Early in the week, the FCC closed a loophole in their handset unlocking rules which has proven to be a perfect environment to encourage fraud and even drug running and human smuggling (the last two of those particularly highlighted by comments made by Commission Chairman Brendan Carr). The unlocking requirements had required only Verizon of the major wireless carriers to free up its devices after 60 days, much shorter than the industry standard. The requirement was implemented as part of VZ’s acquisition of TracFone (who had a one-year lock in place) and immediately led to a spike in fraud of 55 percent according to VZ.