Recipero News & Comment

Recipero is delighted to have been the recipient of a judges’ special mention naming us the “Best Bootstrapped/non-VC funded company” last night at the “Telegraph Tech Start-Up 100: Class of 2011“ awards ceremony.

The awards were given to notable companies in a range of sectors and were judged by a panel of experts including venture capitalists and angel investors. The panel was supported by a team of analysts, including associates from Balderton Capital, Accel Partners, DFJ Esprit and others, who helped to define the criteria and methodology the judges used in their deliberations.

Neil Stewart, Recipero’s Commercial Director who attended the awards said:

“I am delighted that Recipero has received this special recognition, it means a great deal to everyone involved in the company and is something that we are all very proud of. Getting to this point has certainly had its challenges, but it continues to be a great business to be part of esspecially as we expand the  further into Europe and the USA.”

For more information about the Telegraph Start-up 100 including details of the category and overall winners please go to: www.telegraph.co.uk/startup100

If you are interested in the methodology behind the selection please see: www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/technology-startup100/8397541/Start-Up-100-let-judging-commence.html

For more information about Recipero please go to: www.recipero.com

The Guardian News paper has reported that Police officers have been given a faster method of checking whether a mobile phone has been stolen, with a new link between the National Mobile PropertyRegister (NMPR) and the Police National Computer (PNC).

The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) has integrated the NMPR into the PNC. This will make it possible for officers on the beat to access the NMPR directly through their handheld devices.

Detective chief superintendent Mick McNally of the Metropolitan Police Territorial Policing Command said:

For the first time frontline officers can now obtain instantaneous results of searches on suspected stolen mobile phones.

The figures of 50,000 plus stolen phones a year being located and identified throughout the UK will further increase with this new Police National Computer facility. It sends a clear message to phone thieves that police and partners can identify stolen mobile phones in the hands of the thief or another individual.

The NPIA developed the integration with the help of Recipero the providers of the NMPR and Immobilise services which specialise in online compliance and due diligence software.

To read the source article please go to: Guardian News paper

To visit the NMPR (police) go to: http://thenmpr.com

To visit Immobilise (public) go to: www.immobilise.com

For more information about Recipero please go to: www.recipero.com

South Yorkshire Police have recovered a stolen mobile phone after it was registered on the national UK database, Immobilise.

The phone was flagged up as stolen after it was attempted to be sold to an Internet mobile company.

The police were informed and received the details of the seller, who was identified as a woman from Dunsville. She was interviewed by police and admitted to finding the phone in the area that it was reported as being stolen. She received a caution, as this was her first offence. The phone was recovered and handed back to the owner.

Police are hoping this result will encourage more people to register their belongings with Immobilise. It is the UK’s national property register, which allows people to create secure and private portfolios online for their personal property.

It is not just phones that can be registered any belongings that have a serial number including electrical items such as televisions and cameras can all be registered.

Chief Inspector Neil Thomas said:

We hope this result will encourage more people to register their belongings on the Immobilise database. We work with local businesses that are able to check if any items have been stolen if they are registered on Immobilise, making it harder for opportunistic thieves to sell stolen property. I would encourage everybody to register their property as soon as possible.

To make it easier for people to register their property, South Yorkshire Police have launched a campaign ‘If you love it, log it’ to find out more about the campaign and to register your property for FREE visit www.southyorks.police.uk

To read the source article please go to: http://southyorks.police.uk/news/30032011/5165/registered-mobile-phone-recovered-police

South Yorkshire Police are advising people: ‘If you love it, log it’.

In a countywide crackdown on theft and burglary, police are urging people to log their expensive Christmas presents and any other precious belongings on immobilise.com – the world’s largest FREE register of ownership details.

In a time when police resources are getting ever more stretched, the police are looking to focus their efforts on crime prevention, with this campaign aimed at preventing thefts happening in the first place – a more efficient way of protecting the public.

And in addition to acting as a major deterrent to criminals, the big difference with Immobilise is that as well as getting your stuff back if it’s lost or stolen, the system helps to catch the thieves as well!

The database is linked directly to police systems, so when officers recover any property, for whatever reason, they can check it against items logged on Immobilise. For example, if someone arrested on suspicion of drunk and disorderly has your stolen mobile phone in their pocket, police will also be able to link the theft to them as well – but only if it’s registered!

Any item can be registered on immobilise. The easiest items to log are electricals, or anything that has a serial number, but you can even log jewellery or ornamental items using the photo upload and description functions. You can register as many items as you like, and then if they are lost or stolen you simply log back on to register them as such. The police can check any property they recover, whether that’s when a person is brought into custody for any reason, property recovered from criminals in raids, or even during one of their now routine checks on second-hand dealers. And if they find anything that is listed as stolen, not only will you get your belongings back, but the thieves can be brought to justice.

