PEOPLE who falsely claim their mobile phones have been stolen could face being sent to jail, police have warned.

Officers estimate that more than a third of all reports of mobile phone theft are bogus and are made just to get an upgraded model.

Mobile phones are targeted by thieves more than any other item in Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley. In the past six weeks more than 30 thefts have been reported in Blackburn -- with a high number thought to be false claims. In a bid to reverse the trend police in Eastern Division are warning that false reports of mobile phones could lead to people being prosecuted for obtaining goods by deception and wasting police time. Both offences can lead to custodial sentences.

And police are prepared to fully investigate every single report they receive, despite the obvious drain on resources.

Instead of just issuing crime reference numbers -- which is the usual standard practice and is all that is needed by mobile phone companies to issue a new model -- all 'victims' must now be prepared to sign a statement and provide a thorough description of the 'offender.'

An officer will visit the victim and they may be asked to accompany them to the scene of the alleged crime. A detective will then review each individual case.

Detective Sergeant Andrea Barrow said: "Each mobile phone theft was investigated before, but not on this level. It's going to take time and effort, but we are prepared to put that time and effort in.

"The aim is to stop people making bogus claims and the genuine cases will benefit from a more thorough investigation."

Mobile phone theft is endemic across the country and a handful of forces are taking this approach. Other divisions in Lancashire are set to adopt the policy as part of their Safer Street crackdown on crime.

Jack Wraith, a spokesman for Mobile Industry Crime Action Forum, a group set up and paid for by the mobile phone industry to focus on crime, welcoming the move, said: "Bogus claims are something we are aware of and were highlighted in a Home Office report published earlier this year.

"It is a huge problem although to put a figure on what it costs the industry would be impossible. We work with police forces across the country and any initiative to raise awareness of the problem and try and halt it has to be welcomed.

"Customer service points at various mobile phone companies have also been made aware of the problem, and are trained to ask more significant questions when met with a stolen phone report."

Mr Wraith added that moves have also been made to render phones reported as stolen unusable on any network, to stop the culture of passing 'stolen' phones on to friends.