These vapes connect to your phone. Bad health is the least of your worries
New vapes that connect to your phone and allow you to take calls, play music and download photos are being sold on the streets of Melbourne. While consuming one device is the equivalent of smoking 25 packs of cigarettes, poor health isn’t the scary part.
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New vapes that connect to your phone and allow you to take calls and play music have been uncovered for sale in Victoria in an Australian first.
A Herald Sun investigation bought the new technology at two shops in Melbourne’s north, making a mockery of the federal government vape ban.
Not only are vapes in plentiful supply, criminal gangs are offering larger devices, more flavours and the latest technology that has never been seen in the country before
The vapes were bought on the first day of new laws that health warnings must be placed on each individual cigarette stick.
Rohan Pike, a former federal police officer who set up the Australian Border Force’s tobacco strike force, said criminals were winning.
“It’s relevant that new regulations started (last Tuesday) to try to make legal tobacco less attractive, while criminals are making their product more attractive. And they’re winning,” he said.
The Herald Sun bought one vape that has a detachable screen and allows you to download photos via bluetooth from your phone. The Alibarbar device contains 25,000 puffs – the equivalent of 25 packets of cigarettes – and was purchased from Smoke House in Bundoora Square shopping centre, next to Coles, for $68.
The product was retrieved from under the counter next to the cash register and the transaction took only a few seconds.
It was a similar story at Cignall, in Pacific Epping shopping centre, where the Herald Sun bought a Tik 15,000 puff vape cartridge for $55 and a rechargeable 5cm touch screen for $45.
The screen allows you to connect to your phone via bluetooth and receive text messages, play music, take online calls such as on WhatsApp, have all your phone contacts and display photos.
Again, it was hidden just under the glass counter.
Both vapes were made in China and are charged using a USB-C connection.
Mr Pike said any device that connects your phone and encourages customers to log into a Chinese website opens the door to potential data loss and has security implications.
“When there are tens of thousands of Australians holding them, it should be a red flag for security agencies,” he said.
Criminologist Dr James Martin, a leading researcher in black markets from Deakin University, agreed.
“There are legitimate concerns about plugging these vapes into a device, like a computer, and allowing them access to your phone,” he said.
“The risk of malware and giving malicious actors access to this information is a big problem.”
He added the ban had only served more gangs bringing in the illegal product.
“Bringing in a ban doesn’t take away the demand – it just presents a job opportunity to criminals. The gangs require obstacles to be there,” he said.
“Vapes haven’t stopped being sold. They are just not being sold legally.”
An industry expert said the new technology vapes were aimed at a specific market.
“The flashy tech vapes have one primary goal, targeting kids,” they said.
“Illegal vaping products are now more prevalent than ever, openly sold across Australia to anyone, including children. The government’s response has been frustratingly slow, akin to them using a pager while criminals operate on 5G.”
Originally published as These vapes connect to your phone. Bad health is the least of your worries
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