Chief Superintendent Bill Hotchkiss said:

Part of policing involves stopping crime happening in the first place. The public can play a huge part in this by protecting their property with Immobilise, making items easier to identify and less attractive to thieves.

We want to send a clear message to those potential thieves that anything logged on Immobilise is too hot to handle. As a member of the South Yorkshire public, by registering your property, and marking it as such, you are much less likely to become a victim of crime.

To support the campaign, police are distributing packs to the public to make the process even easier. These include a selection of stickers to mark all your items as logged, so as to deter criminals, and an information leaflet to explain the process. The packs are available from your local police stations in South Yorkshire or from South Yorkshire branches of Curries, Dixons and PC World. In addition, safer neighbourhood team officers will be out and about in public places offering packs and advice to members of the public.

Visit www.immobilise.com to get started.

More details can be found at www.southyorks.police.uk

South Yorkshire Police have reported that a stolen mobile phone that had been registered on the national UK database, Immobilise has resulted in the arrest of a man in Doncaster.
A Twenty five year old man was arrested on Tuesday, 28 September for being drunk and disorderly in the Town Centre.

He was brought into the police station by Acting Police Sergeant Sharon Wood and PC Steve Roberts from the Town Centre Safer Neighbourhood Team. They checked his mobile phone against the Immobilise database and it was identified as being stolen. He admitted he had stolen the phone from a pub in Thorne last year, which when they checked had been reported to the police at this time. He was charged with theft and drunk and disorderly behaviour.

Police are hoping this result will encourage more people to register their belongings with Immobilise. It is the UK’s national property register, which allows people to create secure and private portfolios online for their personal property.

It is not just phones that can be registered any belongings that have a serial number including electrical items such as televisions and cameras can all be registered.

Inspector Jakki Hardy said:

We hope this result will encourage people to register their property on the Immobilise database. If this phone hadn’t been registered it would have been very difficult to know it was stolen and reunite it with the owner.

Police officers in Doncaster have also been targeting shops across Doncaster including CEX, Cash Generator and small mobile phone shops to check for any stolen mobile phones. Officers use scanners to scan the barcode on the back of the phones, which retrieves data from the IMEI number, and states if the phone is lost, stolen or blocked.

Inspector Jakki Hardy added:

Registering goods also acts as a deterrent to opportunistic thieves as they are unable to sell stolen property as easily if it has been registered. We will continue to do these checks and identify any stolen property.

To read the source story in full please go to: South Yorkshire Police

In the last few months there has been a major improvement in the way recyclers ensure they are not handling goods that are deemed not to be in the hands of the rightful owner. They do this by consulting the CheckMEND database as part of their checking process and if they discover certain facts about the phone they have a legal requirement to act in a predefined manner which you should be aware of.

What are these facts?

If any of the following records exist for the item you are sending to a recycler:

• A block by the UK networks on the Shared Equipment Identity Register (SEIR) also known as the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR)
• A loss or theft report on the Police Stolen Equipment National Database (SEND)
• A fulfilled insurance claim on the Identifiable Property Insurance Database (IPCD)

Then the recycler has an obligation under their Code of Practice to do certain things:

• They must tell you there is a problem and give you the details on how to contact CheckMEND so we can tell you which records are present and how you may go about getting them updated to allow the sale to proceed.
• They must tell CheckMEND about the failure to pass the testing so that CheckMEND may inform the Police, Insurer or Network that originated the record.
• They must hold the phone for 28 days to allow you to get the records updated or the record originator to claim the item or contact you.
• If at the end of the 28 days the records have not been updated or the phone claimed as above, the recycler is deemed to be the legal owner of the handset and is required to dispose of the item responsibly.
• The recycler CANNOT in these circumstances return the item to you or pay you for it. To do either would risk offences under The Theft Act or Proceeds Of Crime Act.

How can you protect yourself?

• If you are buying a used item, always ask the seller for a CheckMEND certificate or run a check yourself before buying.
• Always run a check on CheckMEND before you send an item to a recycler or otherwise try to sell it on.
• If you get a red result on any of the checks shown on the certificate DO NOT send the phone to a recycler until you have got the records updated and the check shows the phone as green, at which point you can send in the item.
• Sometimes, unscrupulous sellers will supply an item and only weeks or months later report it as lost/stolen or claim on their insurance. This is rare but in this case, your item could fall foul of the above rules after you had a green CheckMEND check and sent it to a recycler. If you are refused payment for your item in this manner as a result of a block, theft report or insurance claim CheckMEND will refund to you the cost of the check. (Not the cost of the item).

If you would like more information on the Recyclers’ code of practice please visit their web sitehttp://www.stoprecycledstolenphones.com

To visit CheckMEND please go to: www.checkmend.com

To read the source article please go to: www.checkmend.com/uk/recycle

The Kent Police website offers some great information and advice on protecting your personal property. The advice includes personal safety, securing your home, personal property and vehicle security. Much of what you will read on the site is commonly issued advice, however the Essex website has gathered it all together in a useful easy to digest form that is relevant to all of us regardless of where we live.

