Take care as your mobile phone may be gone in a flash!

Prawesh Lama, HT, 4 Nov 2016, NEW DELHI: Ever wonder why police seldom succeed in tracing your lost or stolen cellphone, even after you have provided all the required details?

The culprit is a nifty little gadget called the flasher. No bigger than your regular cellphone battery back-up, it has now become a cause of concern for police as well as intelligence agencies.

On November 9, Delhi police recovered four flashers from two men – Mohammed Shafi and Waseem – who had used them to change the IMEI (or unique identification) numbers of more than 1,000 phones over the last four months. A raid on their store in Ballimaran, Old Delhi, also yielded a haul of 401 cellphones.

The IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number is a unique 15-digit code possessed by every mobile phone or tablet, and it is used by police to trace calls and recover missing handsets. The number helps them track any cellphone to its exact tower the minute a call is made, even if a different SIM card is used for the purpose. The IMEI number was believed to be tamper-proof until the flasher came along. As intelligence officers usually trace calls related to terror or crime through the 15-digit code, they view the flasher as nothing short of a security risk. By using this device, a militant using a certain phone can easily change the IMEI number whenever he wants – outfoxing law-enforcement agencies in the process. Criminals and terrorists generally do not use stolen mobile phones for fear of being traced through surveillance. They also change SIM cards before making calls. However, the misuse of stolen phones will only increase if these devices become freely available,” said a senior police officer.

Police said the two arrested men used to buy stolen phones from thieves and pickpockets across the city, and sell them again after changing their IMEI numbers. Shafi and Waseem revealed that it took them less than 10 minutes to change the IMEI numbers using the flashers, which are sold clandestinely in central Delhi’s Gaffar Market for anywhere between `2,000-`5,000. One cannot purchase them from regular mobile outlets or e-shopping portals.

Deputy commissioner of police (central) M S Randhawa said one just needs a USB cord, a computer and the flasher – which comes with a CD – to change the IMEI number of a mobile phone. “All one needs to do is open the CD on a computer and connect it to the phone through the flasher. The computer then gives you the option of either taking a default 15-digit IMEI code or entering a number of your choice. Once the IMEI is erased, the phone can never be traced,” he added. Police said though it is illegal to change the IMEI number of a phone, people dealing in stolen mobile handsets use flashers all the time.

However, even the flasher has its Achilles heel. During questioning, Shafi and Waseem revealed that the device doesn’t work on Apple phones. So, whenever iPhones landed in their shop, the two had no option but to dismantle the devices and sell their spare parts separately .“A stole ni Phone isusually not used because it is risky; it is always dismantled for parts. i Phone touch screens are in great demand ,” another officer said.