BEAVERTON, Ore. — Cell phone thieves are using ecoATMs — kiosks found in grocery stores and malls — to get quick cash for stolen electronics.
A KGW investigation found roughly 150 theft and burglary police reports filed in Portland and Beaverton since 2020 that reference ecoATM. Detectives said that's likely an undercount of the stolen-phone-for-cash problem, despite the company's security features.
"There are likely many more transactions of these [stolen] phones or electronic equipment going into these ecoATMs than we're aware of," said Beaverton Police officer Matt Henderson.
With passwords, facial identification and tracking options for security, Jaime Madrigal thought stealing a cell phone just wouldn’t be worth it.
"Why would you take it... like you're not going to get into it, for one," Madrigal said. "And who's going to buy a locked phone? I thought it was pointless for someone to steal a phone until I saw these machines exist."
Madrigal’s phone disappeared when he was at work. He thought someone might've taken it, but without proof, he didn't want to accuse any of the coworkers or contractors passing through the building.
So, he went home and asked a friend to track his phone's location on Snapchat, figuring he'd see it at his warehouse. It wasn't there.
"It was at Fred Meyer," Madrigal said. "Okay, then, yeah, somebody took it."
He rushed over to confront the thief and get his phone back at the Beaverton grocery store. While driving over, his phone kept tracking to the same in-store location.
He arrived and quickly realized there was no thief — just an ecoATM, a recycling kiosk offering "instant cash for phones" and other electronics.
It wasn't hard for Madrigal to piece together that someone stole his phone, brought it to Fred Meyer and got quick cash for it.
"In my head, this is encouraging thieves to go steal phones because they can just go sell them off," Madrigal said.
To make it worse, Madrigal now knew his phone was just inches away — but he couldn’t walk away with it.
"We're calling it, and you can feel the buzz [inside the machine]," he said. "You can feel my phone rumbling in here."
There are more than 20 ecoATMS at grocery stores, Walmarts and malls across the greater Portland, Beaverton and Vancouver areas — giving cell phone swipers an option for quick cash, and any consequences later.
Through public records requests, KGW found 125 Portland Police Bureau reports filed over the last five years that reference ‘ecoATM.’ Most of these reports are connected to larceny and theft cases, touching all areas of the city.
Beaverton Police received 25 ‘ecoATM’-related reports over the last few years. Some are tied to active criminal cases, such as “a theft of an iPhone”…”selling the property.” (doc)
Henderson said the reports rely on someone proactively tracking their phone to an ecoATM and filing a report, which signals that there are likely more cases of this type of theft-for-profit than law enforcement officials realize.
Still, Henderson said ecoATM as a company deserves some credit.
“The folks at ecoATM have been very helpful, even to the point where they’ve unlocked the ATM on-site with an officer there to help retrieve a victim’s phone," Henderson said.
EcoATM recognizes that stolen phones are a big problem for its business model. Its website features a "law enforcement" section that points to its “open book policy” with access to transaction reports "free of cost."
The company holds any item sold to one of its kiosks for at least 30 days, a policy designed to give someone time to report a device as stolen so ecoATM can get it back to them.
Then, there's ecoATM’s biggest security: Live validation.
Each ecoATM kiosk requires sellers to scan a valid ID, which the company's employees check remotely to make sure the person on video matches their ID.
If something’s off, such as the seller not being in view of the video or using an expired ID, the worker can deny the sale.
However, sellers don’t have to prove that a phone is theirs. A thief could use their own ID and hope that the stolen phone doesn’t get reported as stolen to police or a national database.
If it does, ecoATM transaction could lead to criminal charges.
One Washington County arrest warrant affidavit detailed how a police officer found a stolen iPhone 14 Plus in a national database and tracked it to a Happy Valley Walmart ecoATM transaction, where someone sold it for $205. The officer found photos and verified the ID, thumbprint and signature of the alleged thief.
Another workaround: thieves could opt to use someone else’s ID.
“People that are stealing phones are probably also stealing purses and wallets, which contain IDs, so they’re likely going to have that stolen ID on their person," said Henderson
An ecoATM spokesperson told KGW, in part: “Phone theft is a concern for ecoATM and the general public, which is why we take proactive measures to address it… We return any device requested from us by law enforcement or customers who can demonstrate their device was sold to us without permission, at no expense to the rightful owner.”
Madrigal found that ecoATM does return stolen devices, but he still felt the whole experience was frustrating.
He called ecoATM for help when he was at the Fred Meyer in Beaverton. A company representative acknowledged his situation and promised to help, Madrigal said, but ecoATM still sent his phone to Kentucky for processing before sending it back to Madrigal — 28 days later.
“I'm having to jump through all these hoops and fill out all this paperwork and do all this stuff to get my own property back, and all this guy had to do was go in there and show his ID and then bank some money," Madrigal said.
Law enforcement officials and ecoATM recommend the following ways to protect yourself and/or respond if your phone is stolen:
- Set up and use lost or stolen phone features to be able to lock and track your device.
- If you know your stolen device is in an ecoATM, call police right away. They can work remotely with ecoATM and get your phone back to you immediately, instead of having to wait through the claims process.
- If your phone is lost or stolen, report it to your phone's cell carrier as soon as possible. This is the quickest way to get your phone's serial number added to a national database to potentially get your phone back to you.
- Report a stolen phone to your local police department.