Recent research for life assistance company CPP has revealed some disturbing statistics when it comes to consumers recycling their old mobile phones. Researchers bought second hand handsets and Sim cards on eBay and from used electronics shops to find out if any personal data had been left on the phones. They discovered that over half the old mobiles contained personal information from the previous user, including photographs, phone numbers, bank details, pin numbers and in some cases private texts and emails.
247 pieces of data in total were discovered on 19 mobiles out of 35 purchased and 27 of the 50 Sim cards contained data. Worryingly the data contained debit and credit card pins, bank passwords, company informaiton and login details to social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Additional related research indicated that half of new owners of used phones said they had found personal information on the phone or Sim card belonging to the previous user. This is despite claims from over 80% of previous users that they had removed all personal data before selling their mobiles.
CPP is urging mobile phone users to ensure they have deleted all their personal data before they sell or recycle their phones. CPP point out that consumers are upgrading more than ever and that the survey is a timely reminder that mobile users must take responsibility for managing personal data on their handsets and Sims.