TracknShield aims to deter phone theft menace in Africa

A new mobile phone anti-theft and tracking application has been introduced into the Nigerian telecommunications market as the first step towards a pan-African launch. The system called Tracknshield provides an easy-to-use solution to the problems associated with mobile phone theft, incidental loss with the possibility of recovery of such phones.

The Managing Director, TracknShield Limited, Mr Abu Grema, said at the unveiling of the product in Lagos on recently that new application was introduced as a result of the increasing importance of mobile phones in the hands of people today. He noted that due to their growing sophistication, phones are now the platforms on which many users transact a lot of their businesses including funds transfer on their, noting that this makes it very important for people to protect phones and data contained therein.

He said Tracknshield, once installed on a mobile phone, makes it possible for the owner of the phone to trace the whereabouts of the phones through a text message in the event that the phone is lost. Grema added that even if the SIM card that was in the phone is removed, the software makes it possible for the phone to be traced and also prevent a new SIM card from working with the stolen or lost phone.

Grema noted that this solution was necessary as the SIM card registration exercise that government introduced in Nigeria and many other African countries does not really address the problems of identity theft that may result from stolen phones.

“With the era of SIM Registration, and alarming rate of phone theft, the phone user whose identity has been captured would be at the mercy of unscrupulous elements that may use the phone for criminal activity before it is retrieved by the owner. This makes it important for a system that can protect phone users”

Besides, preventing a stolen phone from being used, Tracknshield according to the company provides a user a simple SMS-based tracking system that can send a message on the exact location of the phone to pre-registered phone numbers through SMS.

According to, Grema, TracknShield is a Nigerian-made product which already has global appeal with users of application now present in many countries in the world. He said once the Nigerian launch had been made, the solution will be exported to other African countries within a short period.

He added that the application can work with most mobile phones including those running on Android, Symbian and Blackberry operating systems.

He added that as a Nigerian application, TracknShieid is designed to deliver a mobile safety and security that is functional yet cost effective for Nigerian and African economies.