One of the key messages that comes across is the importance of marking your possessions and registering them on the Immobilise Property Register.

The police recover many items that have been lost or stolen.  By security marking items that have financial or sentimental value, it is easier for the police to identify them and return them to you.

Marking your property may also act as a deterrent to thieves, who do not want to be caught holding or passing on stolen items.

Always include information that will help identify you as the owner of the property, for example, a postcode.

For more information please see the following links:

Kent Police: www.kent.police.uk/advice/advice.html

Today July 23rd it was officially agreed that CheckMEND would be the first approved due diligence service to be used and officially endorsed under a new Home Office/recycling industry code of practice.

The signing of the new code of practice by over 90% of the mobile phone recycling industry means that for the first time there are agreed guidelines for the checking of handsets offered for sale to the industry and this includes using the CheckMEND service to check the National Mobile Phone/Property Register.

Adrian Portlock CEO of Recipero the operator of CheckMEND said:

This is a major step forward for the industry and CheckMEND and we are really pleased the industry has recognised their responsibilities in checking products they are buying, this model needs to be extended to all handlers of used goods and retailers taking trade ins and we will be pushing for this to be the case, but this is an excellent start.

For more information please see the following sites:

• CheckMEND – www.checkmend.com
• Phone Recycling Code of Practice site – www.stoprecycledstolenphones.com
• Home Office Press Release – www.homeoffice.gov.uk/media-centre/press-releases/code-practice-stolen-mobiles
• The Police NMPR (National Mobile Phone/Property Register) – www.thenmpr.com
• Immobilise National Property Register – www.immobilise.com
• Recipero – www.recipero.com

Boston Police have today (30th June 2010) agreed to a 30 day trial of the new CheckMEND service in the USA prior to it going live with all pawn and second-hand dealers in their jurisdiction. If the trial is successful Recipero see this as a very exciting opportunity to extend the service to every US law enforcement agency to create a national free transaction submission and Police checking service.

Unlike Europe second hand dealers and pawnbrokers in the US have to supply details of transactions to their local law enforcement agencies so CheckMEND has widened its remit to include this in the process of running a due diligence check. At the same time Recipero, the owner of CheckMEND, has rewritten its US NMPR platform so free of charge US law enforcement will be able to view CheckMEND transaction data via the US NMPR as well as being able to match the data with crime reports provided to the NMPR (via the Trace Checker system) from over 18,000 US law enforcement agencies.

Ken Bouche who leads business development for CheckMEND and Trace Checker in the US said:

This is the culmination of over 2 years work to allow traders and pawn brokers to supply for free transaction data to an online database that can be checked also free of charge by the Police. Bolting on the stolen data from Trace Checker which Recipero took over late in 2009 is inspired and provides a whole new service for the trade to ensure they are not buying stolen or dubious goods that have been reported as stolen to their local law enforcement agency. If the service grows to be as popular in the US as it is in Europe this will be a very significant step for forward for everyone involved

For more information please contact us: www.recipero.com/contact

Recipero’s CheckMEND service in conjunction with the Police’s NMPR system has proven to be a key tool in the identification and prosecution of crimes related to stolen goods.

On the 14th May, a man was sentenced to 18 months in prison for handling stolen goods. Alexander Smith, aged 40, was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court after a two year investigation conducted by Avon and Somerset Police’s burglary team and crime reduction unit in Bristol.

Officers were able to prove that Smith had been knowingly buying stolen mobile phones by utilising an online system known as CheckMEND. This system allows members of the public to check if a mobile phone is stolen before buying it.

Police searched a shop in East Street, Bedminster and identified more than 20 phones that were stolen from victims in both burglaries and robberies, many of which had occurred in the South Bristol area. A stolen pedal cycle was also found at Smith’s home address.

During one of these incidents, a female victim positively identified her stolen phone in Smith’s shop. Smith then demanded £40 from the victim before he would return her phone.
PC Frank Simonds, from Bristol Crime Reduction Unit, said:

The use of CheckMEND technology now allows the police to prove if stolen phones are being bought and sold by second hand retailers.

We will be relentless in our pursuit of those dealing in stolen goods.

Many phones that were proven to be stolen had been registered by owners on the Immobilise database. Registering phones enables the police to return them to their rightful owners.
Members of the public can register their phone for free by visiting www.immobilise.com

Members of the public can check if a mobile phone is stolen by visiting www.checkmend.com.

Retailers can receive advice on protecting their business from handling stolen goods as part of Operation Recover run by Avon and Somerset Police.

To read the source release in full please go to: Avon & Somerset Police