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What can I do with a stolen s4g?

Hello, I just got my sensation stolen and I would like to know if there is anyway of making that phone unusable for the person that took it... Please help me Thanks

What country are you in?

BMW_530_PL said:
Hello, I just got my sensation stolen and I would like to know if there is anyway of making that phone unusable for the person that took it... Please help me Thanks
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Call the service provider you have and tell them it was stolen. They can lock the IMEI on the phone rendering it useless unless the main board is replaced.

Contact your carrier ASAP.

If your in the US, there is no imei blacklist. They'll block your sim but they claim they can't block the imei. The truth is that they can, but they won't.

Make sure the person that stole it from you has it to their ear then, send a frequency that liquifies their brain.
Wishful thinking.....
If it's not yours don't touch it...

moto211 said:
If your in the US, there is no imei blacklist. They'll block your sim but they claim they can't block the imei. The truth is that they can, but they won't.
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That might possibly be true, I do not know for sure as I have not really researched much. But I seem to remember a XDA member reporting that they got T-Mobile USA to blacklist their HD2 that was stolen. Wish I could remember the name of the thread, but it was several months back.
Now at the OP of this thread. You may want to check out the advice given in the threads I linked here. Also have a look here, it is a link from one of the threads I linked.

Go to the Market and install "Plan B"
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium

mils69 said:
Go to the Market and install "Plan B"
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
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+1
What "Plan B" does is to install the apps remotely via PC - Market which using same google account. Then the said App will send sms to your pre-set phone (maybe ur friend or wife phone), please search andriod market for more information.
Thanks mils69 to introduce this great app to me.

We do NOT blacklist GSM phones per some order from the FCC GSM standards and conduct jargon. We are only allowed to blacklist SIM cards. So if your device is stolen they can pop the SIM in and use it instantly with no penalties.
However they CAN see who is using that IMEI ince the "new SIM". However the person can saybthey purchased it from a random on the street and then be let go instantly. That's the law. Receiving of stolen property/goods for some reason does not extend to cell phones for some legal reason.
I've worked for Tmobile and AT&T and Cingular and they were all the same rule set. So i know this to be 1000% accurate. Sorry bro.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App

Well if you had lookout mobile you could track it or if you had tmobile security you also could track it ,dam that sucks watch who you around there some leeches out there

Htcsense.com
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA App

[Q] Lost My Phone...

I lost my damn G2X the other day while drunk and had just installed a new ROM and no tracking app yet. The guy at Tmobile today told that anyone could put their own SIM card in my phone if found and use it without a problem.
Can TMobile really not associate the IMEI off that phone (that I reported lost) with one that cannot be activated? I don't want to believe that and don't believe the fat slob at the store anyways due to how he bad he messed up my account today and failed to share important information with me

aburn95 said:
I lost my damn G2X the other day while drunk and had just installed a new ROM and no tracking app yet. The guy at Tmobile today told that anyone could put their own SIM card in my phone if found and use it without a problem.
Can TMobile really not associate the IMEI off that phone (that I reported lost) with one that cannot be activated? I don't want to believe that and don't believe the fat slob at the store anyways due to how he bad he messed up my account today and failed to share important information with me
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Any T-Mobile sim card can work with any T-Mobile or Unlocked phone without the need of setting up a IMEI to that sim card. So yes they can just throw in there card and it will work. If you report your phone stolen then T-Mobile might be able to block the use of said IMEI from it's network. That is if you know what that number is and you ask about it over the phone. The first thing you should of done in this situation is called in your phone as stolen. Still it's possible they wont do that. I know I've seen comment for cell phone dealers on ebay who stated that the company sold them a stolen phone that is now deactivated. So best of luck. Also make sure you go to an actual corporate store. Not all T-Mobile stores are owned by T-Mobile. It's very hard to tell the difference between them.

