# Police Apathy: How does one get his stolen phone's IMEI Number Blocked in India ?



## MetalheadGautham (Mar 24, 2012)

I had my Samsung Galaxy Y stolen on 20th December 2011. Since then I've been trying to find a way of having it tracked via IMEI number. Police has refused to lodge an FIR report to track my phone (as expected from a country like India).

I gave up looking for a solution but now I feel since its been around 3 months since I lost it, the thief would find it safe to flash the phone with new firmware and use it as so far no tracking attempt has been made.

Now, I want to know what other options I have to get it tracked/blocked. Legally speaking, since I own the phone and have proof of purchase, I have the right to have my phone tracked or blocked on misuse by the thief.

But how do I proceed ?


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## Sarath (Mar 24, 2012)

Unless the police intervene there's nothing much you can do by yourself. 

The carriers cannot disclose or track people at their whim. So you need a formal complaint = FIR and then have pursue them to find it. 

AFAIK and have seen none of the cases are really looked into.

The Police are not interested in it so the thieves get away with it easily. Also the fact that tracking the phone is quite difficult based on cell location and also most of them are sold off, so the current user might be completely unaware that it's stolen.


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## Ronnie11 (Mar 24, 2012)

i don't see what other option you have other than going through the police...unless u had software of some kind on your phone to track...had the same problem with a friends phone which was stolen from him in the train...he tried tracking it through imei numerous time but police were least bothered....


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## MetalheadGautham (Mar 24, 2012)

Doesn't any phone company let people submit proof of ownership of phone and request IMEI tracking ?


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## Ronnie11 (Mar 24, 2012)

MetalheadGautham said:


> Doesn't any phone company let people submit proof of ownership of phone and request IMEI tracking ?



erm no...they do not let any person to track a phone irrespective if it is your own phone which you are trying to track...by phone company if u mean service providers like vodafone etc...no they don't....but i heard companies like nokia have done it before but only after a police complaint or so...they disable that particular imei,not recover it...but don't think any company does that now...


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## Zangetsu (Mar 24, 2012)

The Thieves must have sold it to some another user who is using it now...

only telecom operators can help...
if any of your frnd work in one of these service providers (Airtel,BSNL..etc) then there is a chance....


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## Rockstar11 (Mar 24, 2012)

Zangetsu said:


> The Thieves must have sold it to some another user who is using it now...
> 
> only telecom operators can help...
> if any of your frnd work in one of these service providers (Airtel,BSNL..etc) then there is a chance....



really? how its possible by service providers??


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## dashing.sujay (Mar 24, 2012)

*MHG* sire, some words from a person who has seen a phone successfully tracked.

Firstly, why don't police do it? There are several reasons. Primarily their work culture has turned into bribe house. They won't work without getting money. They have been accustomed to it. Secondarily, due to huge pile of cases pending in our country, mobile tracking is actually a very minor case to be taken. Police thinks "kaun jhanjhat lega itna chhota sa kaam karne ke liye"

So what you should do-

1) Try some _powerful people_ or similar contacts who can pressurise police to get their as$es working.

2) Get hold of _private trackers_. They are basically freelancers with contacts in required dept (police & telecom) to get your work done. They just charge you some amount, proportional to your mobile cost, and return the phone after finding it. Also, they take money only if they find it. (At least in my friend's case).

In my friend's case, his N70 was stolen back in 2006. He somehow got in contact with a private tracker and did the deal. He was charged 3k for it. N70 used to cost some 14k or so that time, so it was reasonable deal. He got his phone back after 3 months.

I have also heard that you can get your phone _blocked_ if not _traced_. But even for that, you will have to produce a FIR.



Zangetsu said:


> only telecom operators can help...
> if any of your frnd work in one of these service providers (Airtel,BSNL..etc) then there is a chance....



For that you need to have contacts in every damn operator which is nearly impossible.


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## gopi_vbboy (Mar 24, 2012)

You need IMSI number to trace him


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## Sarath (Mar 24, 2012)

What Sujay said about trackers, if true, is the only way a common man like you and I has to find a lost phone. 

Police wont waste their time on a matter as trivial as a phone.


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## Anorion (Mar 24, 2012)

Uh which city is this ? Are the police not lodging the fir because u cant prove that it was stolen and not lost ?


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## R2K (Mar 24, 2012)

From my own experience and from what I heard from other people the chances of getting a lost phone back is really vague. 
Well my advice to all is that never carry your phone in your hand. Always keep it in your pocket or belt pouch after use when you leave your house. Most of the time phones are lost while you carry it in your hand and just somehow forget to take it back when you leave the place.  Atleast thats what I have learned from  my last painful experience of loosing a phone.
I mean its always good to be extra cautious if you are carrying around expensive devices. Also most of the tracking softwares are less than useless.


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## dashing.sujay (Mar 24, 2012)

My ex room mate's sis phone was lost a week ago. Sis' husband was in vigilance. He got the phone tracked under one week.


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## Zangetsu (Mar 24, 2012)

dashing.sujay said:


> For that you need to have contacts in every damn operator which is nearly impossible.



