Lost your phone? Know how it’s ringing in riches for an entire shadow industry
NEW DELHI: When smartphones are snatched or stolen in crowded streets, the snatchers aren’t the ones getting rich. They are the lowest link in what is a remarkably efficient shadow economy.
What begins as a quick grab for immediate cash feeds a multi-crore supply chain built on turning stolen hardware into pure profit. The real money lies higher up, with organised syndicates that treat these phones less like stolen goods and more like raw inventory.
For them, every device is a high-margin asset waiting to be monetised — whether that means stripping a locked iPhone for its ₹15,000 display, flashing IMEI numbers for the local grey market, or smuggling premium Androids across the border into Nepal.
