Socio-economic, financial and legal impact of licit and illicit cell phone trade in Florencia Caquetá

Abstract

The amount of cell phone thefts in Colombia, influenced the topic of the trade of these technological devices, to be considered as an object of social and economic study, with it is possible to identify the possible repercussions that this illicit activity leaves as a result, which can become economic income options for criminals and lucrative business for traders. The objective of the research was to study the variables obtained through a survey applied to a sample of 383 people, taken from the total population of Florencia Caquetá, which was 163,323 for 2012, and thus identify what type of people, when, where and performing what activities, became victims of cell phone theft, in the same way it was possible to establish what is the range and price range of the stolen cell phone, its condition and place of purchase, being able to determine the social impacts of the theft of cell phones, and to identify the possible repercussions of this illicit activity, which can become economic options for criminals and lucrative businesses for merchants.
The social, economic, legal and financial impacts on the community were also determined.

The results indicate that 58.2% of Florencians are victims of this scourge and that 98% of them do not manage to recover their cell phones, reflecting an impact on finances due to the need to replace it, especially if in many cases the illegal act is repeated in the same victims, on the other hand, looking at it from the legal perspective there are convictions with the application of Decree 1630 of 2011 and great disinterest on the part of citizens with the law against cell phone theft.