

Fraudsters in Britain may have started switching from selling medicines to selling stolen phones. Police Minister Sarah Jones told the BBC: “We hear that some criminals are stopping dealing drugs and moving into the phone business because it is more lucrative.” “If you steal a phone and it’s worth hundreds of pounds, you can understand why criminals who want a step further and want to exploit new crimes turn to this world.”