Stolen Belgian iPhones Turn Up in Russia [Unlocked iPhones Available for Sale in Russian Electronics Stores?]

Earlier this month some smart thieves managed to get their hands on 3,000 to 4,000 unlocked iPhones from a Belgian store. You might ask what’s so special about Belgian phones for robbers to steal that many units. Well in case you didn’t know it already, Belgian iPhones are required by law to be unlocked before customers get their hands on them.

Getting back to those thieves, what they did was to cut a hole in the roof of an electronics warehouse and steal those unlocked handsets mentioned above which happen to be worth around 3 million Euro. The only problem for the thieves was that the stolen iPhones have been blocked which means they can’t be used by any Belgian customers.

But let’s not forget that the stolen iPhones are all unlocked which means they can be easily used anywhere else in the world. The thieves are certainly aware of that and who knows where all those iPhones ended up. Some said eBay is a logical place to sell them especially since the auction site is quite popular in various countries around the world. But that hasn’t been proved so far. In fact the stolen iPhones haven’t been spotted until recently. And guess where that happened?

Russia is the correct answer. Although no iPhone has been recovered so far and the thieves are still at large, reports came in that various electronic retailers have received calls from unknown people offering them unlocked iPhones for bargain prices.

Rumor has it that the Interpol is already on the case in which case the IMEIs of the iPhones could be disabled in the near future. That means those phones won’t be usable in Russia anymore. In case you’re reading this from Russia and you suspect that your phone is one of those stolen Belgian iPhones then you can simply check it out. Go to the Settings section of the phone and look for the Model number. In case the last two symbols are NF then you’re in possession of a stolen Mobistar phone. Naturally you’ll have to try to replace / return / report the phone once you discover those symbols. You wouldn’t want to have your iPhone deactivated for good, would you?