Gardaí alert public as 50 smartphones stolen daily

Outside of Dublin, the worst affected areas were Limerick (426), Kildare (398) and Cork City (368)

Gardaí have launched a campaign to improve awareness among smartphone users.

Nearly 50 smartphones were reported stolen, on average, every day since the start of this year.

Of the almost 11,500 handsets stolen, only one in 10 were recovered.

Gardaí estimate the phones stolen are worth about €5m.

Gardaí released the figures as part of a campaign to improve awareness among smartphone users, including by downloading a trusted “Find My Phone” app.

Figures from the Garda Síochána Analysis Service show that 11,488 smartphones were reported stolen between January 1 and August 21 of this year, or around 49 every day.

The greatest number were stolen in the two Dublin city divisions: 2,868 in Dublin South Central and 1,869 in Dublin North Central.

They were followed by Dublin Western Division (875), Dublin Northern (842), and Dublin Southern (590). 

After these regions, came Limerick (426), Kildare (398), and Cork city (368).

The divisions with the lowest number of reported stolen phones were Cork West (25) and Cork North (68). Kerry had the fourth lowest number (87).

Gardaí said that only 1,176 (10%) of the phones reported stolen were recovered.

Launching the campaign, crime prevention officer for the Meath Division, Sergeant Dean Kerins said: “We recommend downloading a trusted location finder app so if it is lost or stolen, you have a better chance of getting it back.” 

He also recommended adding a family member or friend as an emergency contact in your phone, so if they receive a lost or stolen phone they can ring that person.

He encouraged people to enable the PIN security feature and keeping phones locked at all times and even using a property mark to identify the phone.

For advice, see garda.ie