Cabs are mobile loot mobiles

I suddenly don’t feel so alone and stupid any more.

It seems that I’m not the only one who loses a cell phone every six months or so.

A new [report](http://www.credant.com/mountains-of-mobiles-left-in-the-back-of-new-york-cabs.html) from Credant Technologies states that 31,544 mobile phones were lost, at least for awhile, after being left in the back of New York and London yellow cabs just in the first six months of this year.

That’s a lotta phones. Miraculously three quarters are reunited with owners (the survey doesn’t indicate what happened to the remaining 8,000 handsets …. did I hear someone say eBay?)

The figure averages to two per taxi, and doesn’t even include 2,752 other mobile devices such as laptops, iPods and those tiny memory sticks we all love to use.

The reason the devices go missing?

Well because people are using them while on their way to whatever destination made them grab a taxi in the first place. Cabbies say riders spend half their travel time doing work either on the phone or sending email.

According to Credant, this behavior is putting lots of personal, and corporate data, at risk.

*”This is a warning to the business community and individuals to be vigilant when travelling with mobile devices especially as more people are using the latest range of ‘must have’ mobile smartphones to store large amounts of sensitive personal and business information,” Michael Callahan, chief marketing officer, states in a press release.*

Callahan, who doesn’t note whether he’s personally lost any type of mobile device, pointed out some interesting stats:

{Disclaimer Alert: I’ve lost five phones in two years, some of which I know what happened too.. some which I don’t}

The lost devices have the capacity to store:

– 10,000 Word documents
– 11,000 pictures
– 500,000 contact details
– 1.1 million emails

If you get past the marketing mumbo jumbo about how we all need to use better security and encryption — hey, Credant is a security vendor after all — the company’s survey offers up some good funny points as well:

Also left behind in taxies are sawn-off shotgun, a couple of kids, 12 dead pheasants, 2 dogs, 1 cat, and toilet seats.

When cabbies recalled ” strangest objects” [[a toilet seat isn’t a ‘strangest’ object I’m guessing in NY?]] the list included a drunken wife left as a tip, $2,700 in cash — which apparently made its way back to the owners — 12 dead pheasants, prosthetic devices and even pets.

Now.. where is that darn cat?