Thanks I have the box it came in I think that has IMEI

its a gsm phone so they can't do anything, if it was a cdma then it won't work!

well crap. someones a lucky ************

If you are fast enough you log onto the Android Market on the internet and install Plan B. If they have not yanked out your sim yet plan b will install, automatically run, send an sms to you with the phone's location and allow you to track it online. You can also lock it and have it put a message on the phone to return it to the owner.

Jboxer is right, most probably the thief doesn't know as much to know that he can throw another sim card in there.
Best of luck though
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

And it is not true that T-Mobile cannot block the IMEI. If you call T-Mobile and report it lost they will definitely block the IMEI from use on their network. Whoever found it or stole it won't be able to use it on T-Mobile but they would still be able to sim unlock it and use it on AT&T or another network.

Thanks everyone. I think it's all too late. I tried installing Wheres my Droid from net the next morning but it either needs to be set up on phone first (can't remember) or the phone had already died. Wish I knew about "Plan B." This succcccks. I really hope something goes wrong with it for the new owner, And sure hope they like a basic ass setup of MIUI!!!

[Q] Galaxy Nexus stolen, SIM card changed, able to trace back?

Dear forum,
let me just go straight to the point:
My Galaxy Nexus was stolen at work last friday. I tried to use some tracking software like Plan B but without succes, the SIM card had been changed allready.
Now here comes the part that gave me some hope.
When I went to My (Gmail) Account at the Android Market today (using my desktop), I noticed 2 things:
- First thing is that the record from the column "Carrier" has been changed from "Vodafone" to "KPN', so I think I can assume here that someone put another SIM card in it.
- Also at the column "Last Used" I see "February 13, 2012", which is yesterday (monday).
I was really wondering if there is a workaround or something to get more information (like the phone number of that SIM card?) than just the carrier of that SIM card and when it was last used?
Thanks in advance~
Anthony Elbers

During the night push a remote lock app to the device, if they haven't changed the google user login by then. Then just lock the device. If the app shows it set a screen message offering reward for return. Better still make it scream while at work tomorrow.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using xda premium

ForgetfulGuru said:
During the night push a remote lock app to the device, if they haven't changed the google user login by then. Then just lock the device. If the app shows it set a screen message offering reward for return. Better still make it scream while at work tomorrow.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using xda premium
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The thing is, I only work at fridays and saturdays. I also think that the person is smart enought to not bring the phone to work when I'm around.
I thought maybe if I could get some more information with a workaround, I could catch the thief myself instead of waiting for him/ her to give it back (which probably isn't going to happen).

I hope you informed your managers.
You could have a look through the available apps in the market see if there is anything you can use to lock the phone remotely and or push some really nasty messages to it. If you ain't using why should they get the use of it think there may be some way of remotely wiping the phone aswell. Then at least it would be of no use to the thief anyway. Sorry I can't be of more help. I allways make sure I activate any built in phone finder and instal lookout, so never really had to deal with the issue
Sent from my HTC HD2 using xda premium

Prey worked for me before.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

Android_Monsters said:
Prey worked for me before.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
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Note that the phone is stolen and SIM card has been changed allready. As far as I know you need to configure Prey on the phone itself, so not really remote like Plan B.
I'm still curious if there is a workaround to get more information about the SIM card than just the "Carrier" and "Last Used"?
Like.. are those the only two things that get stored or is there more information about the SIM card that I could get without having the phone itself?

If you have the IMEI you can contact your network and ask they put a block on the phone, a lot of the time it also blocks it off other networks as well.

i think the info about the sim like its number is by far more important than map location because if you got the thief's number then you can report that number to the police and mobile network .

