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Blocked Phones


darepool

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Pretty much what patdbf said. Changing the IMEI number of a mobile phone has been illegal now for just under a decade in the UK. The IMEI blacklist was originally held by individual networks, but have been pooled together now for several years so a phone barred by one network is now banned on all. It becomes an effective paperweight at this point.

 

In the event of changing the IMEI number on a phone, it has to be done very carefully. They aren't just made up totally made up of random numbers, they involve an algorithm that provides a checksum along with a manufacturer & model code - this is how a network can identify you what internet and MMS settings it can send to your phone when you put a new sim card in. If a network sees two identical IMEI numbers registered on its network, alarm bells will ring, as will obvious fake IMEI numbers containing all zeros etc.

 

Most mobile phones that are stolen in the UK are often sent abroad to developing countries to be sold where the chances of the phone being used for roaming back in the UK are slim.

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Was this thread intended to try and bait me into helping out with illegal phone shenanigans? :laugh:

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