Video

A new video addressing an electronic-devices crime wave was released Tuesday, Dec. 18, by the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office. The video, called "The Epidemic of iCrime," seeks to educate the public about a serious and growing trend, the DA's office said.

Cell phones, laptops, tablets and other personal electronic devices are being stolen every day, District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. Cell phones are stolen in one out of every three robberies nationwide, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Rosen said.

"Cell phones are being stolen every day -- even from the home of the late Steve Jobs," Rosen said, referring to a robbery of the Apple co-founder's Palo Alto home on July 17.

The video features Rosen, Deputy District Attorney Tom Flattery and Palo Alto police Lt. Zach Perron, who share crime statistics, information on how stolen electronic devices can lead to identity theft, and how to protect a device so that police can find it if if is taken.

"The thing that makes this crime different from most thefts is the loss of the data that's on the device," said Flattery, who is one of two DAs assigned to the office's high-tech unit. The DA's unit works to prosecute crimes solved by REACT, a multiple-jurisdictional task force that specializes in computer crimes.

"The thing about this PSA that people need to know is that the downside (of the thefts) is pretty big. Think of all of the data on the phone that you could potentially lose. You can lose family pictures or videos of your brother's baby. When we talk to people who have had their devices stolen, that's the thing that really gets to them most. But that's the sort of thing people can plan ahead to protect against," he said.

Financially, such losses can be devastating.

"Once a crook has a victim's email account, they're just a few short steps away from taking over your online banking records, your PayPal account. They can take your money through identity theft -- actually, quite easily," he said.

Perron of the Palo Alto Police Department said that enabling the GPS tracking feature on a device can help police pinpoint where it has gone.

Palo Alto police cracked a high-profile case when they tracked stolen iPads through GPS to a San Jose apartment in March. They discovered what has become the largest methamphetamine bust in U.S. history.

People should also note the serial number of electronic property to provide law enforcement with a way to identify the stolen device, he said.

Flattery said a tracking program such as Computrace "is like LoJack for laptops." But he warned that the crooks won't necessarily be caught even if a device is found.

"We get these cases all of the time. The problem is that sometimes the device is sold a couple of times and the person who ends up with it may not be the crook, but the victim gets their property back," he said.

The county doesn't have its data broken down into how many cases of stolen devices have become identity-theft crimes, Flattery said. But a detective on the county task force told him about six to 12 cases have fit that profile.

Those numbers can be deceiving. The stolen laptop might not belong to an individual, and it might contain data on numerous people, he said.

The video The Epidemic of iCrime can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4zsZqgk5Jk.

Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.