Ease of changing IMEI making phone thefts harder to solve

New Delhi: Off late, Delhi Police have made several efforts to arrest mobile thieves and recovered the stolen phones from them, before the accused change the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers of these phones, making it near impossible to be tracked.

Police data accessed by Millennium Post revealed that in 2017, more than 39,000 cases of mobile theft were registered with Delhi Police. This year, till March 31, the city has already seen over 14,000 cases of mobile phone theft.

So far this year, Outer Delhi Police have recovered 150 mobile phones with tampered IMEI numbers. Cops are putting their best foot forward to trace these missing phones, but to no avail.

"We put stolen mobile phones on surveillance and, in some cases, found the IMEI was working after few days of theft, which were later recovered. But, there are some phones which were not found working for several months and there is a possibility that their IMEI numbers have been changed," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer) Mahender Nath Tiwari.

He added that tampered phones are easily sold in 'grey markets' for a few thousand rupees. "There are machines on the market through which the IMEI can be washed," said Tiwari, adding that the modus operandi of these thieves is similar to those who tamper chassis number of stolen vehicles.

A senior police official told this newspaper that once a stolen mobile is recovered and its thief is arrested, and he happens to have any recollection of the original IMEI, then only is there a chance that the phone will be returned to its original owner.

"The IMEI is the identity of the phone and there are fewer chances to go back and know the original IMEI of the phone," said the officer.

The accused often rewrite IMEI numbers of unused mobile on the software of stolen mobiles, with the help of devices and computer systems. Effectively, they replace the original IMEI number of stolen mobiles with that of unused ones. Police said that in many cases, computers along with specially designed software used for changing IMEI numbers of stolen phones have been recovered.

Recently, Delhi Police busted a gang who changed IMEI numbers of iPhones using laser printing machines to print a new IMEI number on the SIM tray and body.

They procured motherboards of old mobile phones from China and later used it to replace mobile phones, in connivance with the staff of phone service centers. After packing the new duplicate boxes with high-quality accessories, they would sell these mobile phones at lucrative rates on e-commerce websites and to other shopkeepers.

"The phones' IMEI numbers is changed through softwares for anywhere between Rs 500-1,000. In hardly five to ten minutes, the IMEI of the phone can be changed. The software is also available online," said the officer.