Mangaluru police receive 5,685 lost mobile phone complaints!

Team Udayavani, May 29, 2023, 11:18 AM IST

Representative image (Source: Alamy)

Mangaluru: In the past 8 months, the city police have received a whopping 5,685 requests from the public for tracing their lost mobile phones.

As per the police, the number of complaints has seen a considerable jump in recent times. They cited the operationalization of the “CEIR Portal” service for the jump in the number of complaints. As many of the complainants recovered their lost or stolen phones quickly through the portal, police said the public confidence in the system has risen and more requests are being received for the service.

At least 723 mobile phones have been traced in the last 5 months alone through the CEIR portal. Of these, more than 300 phones have been returned to their owners. Police expressed their confidence that the rest will also be traced and seized soon.

Forgetfulness/theft chief reasons

Forgetfulness and theft seem to be the chief reasons behind the lost mobile cases. Many complaints mention the phone was forgotten on public transport, including buses and trains. Many complainants had lost their mobile devices while in outstation areas.

Higher response after WhatsApp helpline launch

In April this year, Mangaluru police launched a WhatsApp helpline (8277949183) to locate lost mobile phones. Sending just a “Hi” message to the helpline will return a link providing instructions on how to upload the complaint onto the CEIR portal. After the launch of this helpline, police say, they are receiving higher public response.