---
title: UMD Researchers Uncover Privacy Risks in Cellphones Won at Police Auctions
date: 2023-07-18T10:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/umd-researchers-uncover-privacy-risks-in-cellphones-won-at-police-auctions"
section: Articles
---
# UMD Researchers Uncover Privacy Risks in Cellphones Won at Police Auctions

*July 18, 2023* — by [Tom Ventsias](/author/tom-ventsias)


> More Than 25% of Phones Purchased Contained Sensitive Data

*I Stock 1328097097 1920x1080 — Over one-fourth of the 228 cellphones that the UMD research team successfully bid on at police auctions contained personal data like Social Security numbers, credit card and banking information, and images of driver’s licenses.*

You’d never hand over your phone to strangers, but University of Maryland security experts have discovered that law enforcement agencies are instead selling the devices to them, still packed with personal and financial information.

Their [recent study](https://www.cs.umd.edu/~ricro/research/publications/ieeesp23_auctions.pdf) found that many of the phones sold at police property auction houses—which sell devices seized in criminal investigations or that have gone unclaimed from lost-and-found inventories—are not properly wiped of personal data. The study, conducted over two years with cellphones bought from the largest police auction house in the U.S., uncovered troves of personal information from previous owners that potentially put them at risk of harm from identity theft to blackmail.

Of the 228 phones that the UMD team successfully bid on, 61 (27%) contained personal data like Social Security numbers, credit card and banking information, passport data and pictures of driver’s licenses.

“We were actually surprised at the level of personal information we found, and the ease by which we could access it,” said Dave Levin, an associate professor of computer science who led the UMD team.


*three researchers look at array of old phones on a table*




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Computer Science](https://today.umd.edu/topic/computer-science), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-computer-mathematical-and-natural-sciences)