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Cell phone thefts are still a problem on transit

Anti-theft features have failed to completely deter thieves. Metro warns the crooks are still at it.

WASHINGTON — Hold on to your phone! 

Metro is warning folks to keep their personal devices close, because the transit system is still plagued by cell phone snatch and grabs.

Even though manufacturers have built in anti-theft features, the crooks have kept at it. Six years ago, a slew of brazen robberies pushed phone makers to install "kill switches" and remote trackers in an apparently unsuccessful attempt to reduce thefts of the devices that have become so central to our lives.

"My whole day would be ruined. My whole life is on that phone," said Ronte Hinton, who was riding the Red Line and reading his phone.

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Police warn riders to avoid getting so wrapped up in your phone you lose awareness of what's around you. "Nothing like 'Let's Make a Deal!'" said a man who was watching TV on his phone on the train.

Perhaps the riskiest place to play with your phone is right by the door. In one of many videos of phone theft on YouTube, the thief bides his time, and then right when the door is about to close again, he grabs a woman's phone and dashes off the car.

Police said what you probably don't want to do is try and chase the thief down -- although a woman in a WMATA surveillance video from a few years ago did get her phone back.

"I never put my phone down, just because of that risk. I've had my phone stolen. Not fun at all," said rider Adriel Aponte.

Credit: Steve Johnson
Photograph of a Washington DC metro subway as it comes to a stop at the Foggy Bottom station.

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Experts said some of the stolen phones end up for sale on Craigslist -- where people buy them cheap thinking they can just install a new SIM card. Some of those buyers will lose their money too -- when carriers knock phones with stolen serial numbers off their networks.

Law enforcement officials said some of the phones end up broken up for parts or sold off to other countries where the phone carriers are less likely notice they've been taken.

We're still waiting for detailed stats from Metro on the number of phone thefts the system has been seeing. Nationwide, phone thefts appear to be down -- but nowhere near zero.

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