Lost your mobile phone in Visakhapatnam city limits, thinking of what to do? Now, there is no need to rush to police station, you can file a complaint with a click. Though the recovery of a lost mobile phone is a herculean task, the city police who have launched “Mobile Recovery” programme are doing it with ease with the help of technology. In the last five months, over 300 lost mobile phones worth over ₹60 lakh were traced and handed over to the owners by the Central Crime Station (CCS), which is handling the initiative.
As per the officials, if the mobile phone was lost or stolen by someone or left somewhere while travelling, the victim may contact a WhatsApp number 9490617916. The number is connected to a chat-bot. People can just send ‘Hi’ to start conversation. The complainant gets an auto-reply message which contains a separate link. The link will further take the complainant to fill a form asking some questions. This apart, the WhatsApp number has a QR code and after scanning it, the complainant gets a form and fill the mandatory fields.
IMEI number
“We collect the information and analyse the possible technical data. Using technology, we trace down the phone. However, it is important to provide IMEI number of the mobile phone lost during the procedure. Because any person who committed theft or sold the mobile phone to someone, may change the SIM,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police (CCS) Sravan Kumar.
Among the complaints, many were found committed theft by miscreants and sold to others through various sources. Some of the theft mobiles were being sold by some shopkeepers as second hand mobile phones, the ACP said.
“The police teams had met the shopkeepers and even the persons who purchased the mobile phones, informed them about the situation and retrieved them,” he added.
As per the police, in many cases, the mobile phones were retrieved not just in Andhra Pradesh, but also in Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Published - May 19, 2023 09:34 pm IST
