From Friday 26 September, all mobile phone companies will be obliged to permanently block the cell phones which have been declared stolen, as long as the owner has declared to company its unique number IMEI device.
The measure was imposed by the National Telecommunications and Post Commission in order to prevent thefts and sell them on the black market.
The process: IMEI, theft statement, network request
Necessary condition for a cell phone to enter the "black list» είναι η γνωστοποίηση του κωδικού ΙΜΕΙ της συσκευής από τον συνδρομητή στον πάροχό του. Ο μοναδικός κωδικός IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) includes information about the manufacturer and model of the device.
Once the mobile phone is blacklisted with prohibited IMEI numbers, it is theoretically impossible to use it even by using cards SIM from another mobile operator
Every subscriber can find the code IMEI:
- In the package of the device
- Pressing * # 06 # on the device
- With the specific application of the device
To block the device, subscribers must initiallyto report theft to the police and then va written request for the device to be switched off, attaching tthe proof of the theft statement.
Any company that disables the stolen devices of its subscribers at the same time assumes responsibility for informing other mobile phone companies, which have to disable stolen devices on their own networks.
Note that the deactivation request is declined if the requested IMEI code is invalid in accordance with the relevant international specifications or has not been assigned by the manufacturer to the device to uniquely identify it.
Please, change my IMEI?
In practice, the IMEI number can be illegally changed (instructions can be found easily on the Internet), so the device can be re-operated.
For this reason, IMEI-based deactivation was deemed ineffective in the US.
From 2015 θα εφαρμοστεί στις ΗΠΑ μια διαφορετική πρακτική, καθώς τα κινητά των περισσότερων μεγάλων κατασκευαστών (Apple, Google, HTC, Huawei, Motorola, Microsoft/Nokia και Samsung) θα προσφέρουν ειδικό «mechanism of dismantling " of stolen devices. 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 thefts will prove useless, but not all, then the thefts will increase.
Indicatively, the solution that Google adopts on Android is that from the next version of the most widespread smartphone operating system, there will be a protection mechanism against unauthorized resetting the phone to factory settings.