Mobile Phone Stolen

random456

well yeah and no, if you give them the imei they bar the phone which prevents anyone from using it, but there are still loads of people out there who illegally unbar phones-all you need is the right software and a dongle-if its just a kid whos stolen it the likelihood is theyll just bin it as they wont have the knowledge but if its a professional crim it can still be done im afraid-illegal but possible-as said by someone elses reply here you only have to look on ebay at all the barred phones-do people really think the only people who buy these are people who intend to only use them abroad?....ebay isnt bothered, evidently.

Greentea

Thanks for all your help.

I contacted O2 and they wanted the SIM serial number which I gave them. They seem to be able to block the phone just by this information. Didnt ask for the phones IMEI number.
Does anyone know if this is right? I thought it seemed strange that you can block a phone just from the SIM? I hadnt even put any credit on this sim?

thanks

Woby_Tide

whenever a SIM 'fires up' inside a phone it passes details of the IMEI of the phone in which it is being used. They probably will just bar the last IMEI that was used with your SIM(though never thought what happens if a stupid thief puts the SIM in their phone?) Guess they also know which phone was registered with the SIM card but again nowadays that's no guarantee that the original SIM and phone are still used together