MrLadoodle said:
If you have the IMEI you can contact your network and ask they put a block on the phone, a lot of the time it also blocks it off other networks as well.
the_metal said:
i think the info about the sim like its number is by far more important than map location because if you got the thief's number then you can report that number to the police and mobile network .
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This is pretty much what I'm aiming for since I allready have contacted the police and gave them the IMEI of the phone. They said like something like "We'll see what we can do", but I thought there would be some workaround (yeah I'm using this word alot) to get more information of that SIM card.
I think I can assume that the column "Carrier" which is shown on the screen, is read of the SIM card?
Question is, if anything else is shown somewhere in my Gmail (since it's linked to my Galaxy Nexus) or at the Android Market or something that might be of help?

do you know that mobile carriers can identify everything to a handset with just an IMEI
i don't know what is the procedures in your country but i think you should call that carrier and ask for directions especially if you have a proof of purchase or something similar
i wish you could luck friend

the_metal said:
do you know that mobile carriers can identify everything to a handset with just an IMEI
i don't know what is the procedures in your country but i think you should call that carrier and ask for directions especially if you have a proof of purchase or something similar
i wish you could luck friend
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My question is, did you inform your carrier? Here, when that happened to my friend who wasn't too tech saavy, I called his carrier, had the phone blocked right away, and told them what network it was on via the same information that you received via email. The actually contact the manufacturer and the police and were able to track it down on their network, find the phone and press charges. That IMEI number is huge as it tells the carrier what exact tower the phone is connected to. In densely populated areas, that's 1-2km max. Cross reference the people at work that live in that area and boom. Done like dinner.

Did you try Samsung Dive website??
www.samsungdive.com

the_metal said:
do you know that mobile carriers can identify everything to a handset with just an IMEI
i don't know what is the procedures in your country but i think you should call that carrier and ask for directions especially if you have a proof of purchase or something similar
i wish you could luck friend
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onlymojo said:
My question is, did you inform your carrier? Here, when that happened to my friend who wasn't too tech saavy, I called his carrier, had the phone blocked right away, and told them what network it was on via the same information that you received via email. The actually contact the manufacturer and the police and were able to track it down on their network, find the phone and press charges. That IMEI number is huge as it tells the carrier what exact tower the phone is connected to. In densely populated areas, that's 1-2km max. Cross reference the people at work that live in that area and boom. Done like dinner.
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Yeah I know that, but I called both the police and my carrier and gave them my IMEI and asked if they could do such thing.. and both said that they can't do such a thing, ONLY if the phone has the original SIM card... I think they just don't want to help me at all.
amritpal2489 said:
Did you try Samsung Dive website??
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Tried that one. But I need to set it up on my phone first. Keep in mind that the phone is allready stolen and the SIM card has been changed.

HELP! Phone stolen and Tmobile won't block IMEI!

My wife's phone was stolen yesterday. We didn't have insurance or that silly lookout security on it. I bought it on Craiglist last december for her Christmas gift. It was already unlocked and rooted. So the person who stole it can just through any sim in there and use it (we disabled the sim on it through tmobile immediately.) Tmobile is happy, they got a new phone sale and a 2 year contract extension out of it.
But they refuse to block/blacklist the IMEI!
I've called customer support *multiple* times and get the same answer every time - company policy is to not block IMEIs on lost or stolen phones. WTF? The only time they block IMEIs is if you buy a phone and don't pay for it, or if you have insurance (and even that part is not clear, it sounds like they just use the Lookout security program to lock it, which any savvy user can disable in minutes).
I've filed a police report, and when I finally told them that by not blocking the IMEI they are aiding and abbetting a felony theft. They said to write to the legal department.
The police report they gave my wife doesn't even say phone or the IMEI. I asked her to go back and get the full report or get the officer to write the phone model and make on the little slip as well as the IMEI, and I'm going to take it in person to every carrier and see if they'll block the IMEI from their system, just in case this person has another carrier (since it's unlocked).
Does anyone have advice on what to do? I know I won't be tracking or recovering the phone I just want to make sure it's unusable.

Well until you blocked the sim you could have used lookout's plan b to attempt to find the phone. You are pretty much screwed unless the phone shows up in a pawn shop. Did t-mo give a reason for not blacklisting the imei?

