[hershey]

They can be used to explode bombs.

[Glenn]

Buy low. Sell high.

Simple, eh?

[martin_fierro]

Similar story from last summer:

FBI Interested in Large Prepaid Cell Phone Purchases

[Sundog]

They are being sold below cost here in the U.S. where the sellers recoup their expenses with air-time fees. Elsewhere in the world the phones get reprogrammed to work on other networks that have a far lower cost per minute, but the phones there are sold at cost — much greater than here. It is only a matter of buying a cheap phone here, reprogramming it, and selling it there for a profit. The Costco in Anchorage, Alaska gets visited by Russians coming across the Bering Strait to do that.

[xkaydet65]

I’m not big on limits on individual liberty, but I think pre paid cells have created problems in many areas; terrorists, ordinary criminals, drug dealers, run of the mill harrassers. Maybe it’s time to either eliminate them of create a way to track and I D them and their owners.

[good old days]

Ping

[Captain Rhino]

Criminal activity.

Sellers of prepaid cell service (like my Tracfone) apparently do not keep records of calling activity.

I found this out when my cellphone went missing. After making what I thought was a thorough search in my office space and at my home, I called customer service to see if someone had found it and was using it (intending to turn it off if that was the case). That was when I was informed by the service representative that they didn’t track call activity. I just had the choice to turn it off or not. I decided to search some more and ultimately I found it at the very bottom of an interior pocket of my laptop case. I had “searched” the case previously. (Note to self: when you think you have thoroughly search something, that a break, then search it again.)

I’m not sure if there is a TOTAL lack of traceability in these cellphone systems or if it is just not available very easily. I suppose, with sufficient reason, you could poll network nodes to see where a telephone was located and when. Since telephone call activity is logged by the telephone company primarily for the purpose of billing charges, in a prepaid system this would be an unnecessary activity once the system had validated your telephone number and the fact that you had paid airtime on the phone.

[Cindy]

Thanks for posting this Bronzy.

I’ll add one more link to your thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1682087/posts?page=366#366

[RichInOC]

Hey, that’s just how they roll on the weekend.

“Yo, Igor! Where you at? Where is vodka and hookers?”