Amsterdam police today launched a high-tech offensive against ever-growing mobile phone theft, bombarding stolen telephones with text messages warning thieves of the error of their ways.
This device is stolen. Purchase or sale is an offence - the police, is the short text message (SMS) that begins flashing up on the display of stolen phones every three minutes as soon as the theft is reported.
"The idea is to drive the thieves mad," a police official involved in the operation said.
Police said the campaign, which made stolen phones virtually unusable, was a response to a rising trend in muggings since October 2000 - 75 percent of them involving the theft of a mobile phone.