It is indeed possible to change your IMEI number, but it’s a criminal offence! Remember that doing this could get you into legal trouble, and at the very least, land you with a criminal record. So think carefully about whether or not you think doing this is worth breaking the law. You can either be fined or imprisoned in the United Kingdom for reprogramming your IMEI number.
Because of the huge amount of handsets that are stolen throughout the world, most of the network operators available have EIR. This is a list of blacklisted IMEI numbers, which are either lost or stolen handsets. If they then do take updates from the GSM Association’s CEIR, it will generally be from one of the other operators in their own country.
Hence, if you have a phone that is lost or has been stolen in the United Kingdom, it will not work on any other network once it has been blacklisted. This means that once a phone has been lost, or somebody has claimed that it has been lost, the phone will not work again in the UK. Hence, it’s understandable why people will try and change the number so that it will work in Britain. This is an illegal offence as it could mean that phones that were stolen can easily be sold on in the future without any legal issues.
However, if the phone is taken to another country, it will work once more. Many people do this, and do not realise that they are still breaking the law. Be aware that even asking somebody else to change the number is a criminal offence, and you could be landed with a sentence between six months and three and a half years in some serious instances.
Because of the huge amount of handsets that are stolen throughout the world, most of the network operators available have EIR. This is a list of blacklisted IMEI numbers, which are either lost or stolen handsets. If they then do take updates from the GSM Association’s CEIR, it will generally be from one of the other operators in their own country.
Hence, if you have a phone that is lost or has been stolen in the United Kingdom, it will not work on any other network once it has been blacklisted. This means that once a phone has been lost, or somebody has claimed that it has been lost, the phone will not work again in the UK. Hence, it’s understandable why people will try and change the number so that it will work in Britain. This is an illegal offence as it could mean that phones that were stolen can easily be sold on in the future without any legal issues.
However, if the phone is taken to another country, it will work once more. Many people do this, and do not realise that they are still breaking the law. Be aware that even asking somebody else to change the number is a criminal offence, and you could be landed with a sentence between six months and three and a half years in some serious instances.
