HI, READING SOME OLD POSTS, LOOKING FOR INFO B4 ASKING, I CAME ACROSS A THREAD FROM LAST NOVEMBER WHERE A VERY KIND PERSON HAD OFFERED TO HELP OTHERS UNLOCK THEIR PHONES. TO MY UTTER AMAZEMENT THERE WAS A STRING OF MEMBERS CHEERFULLY GIVING ALL SORTS OF VALUABLE INFORMATION ONLINE, INCLUDING THEIR IMEI NUMBERS!!! I COULDN'T BELIEVE MY EYES. I'M NOT SUGGESTING THAT THE MEMBER OFFERING HELP WAS IN ANY WAY DODGY, BUT THIS IS EXACTLY THE KIND OF INFORMATION REQUIRED TO CLONE OTHER PHONES AND RUN UP MASSIVE BILLS TO AFRICA AND OTHER PLACES, IT'S A MASSIVE BUSINESS, AND PHONE COMPANIES WON'T LOOK KINDLY ON A £1500 BILL WHEN THEY DISCOVER YOU SUPPLIED THE INFO REQUIRED, ALBEIT INNOCENTLY. NEVER, JUST SIMPLY NEVER, POST YOUR IMEI NUMBER ON A PUBLIC ACCESS BOARD. EMAIL OR PM THE INFO TO SOMEONE YOU KNOW AND TRUST, FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY AND PEACE OF MIND. SOMEONE MAY ALREADY HAVE COVERED THIS SUBJECT, IN WHICH CASE, SORRY IF I BORED YOU ALL, BUT IT MIGHT BE TIME TO REPEAT THE WARNING?? CHEERS, PCASSO
As long as your IMEI isn't posted, you'll be ok. Cloning an IMEI is very difficult to begin with. When the cloned IMEI makes a phone call to a certain number, questions will be asked. The number called by the cloned IMEI will also be called by the FCC and that certain someone will be doing major jail time for theft of services. Posting your IMEI is as safe. Never post the IMEI and sim card number. That's where the problem will be. The calls aren't based on the phone number when going through the system, it's the IMEI itself and if one was cloned which is a very big IF, it would only last maybe a day at the longest.
thank you for the information, but i will still keep my imei number secret. it was the sheer volume of people that responded to this persons offer. the thread is not so far back, and i just checked, there are 15 pages filled with dozens of members posting not just their imei numbers, but service providers, locations and the countries they live in, and many posted phone numbers and other personal info, and all at the request of the person offering to unlock their phones. they were queuing up to post important information to a perfect stranger!! let me make it clear, i am making no accusations that the person offering to unlock the phones was trying to just obtain numbers for nasty reasons, i', sure they were bona fide. however, they were very specific about the infon they wanted and there was a rush to give it, i'm sure had he asked for credit card numbers they would have posted them too, anything to get a phone unlocked. i live in ireland and you can get just about any phone unlocked for about $6 << >>, walk in, wait a few minutes and walk out again, no identity, nothing. the police and providers are running campaigns asking people to keep imei numbers safe and report the number the moment your phone goes missing. insurance companies are paying out less and less, usually only if the phone is actually taken from your person. they check where the last calls were made and it better be close to where you say you were or no payout, period! what a crazy world it's become, there are now more cellphones in ireland than there are legitimate residents, there is total market penetration, few meet to talk anymore. sad really. PCASSO
