Cell Phone Trafficking: Where Greed Lead to Jailtime

PROSECUTION: 

When going to an electronic brick-and-mortar store, most consumers assume the phones in the sealed packaging are brand new, but unfortunately that is not always the case. Criminals have improved their methods and will jailbreak fraudulently obtained phones and “rekit” or repackage them for sale to unsuspecting consumers at an increased cost. Generally, consumers do not realize they’ve been a victim till it is too late. Let us review a theoretical case involving a wireless electronic store. 

John Doe ran a small wireless electronics store selling mostly smartphones and their accessories. In order to save money and increase margins, John Doe was buying phones in bulk to jailbreak and sell at a higher cost overseas due to being able to work on any network. Since John had been doing this for about a year, he has gotten confident in his ability to go undetected and started shipping larger shipments of phones for a bigger payout. 

Soon, customs started noticing the larger shipments from John Doe to countries that have been flagged for fraudulent or criminal activities. After a few months of the increased activity, customs deemed the activity to be suspicious and required further investigation. The boxes of phones were seized for further investigation in order to determine the legitimacy of his transactions. 

After the boxes of smartphones were seized, they were sent to a digital forensic lab for further examination. Upon examining the phones further, they were able to determine that the phones were jailbroken and fraudulently obtained. John Doe was placed under arrest, and it was determined that he had stolen and sold over 300,000 phones before being placed in custody. 

Now, John Doe is serving his sentence and paying back his victims. Without digital forensics, who knows how many more unsuspecting consumers would become a victim of John Doe’s criminal scheme. Consumers can now rest assured that there is one less criminal after their finances.

DEFENSE: 

Nowadays, it is surprising to find someone in the world who does not have a cell phone in their pocket. In fact, 90% of Americans over 18 years old own a cell phone, and 67% of those cell phone owners own smartphones. With the amount of valuable data that is stored on these devices, consumers are more susceptible to becoming victims of crime if they are not careful. Let us look at a theoretical case involving a wireless electronic store owner. 

Jane Doe owns a small wireless electronic company that she has been running for about two years. Although the economy has been unstable, she has been able to stay afloat by shopping around for suppliers to improve margins. Jane managed to find a supplier overseas that was selling cell phones in bulk and decided to purchase them as it was the best deal she had found online, choosing the fastest shipment available. 

After receiving her shipment of bulk cell phones, she logged the phones into her inventory and put them out for sale. The shipment included many popular types of cell phones, so Jane Doe managed to sell most of her order quickly. Before she was able to make another order to her newfound supplier, she was confronted by the police. The police placed her under arrest for cell phone trafficking, and not knowing what they were speaking of, she quickly got in contact with her attorney. 

Jane Doe’s attorney requested that digital forensics be conducted on the cell phones that Jane was selling. After the digital forensic investigation was completed on all applicable devices, it was concluded that the cell phones had been jailbroken prior to being purchased by Jane Doe.  Therefore, it was likely that she had no idea that she was buying stolen phones. 

Thankfully for Jane Doe, digital forensics was able to prove her innocence in the matter and she was able to get back to business. Now, Jane takes extra precautions when she orders from suppliers so that she does not accidentally aid in criminal activity again. Without digital forensics, who knows how much time or money she could have been held liable for? This is why it’s always better to have all the data.