D.C. police say ecoATMs, which give cash for used cellphones, are a problem

Washington Post ^ | March 25, 2013 | Cecilia Kang

[rightwingintelligentsia]

Here’s an easy way to get some cash: Drop a used smartphone in any of the 13 ATM-like kiosks at shopping malls around the Washington region and, within minutes, the machine will spit out as much as a few hundred dollars.

The process is so simple that local police fear these ecoATMs are fueling one of the nation’s most pervasive criminal trends — cellphone theft.

The kiosks have become a particular thorn for police in the District, where 40 percent of all forced robberies last year involved a cellphone, the highest percentage in the nation.

In a recent investigation, D.C. police found six cellphones stolen from city residents in ecoATMs located in the suburbs. Police in Arlington say they are investigating whether stolen phones have made it into an ecoATM at the Pentagon City mall. Authorities shut the machine down this month, citing a lack of a proper merchant license.

“This is a huge problem. The opportunity for quick cash is driving robberies of smartphones,” said Gwendolyn Crump, a spokeswoman for D.C. police.

[knarf]

What's the cost of a 3DPrint cellphone compared to the "couple o hundred dollar" return?

I'd be all OVAH DAT shit.

[stuartcr]

Instant fence...gotta love it

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Helen Keller cudda seen that coming.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Hell’s Bells, even Chumley knows enough to check your drivers license before pealing off the Benjamins.

[V_TWIN]

“The opportunity for quick cash”

And we all know WHO that motivates.

[LukeL]

If Obama had an ecoATM...

[V_TWIN]

“driving robberies of smartphones”

And with the gun laws in DC being so strict the perps know there are no armed citizens. It=sn’t this really just another entitlement program?

[Theoria]

Great way to catch some prey. No different than bait hunting.

[I want the USA back]

This is DC, right? Well then anybody with more intelligence than a ringworm could have told them that this would happen!

[Seattle Conservative]

I’ve read that Obamaphones have been given to dead people and that some people have more than 1. I didn’t see anything about Obamaphones in the article, but I’m wondering how many turned in for cash were Obamamaphones. May or not be anything - just curious.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Of course, we’re not allowed to say, due to political correctness, who the primary perpetrators of these offenses are.

[Conservative4Ever]

What could possibly go wrong??

[null and void]

This is DC, right? Well then anybody with more intelligence than a ringworm could have told them that this would happen!

Who in DC has more intelligence than a ringworm?

[soycd]

>What’s the cost of a 3DPrint cellphone compared to the “couple o hundred dollar” return?

3d printers have not mastered the art and science of doping silicon, sub micron photo lithography and metallic evaporation quite yet.

[pepperdog]

With the technology available I would think the phone companies could make short work of this by simply cutting the phones off completely. I once had a cell phone picked from my pocket and found that I could cancel it so no calls could be made by my contract, but all the thief had to do was get a new sim card and be back in business, meanwhile I had to buy a new phone. Chalk up two for the phone company.

[knarf]

The machines are reading SOMETHING to spit out money ... do you suppose they’re sophisticated enough to read THAT stuff ?

[soycd]

http://www.ecoatm.com/how-it-works.html

That one does an electrical exam on the phone before coughing up the dough. I suspect they all have some means of integrity test.