Push to make cellphone tampering fed crime

Sen. Charles Schumer introduced legislation Wednesday that would make it a federal crime to tamper with stolen cellphones -- part of a federal effort aimed at making pilfered phones worthless.

The proposed law would add teeth to a new database -- announced last month by the Federal Communications Commission and major wireless carriers -- which will track all stolen phones by their International Mobile Equipment Identifier numbers and allow carriers to permanently shut them down, FCC officials say.

Since thieves could try to get around the ban by changing the IMEI numbers, Schumer's legislation would criminalize the alteration of stolen phones. Those found guilty of the crime would face up to five years in prison.

"We must make it abundantly clear to would-be thieves, if you try to alter a stolen cellphone to get around the ban, you will face severe consequences," Schumer said in a news release. "This legislation will help dry up the black market for stolen cellphones by making the consequences for peddling in this illegal business so severe, thieves would think twice before doing so."

Nationwide, police have seen a sharp increase in stolen cellphones, according to surveys conducted by The Major Cities Chiefs Association, a group of 70 police chiefs form large cities in the United States and Canada.

Thieves go after certain cellphones because it is easy to remove the electronic traces of the victim and set the phones up to be resold to new customers on the black market.

Criminals often replace a phone's SIM card -- which stores data -- and unlock the device's security settings. A buyer then activates the phone on a new account, allowing it to re-enter the legal market.

Once the central database is up and running, those reactivations should no longer be possible, FCC officials have said.

Individual carriers say they will roll out the first stolen-phone databases by Oct. 31. And the central database for all wireless providers will be fully operational in 18 months, according to the FCC.