You can install androidlost remotely from a computer or another handset. Go to wwwDOTplayDOTgoogle.com sign into the account email that is on the phone that was taken and search for (androidlost) and click install. It will install the on the device when it connected to a data network via wifi or GSM. Then go to wwwDOTandroidlostDOTcom and follow the instructions on their site. I hope this helps. "Since this is my first post I am unable to put web links so Dot is used in place of (.)
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The phone's sim has been disabled. My wife already has a new sim and new phone. I don't think I can remotely install apps anymore. And before blocking the sim, lookout hadn't been installed. I suppose I could've tried to push lookout, but it still has to be run and activated before it can be used. And I doubt the thief would've done that.
The reason they gave was A) they don't disable IMEIs on stolen and lost phones and B) they have no way to do it (which I called BS on and said connect me to someone who can, they wouldn't)

Ok I was able to install androidlost apparently. At least it said it could send it to the phone. However I go to the website and it says the program needs to be run on the phone first. Like I said, doubt the person will do that. And I can't send an SMS to it to start it, since the sim has been disabled. Now if I knew the phone number of the SIM they plugged into it then maybe I could do something. I also put lookout plan b on. Again I can't send it a text and I don't know if it will really even install. If they've thrown a new SIM, MAYBE plan B will work and send an email to my wife's gmail and MAYBE it'll have the phone number in it, from which I can text to start androidlost.
Edit: God I wish I'd known about plan B before we disabled it
Edit2: Anyone know if the person plugs another sim card in, will Google Play still be able to download to it?

If they dont change the google account then yes it will install. Otherwise mate your screwed. But as a aside you now know about things that can be done to help find the device. I suggest looking into cerabus for your current phones. You can set it up to remain through a factory reset/data wipe on rooted phones. Im sorry this happened and we cant offer much more help.

That's sucks man! There is a way to track a phone via imei and what tower they are connected to but i think that software is only available to certain agencies (the feds...lol). No matter what SIM is in the phone, or if there is even a sin in it, when you send an app to it via play store, it installs as long as your Google account hasn't been removed from the device.
Sent from my SGH-I727 using xda app-developers app

Well I installed both Plan B and Lookout but no emails from plan B At least I know if they do put a SIM card in, even for another carrier, I can still install stuff to it as long as the google account isn't changed. Of course I have no way of knowing if the google account is changed. Actually...if the google account is changed, will it disappear from the list of devices I can install to on the Google Play store? Does the fact it's still listed as one of my devices I can install things to mean the google account hasn't been changed?
Cerberus looks awesome. Actually, what if I just go ahead and buy and install Cerberus to it remotely? Does it need to be configured/enabled on the device itself before it starts being able to be tracked by the cerabus web site and give me the new phone number of a changed SIM?
Edit: Aw nuts. Cerberus DOES have to be configured on the phone itself and granted permissions. DAMN I wish I'd thought about this issue before. Also wish she'd at least put the PIN or pattern lock on her phone. I put it on mine but she didn't put it on hers. That would've prevented someone from getting into the phone unless they wiped the ROM, right?
Edit2: I went ahead and put Cerberus on my own phone and bought a license I was so impressed.. This is way better than Lookout. I hid if from my app drawer, but how do you make it so a person can't uninstall it? It still shows up on the list of installed programs.

I think you need to be rooted for that. I would ask the support for cerebus Im not real sure I just know people on reddit speak very highly of it.

All they have to do is factory reset it.....all gone.....and if its got a security lock when you wake the device all they have to do is the 3 button combo into recovery and do factory reset.....either way....your phone is gone and tmobile dont care cuz most likely it will be of use to someone else hoping with thier service....plus hey they just made a few more bucks from you

With celebrus it will persist through a factory reset/data wipe. The only way it will be removed is if they wipe system.

