From Friday, September 26, all mobile phone companies will be required to permanently block mobile phones that have been reported as stolen, as long as the owner has reported the device's unique IMEI .
The measure was imposed by the National Telecommunications and Postal Commission with the aim of preventing thefts and their sale on the black market.
The process: IMEI, theft report, network application
A prerequisite for a mobile phone to be blacklisted is that the subscriber must provide the device's IMEI code to their provider. The unique IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) includes information about the manufacturer and model of the device.
If the phone is placed on the blacklist of prohibited IMEI numbers, its use is theoretically impossible even with a SIM card from another mobile carrier
Each subscriber can locate the IMEI:
- In the device's packaging
- Pressing the keys * # 06 # on its device
- With the device's special application
To block the device, subscribers must firstreport the theft to the police and thensubmit a written request to their provider to deactivate the device, attachingproof of the theft report.
Every company that disables stolen devices of its subscribers simultaneously assumes the responsibility to inform the other mobile phone companies, which must proceed to disable the stolen devices on their own networks.
It is noted that the deactivation request is rejected if the declared IMEI code is not valid according to the relevant international specifications, or has not been assigned by the manufacturer to the device, so that it uniquely identifies it.
Please, can you change my IMEI?
In practice, the IMEI number can be changed illegally (instructions can be easily found on the Internet), in which case the device will be able to work again.
For this reason, disabling based on the IMEI was deemed ineffective in the USA.
Starting in 2015, a different practice will be implemented in the US, as most major manufacturers' mobile phones (Apple, Google, HTC, Huawei, Motorola, Microsoft/Nokia and Samsung) will offer a special "unusable mechanism" for stolen devices. The activation or not of this mechanism will be a decision of the user and therefore it is estimated that the effectiveness of this measure will be judged in practice. In fact, the fear has already been expressed that if there is a possibility that some stolen items will prove useless, but not all, then thefts will increase.
For example, the solution that Google will adopt in Android is that from the next version of the most widespread smartphone operating system, there will be a protection mechanism against unauthorized resetting of the phone to factory settings.
