NY thieves want iPhones, victims fight back

The victim saw the photograph in her own e-mail outbox and alerted police, who checked the picture against mug shots and then identified and arrested the thief.

Still, many smartphone users say they do not worry about someone getting hold of their personal data.

"A lot of people are really uptight about anyone knowing anything about them," said Nick Divers, 23, who has not taken steps to protect the data on his iPhone. "Is that a big deal? Not to me."

(Editing by Michelle Nichols and Bill Trott)