I guess they will do that too.
I always neglected these anti theft apps, since they appeared too heavy and RAM consuming..
I decided to take the chance, but I agree - it's a real bummer, our entire lives are in these devices.
sent from me

I'm pretty impressed with Cerberus. It consumes <1mb RAM, it has a disguised version, if your phone is rooted it will survive a factory reset, if the person change SIMs it will send you a message with the new # (which you can then send secret cerberus commands to), if the person changes the gmail account on the phone it will still work -- it's a SLICK program. It has an SMS command method and a web dashboard and you can do all sorts of stuff - track location, lock, display a message, sound an alarm, wipe SD, record video or audio, all sorts of stuff. It has a disguised version too (need root though) and the person can't uninstall it.
God I wish I'd installed this on my wife's phone. It's only $3 too, one time fee and you can install it on 5 devices with that license. No monthly fee. Just for comparison, Lookout has a 21MB RAM footprint.
I've not tried the Avast anti theft program but it sounds nice too. I'm not trying to shill for Cerberus here, I'm just really impressed. And damn I wish I'd put it on there before it got stolen...

Unfortunately no carrier will be willing to block a stolen phones imei
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium

New info only way to block imei is if your on a payment plan for the device.
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New info. Look at the dates before pulling up dead threads.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda app-developers app

disabling sim is one of the worst things you can do to it, cause you block communication to it unless the other person puts a sim card with a data plan in it.

airfluip1 said:
disabling sim is one of the worst things you can do to it, cause you block communication to it unless the other person puts a sim card with a data plan in it.
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Indeed very true. I learned that the hard way.
To elaborate - you can remotely install tracking software from the play store to give you a chance to recover it, wipe it and other useful tools.

My phone got stolen and the police says there is no way to find it

Hi, so my phone got stolen about year and a half ago and now I got a letter from the police saying that they are canceling the case because they can't tell who is the owner of the phone now. They told us that a sim card was activated on the phone, but they cannot say who is the owner of the sim. Also they found the person who stole my phone and he just told them that he found it and then sold it to another guy who the police found too, but he sold it to an unidentified person. I have tried to track my phone using find my android, but looks like the phone was restarted to factory settings immediately, because the last day it was connected to a network with my google account in it was the day it was stolen. I tried calling the phone when I saw that it is not where I put it, but it was turned off. We searched the whole school, but it was nowhere to be found, because it was stolen. That is the whole story. I am sure that there is a way to track it, but the police just don't want to waist their time. They aren't really doing any work, but there is nothing that I can do to convince them to find my phone. So I am turning to you guys. I have the box of my phone and the IMEI number. Is there a way to track it using the IMEI or something else?

ILoveZed said:
Hi, so my phone got stolen about year and a half ago and now I got a letter from the police saying that they are canceling the case because they can't tell who is the owner of the phone now. They told us that a sim card was activated on the phone, but they cannot say who is the owner of the sim. Also they found the person who stole my phone and he just told them that he found it and then sold it to another guy who the police found too, but he sold it to an unidentified person. I have tried to track my phone using find my android, but looks like the phone was restarted to factory settings immediately, because the last day it was connected to a network with my google account in it was the day it was stolen. I tried calling the phone when I saw that it is not where I put it, but it was turned off. We searched the whole school, but it was nowhere to be found, because it was stolen. That is the whole story. I am sure that there is a way to track it, but the police just don't want to waist their time. They aren't really doing any work, but there is nothing that I can do to convince them to find my phone. So I am turning to you guys. I have the box of my phone and the IMEI number. Is there a way to track it using the IMEI or something else?
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Yes, there is an IMEI tracking app in the playstore that has been known to work.
If they have changed the IMEI, this won't help you.
I'd say, cut your losses and move on, take it as a lesson learned and be more careful with your next device.
I keep my device with me at all times, I've never had a device stolen from me and I've never lost my devices. I've owned dozens.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
Yes, there is an IMEI tracking app in the playstore that has been known to work.
If they have changed the IMEI, this won't help you.
I'd say, cut your losses and move on, take it as a lesson learned and be more careful with your next device.
I keep my device with me at all times, I've never had a device stolen from me and I've never lost my devices. I've owned dozens.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk
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What is the name of the app?

ILoveZed said:
What is the name of the app?
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IMEI tracker
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