No no..its not like that
u don't have to contact every service provider
any one will do
coz the IMEI data is shared on central server..
like if they have common server which holds blacklisted IMEI no's


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## dashing.sujay (Mar 24, 2012)

^No man. You have to know some one who controls the _central exchange_, owned most probably by BSNL. Only it has got the all records. Just tell me, If a person is using an airtel SIM, how'd Vodafone able to catch it?


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## Zangetsu (Mar 24, 2012)

dashing.sujay said:


> ^No man. You have to know some one who controls the _central exchange_, owned most probably by BSNL. Only it has got the all records. Just tell me, If a person is using an airtel SIM, how'd Vodafone able to catch it?



if a mobile phone is stolen, the owner can call his or her network provider and instruct them to "blacklist" the phone using its IMEI number. This renders the phone useless on that network and sometimes other networks too, whether or not the phone's SIM is changed.

The *Central Equipment Identity Register* is a database of the IMEI numbers of blacklisted handsets. If a device's IMEI number is listed on CEIR, it is not supposed to work on any service provider.

A common usage of the CEIR is with stolen cellphones. Once a user reports to the operator about the theft, the cell phone's IMEI number goes to CEIR, supposedly making the device unusable in any network


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## dashing.sujay (Mar 24, 2012)

^That's about blocking the phone which I mentioned earlier. But the service provider will ask for an FIR.


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## Zangetsu (Mar 24, 2012)

yes FIR is mandatory for them but OP has frnd or relative in service providers then it will help a lot if not 100%


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## MetalheadGautham (Mar 25, 2012)

dashing.sujay said:


> *MHG* sire, some words from a person who has seen a phone successfully tracked.
> 
> Firstly, why don't police do it? There are several reasons. Primarily their work culture has turned into bribe house. They won't work without getting money. They have been accustomed to it. Secondarily, due to huge pile of cases pending in our country, mobile tracking is actually a very minor case to be taken. Police thinks "kaun jhanjhat lega itna chhota sa kaam karne ke liye"
> 
> ...



My phone cost 7k, so 1.5k for tracking it seems reasonable. Can you provide more details about these private trackers ? I would love to hire the services of one.



Anorion said:


> Uh which city is this ? Are the police not lodging the fir because u cant prove that it was stolen and not lost ?



I'm from Bangalore. Police only gave an acknowledgement letter to the blocking request, and refused to register an FIR because they said its not their practice to register an FIR for a small case like this.


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## dashing.sujay (Mar 25, 2012)

MetalheadGautham said:


> My phone cost 7k, so 1.5k for tracking it seems reasonable. Can you provide more details about these private trackers ? I would love to hire the services of one.



Sadly I can't give you more info about this as I personally have no knowledge about them, and lost touch with my that friend.


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## MetalheadGautham (Mar 25, 2012)

dashing.sujay said:


> Sadly I can't give you more info about this as I personally have no knowledge about them, and lost touch with my that friend.



The slightest recollection about how he managed to find guys like this would go a long way...


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## dashing.sujay (Mar 25, 2012)

MetalheadGautham said:


> The slightest recollection about how he managed to find guys like this would go a long way...



Well I have pinged a mutual friend, waiting for his response.


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## amolraut7 (Apr 30, 2012)

dashing.sujay said:


> *MHG* sire, some words from a person who has seen a phone successfully tracked.
> 
> Firstly, why don't police do it? There are several reasons. Primarily their work culture has turned into bribe house. They won't work without getting money. They have been accustomed to it. Secondarily, due to huge pile of cases pending in our country, mobile tracking is actually a very minor case to be taken. Police thinks "kaun jhanjhat lega itna chhota sa kaam karne ke liye"
> 
> ...








hey friend,can you please any of private mobile trackers in mumbai?I lost my cell yesterday and complained in police station also...but still want to search it myself also as to get it back soon.
  Please let me know if you have anyones address or number which I can use to track my cell...please dude help yar.


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## toad_frog09 (May 1, 2012)

dashing.sujay said:


> My ex room mate's sis phone was lost a week ago. Sis' husband was in vigilance. He got the phone tracked under one week.



.
.
Alas, none of our husbands are in vigilance. Stupid, worthless, good for nothing husbands.[/badjoke]

@op, I dont know dude, i mean 7k is a heck lot of money, but the time and efforts you'd put wont really be worth it..considering the [infinitesimuly] chances of actually getting it back.
Most you can do is remote lock the device...but...just let it go buddy.


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## ssangra (Jul 26, 2012)

Police will register an NC (non cognizable offense) in such cases. U have the following options then

- Get a court order (w/o this the police cannot get the power to tk action on an NC)
- Get DCP permission
- Followup with the police so many times that they help u.

these days telecom operators will provide u call records from that phone for upto a month back. Helpdesks may not tell u this but u can get this from their service centre on furnishing proof of ownership and paying a nominal fee or sending an email request and paying online. 

Police can track geog locns whether cell makes a call or not. 

Keep trying.,..it is when we give up that crimes happen.


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