How do the cops track down a phone that has been stolen?

They claim that the world has become a global village as a result of information technology (IT), which has unified human interaction and visibility. After mobile phones became exorbitantly expensive, the world rejoiced at the emergence of a new medium for communicating with friends and family. A few years later, they were confronted with the dilemma of having their phones stolen at some point. According to ICG research, an estimated 50% of mobile phones are stolen from people, and victims pay as much as $500 just to get them back. A third of those victims are said to have paid $1000 to return their stolen phones, while the remaining 68 percent go through some risky processes in order to get their phone back. It is not always about the mobile device itself, but about the information (data) contained within it. This raised security concerns: how do police go about hunting for our misplaced cellphones?

There are many mobile phone tracking hardware that is strictly used by security operatives to locate stolen mobile phones. One of these devices is the live phone tracker, though some refer to it as the live phone finder, which is meant to track that specific mobile signal using a mobile tracker that supports the gsm tracking platform.

How security services trace numerous stolen phones with various operating systems.

Google has been rather helpful in this process; they developed a feature called 'find my device utility,' which uses internet access to track the position of the device (that is if the thief is still logged in your account). However, if the stolen phone is no longer registered into its utility account, they may use Google Maps to determine the smartphone's last known position.

Using Microsoft accounts to monitor stolen cellphones, particularly Microsoft OS devices, is one of the simplest ways to track stolen phones. It can trace the location of a stolen phone, but if it is turned off, it can also provide you with a 'last seen located' report; however, this only works with Windows phones.

The IMEI method of tracing mobile phones remains the most advanced among security operatives (police) because it requires a particular device, as opposed to the others outlined above, which can be accessed by almost anybody. However, in order to track the location of the smartphone, the owner must first provide the IMEI number. So, whenever you buy a new device, make a note of the IMEI number somewhere safe in case something goes wrong.

Over the years, mobile phones (particularly smartphones) have grown extremely appealing to thieves, making smartphones the most stolen commodity in the world. Over 3 million smartphones were reported stolen in 3013 alone, with the majority of thefts occurring in major cities.