Cell Phone Stolen? Make it useless for the thief
This is a neat little trick that should work with most phones and phone service provider. You simply enter the code on the keypad of your mobile phone to reveal the unique serial number of it on the display. The serial number comes in handy in several situations. You can use it to prove that you are the rightful owner of the phone if it gets taken away from you or stolen, or contact your phone provider after it has been stolen to render it useless for the thief and prevent things like a high phone bill as the thief won't be able to use your SIM card anymore to use the phone's functionality.
The code is * # 0 6 #
The fifteen-digit code is the unique serial number of your mobile phone. Write it down, it's your IMEI Code. When someone steals your mobile you report the theft and your IMEI Code to your service provider. Most providers will ban that serial number making the phone useless.
If the code does not work on your phone, I suggest you search on the Internet to find out how to display your cell phone's IMEI code. If you can't find the information online, try calling your provider to find out how the phone's IMEI code can be displayed, or if the information can be handed over to you in another way.
Please note that this works only if the phone uses the Global System Mobile Communications (GSM) standard, which many but not all phones do. via: snopes.com
You sometimes find the IMEI code underneath the phones' battery. Just look for a sticker there and you should see the IMEI code listed there. You do need to turn off the phone for that for obvious reasons.
Your phone provider adds the IMEI to the Equipment Identity Register (EIR) and Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR), to block it from being usable by the thief.
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i had found a motorola droid phone & i think it was reported stolen . Is there any way i can get it connect it with my number ?
SOME BODY HAD STOLEN MY CELLPHONE
My Nokia 5130-Blue colour mob lost from my room at 23.06.09. i m giving here with the details of my mob. pls do the needful for getting mobile return to me.
Model : Nokia-5130 Blue
IMEI No. : 354223034680223
Battery : 06704004175350154k21802025
Charger : 3943499136230407242i0625605
Lost date : 23.06.09
dude its a crap wasting your time is ths kinda blogs.sum1 theft my nokia 5235 while i ws busy writn examinatn in my colleg..evn police dosnt giv much damn bout it..its betr forget tht u had that cell phone ..evn me doin the same…tc
Rogers in Canada (GSM) only nukes the SIM card…the phone’s IMEI is not “blacklisted”…so the stolen phone can be re-activated on another account…just gotta get the SIM card…40 bucks…
The code you get by entering *06# is called an IMEI code. It’s also on the box the phone came in an on a tag on the phone, usually behind the battery.
Some countries don’t use IMEI lockout, but in Finland, and most of Europe, a locked IMEI won’t work. I even got my phone back once when the thief was dumb enough to take the phone to be fixed when it stopped working due to IMEI lockout.
With the most of the phones being sim chip based, most providers don’t care what phone is used. They only care about the SIM chip itself.
Your best bet is to get a Police report on the phone with the serial #. Chances are that you will never get the phone back. But you never know..
THis is crap my phone was stolen and the cell phone company can’t do crap about it. so much for this stupid blog
I think it´s possible to use the phone with a new provider . It´s unlikely that a single service provider is able to make the phone useless for all other providers.
Think that might be the reason, not sure though :)
LOL… erm… Actually it can be used…
how im not sure… for example here (Venezuela) they change it from one provider to another so it works again… im not sure on how it works.. i just know half my friends own previously stolen phones… also since phones are insured here by the provider at a cost, most ppl when tired of their phones report them stolen, sell em as stolen with a new line and use the money plus the insurance to get a new better phone…
umm for verizon phones and just about any other phone it says the providers name on the phone, another provider will not activate it..just saying