PhoneBAK anti-theft software protects PDA, Blackberry and mobile phone users

According to the police, one of the first things a thief will do after stealing a mobile phone or PDA is replace the SIM card. ExactTrak has launched PhoneBAK, its newest anti-theft software solution that protects PDA, Blackberry and mobile phone users.

PhoneBAK automatically alerts the registered owner of a lost or stolen mobile device as soon as it is used with an unauthorised SIM card, allowing them to recover the phone or report valuable data to the police.

With PhoneBAK, as soon as an unauthorised SIM card is put into the device it will silently send two SMS messages to numbers pre-defined by the user such as a spouse or colleague. This SMS message will include the identification number of the phone (IMEI and IMSI numbers), mast information, new telephone number and the GSM Area Code as well as SIM identification details.

This information can be used either to contact the person who has stolen or found the device, or can be given to the police who can then follow up with the service provider to locate the device. ExactTrak also registers each PhoneBAK covered device with Immobilise, the national police database, so law enforcement officials know exactly who to return the recovered device to.

�Most people own at least one mobile phone or PDA and these devices can cost anything up to �400 and are capable of holding vast amounts of valuable data,� says Norman Shaw, managing director of ExactTrak. �When you consider that Transport for London alone recovers 10,000 mobile phones every month you get a good idea of how great the need is for technology that can track and help recover these devices if they go missing.�

�Our trials of the software have found that it is usually enough to contact the unauthorised user on the telephone number provided by PhoneBAK in order to recover it. Once people have been informed them that the phone has been fitted with a tracking device and reported stolen they are usually willing to hand it in at the nearest police station,� continues Shaw.

PhoneBAK auto runs every time the phone is powered up, and once run does not consume any battery or memory resources. It can support up to 10 SIM cards per phone.

PhoneBAK is compatible with Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Lenovo, LG Blackberry and any phone running Windows Mobile. It comes with a free premium data backup service from Mobyko. Normally priced at � �24.99, this service enables the owner to recover the data held on the device as well as the hardware.

PhoneBAK retails at �12.99.including VAT and is exclusively available in the UK from ExactTrak.

Security, Anti-theft, Tracking and Recovery Products - Exact Trak ltd

Does it have a setting or have the ability to forward all SMS text to target phone?

I notice PhoneBAK is mentioned today in the CB blog. I use RobLock, but because it is so buggy, I'm still looking for a good application to remotely wipe my data, even if it costs more.

Unfortunately (as far as I could tell from the Bak2U web site), PhoneBAK doesn't appear to be able to wipe the SD card. Darn!

Hmmm ... I see that a new version of GetItBack is in Beta testing. Maybe they will add a remote wipe feature.

" Once people have been informed that the phone has been fitted with a tracking device and reported stolen they are usually willing to hand it in at the nearest police station,�
Yeah who? Not the theif, the poor imbecile who bought it from the theif is willing to hand it over. And by that time your data is loooooong gone. How long does this whole thing take from theft to point of recovery? Weeks? Months? Days? The police actually get involved? quickly? and without pushing and moaning? For a $300 dollar theft? So many questions I have for you I do skywalker.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Originally Posted by Mamaluka

" Once people have been informed that the phone has been fitted with a tracking device and reported stolen they are usually willing to hand it in at the nearest police station,�
Yeah who? Not the theif, the poor imbecile who bought it from the theif is willing to hand it over. And by that time your data is loooooong gone. How long does this whole thing take from theft to point of recovery? Weeks? Months? Days? The police actually get involved? quickly? and without pushing and moaning? For a $300 dollar theft? So many questions I have for you I do skywalker.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

As a police officer, I can tell you the chances of someone turning it in is very SLIM. Even if they found it to be stolen, they will try to get it unlocked, or simply lie when they try to register it saying they bought it off ebay or some sort.

Would we get involved if it's stolen. Mostly do a police report that's about it. Not going to go hunt down someone who stole your phone. Unless you have solid proof

My wife had her phone stolen from her car. The detective basically did a police report, but had higher priorities beyond that.
We got the bill and there were tons of local calls. AT&T agreed to eat the bill, but I didn't want the thief to get off so easy, so I started looking up the phone numbers. I found some names / addresses on the internet and some from my company (large local employer) intranet.

I brought the list of names to the detective, and he said that if I was willing to do this much work, then he would give it some attention too. One of the numbers was a high-level contracts manager at my company (hardly the type to steal a mobile phone!). The detective called her and she recognized many of the other people on the list as her teenage son's friends' parents.

Having it narrowed down to a few people, the detective put the names on a police watch list. Sure enough, a few days later, one of the kids got stopped for a traffic violation and the policeman found him in possession of my wife's phone (and other stolen items).

Upon returning it, the detective was happy not only because he recovered our property, but because he may have helped prevent a life of crime. He told us that if he can catch thieves when they are teenagers, they often straighten out. But if they are not caught, they often graduate to become career criminals.

phonebak is a total scam, never buy this software!!!!

My only reason to buy this type of software would be to render my phone useless if stolen and wipe my data.

Most will offer remote wipe, but none can stop the obvious - blackberry has the option to wipe the device, including all applications installed, so whats to stop a thief wiping then selling on the device?

Its great I can remote wipe, or find their number, or remote lock, but once they wipe the device - my control is gone, I cant render it useless and unsellable.

Give me software that can turn my phone in to a dud, I will sign up.

Originally Posted by kickinitlive247

phonebak is a total scam, never buy this software!!!!

It's fine that you think this. However, if you want your opinion to be considered credible, you really need to qualify your statement.

i'm using wheresMyPhone app, u can find it at appworld