Database Info

IMEI numbers

I am getting ready to scrap/destroy several old/obsolete GSM phones.
If anybody needs an IMEI number I will be happy to post one of them for that person, together with all the information regarding the phone it came from.
I hope that I am not violating any term of use or any regulation as it may apply to this forum by posting this.
If it is determined that I am, please delete this post ASAP.

imei....
this i beleive is a gray area at least in the usa.. i thing it is illegal in the USA im not sure about international law.... um... might wanna call the carriers or manufactures if it is legal or even allowed

myth about chinese method of unlocking the D2G

So, like many of you guys, i bought an D2G from ebay this morning. My phone has not arrived yet but i assume its prob locked by verizon. i took the initiation of seeking how to unlock it, and i landed here. After searching tons of thread with the same topic? i will summarize the major two methods of unlocking the device, so later on, people like me with the same problem doesn't have to. (please correct me if i am wrong)
1. unlock code from VZ or vendor (unlock shack seems to provide refunds, so one might wanna give it a try.)
2. turbo sim (i used it for iphone4 and it works, but i cant say the same with d2g.)
couple members mentions some dude in china works out a method but you will have to send the phone in. it just happens to be that i speaks chinese, so i went over to the china great firewall in attempt to search for an answer. Apparently the method is no secret. The chinese said that this unlocking method is done through software and worked the same as the unlock code by verizon. The only difference is after the unlock process, the IMEI of your phone will turn into a 16 digits number starting with 0000. I got class in a lil bit, so this is my search so far. i will keep you all updated with my process. if i find a solution. i will make a tut for yall.

IMO changing the imei number isn't a solution at all. Thanks for info.

Changing imei isn't the solution but rather the outcome of the software unlock, but many said the unlock code doesn't work. I would assume many would prefer a better solution which promise certainty, especially when it's a paid service.

Why bother with esothic methods when you can unlock the phone with an online service and 10$ ?

The Solutor said:
Why bother with esothic methods when you can unlock the phone with an online service and 10$ ?
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Unfortunately - not always. Some are "tough nuts" and only Verizon can unlock them. And probably those Chinese guys..
IMEI must be 15 digit though, not 16. I only see problem if they use same IMEI for everyone. Two phones with one IMEI on one network is a call for trouble..
For the record - chaning IMEI number of a GSM phone is illegal in most countries.

leobg said:
Unfortunately - not always. Some are "tough nuts" and only Verizon can unlock them. And probably those Chinese guys..
IMEI must be 15 digit though, not 16. I only see problem if they use same IMEI for everyone. Two phones with one IMEI on one network is a call for trouble..
For the record - chaning IMEI number of a GSM phone is illegal in most countries.
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Click to collapse
Apparently, the method switch the original imei 35xxxxxxxxxxxxx of d2g to 0000xxxxxxxxxxx but digits after 0000 are not identical, from there they can calculate the pin code and is available for free. And as i read more, the chinese change esn for the cdma to work. Even thou changing imei or esn is illegal, i doubt they really regulate such act lol. And chill out on the negativity, a thriving forum are great only if their member share their knowledge and benefit us all. My last phone was Nokia n900, and the phone are still popular today due to the community's contributions:

No negativity here. I will be glad if all those having problems unlocking their phone finally find a way to sort their unlock issue.
Discussions about modifying IMEI/ESN is not allowed here on XDA (as well as most other similar forums) hence I expressed this concern.

leobg said:
Unfortunately - not always.
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I know.
But I still think that any alternative method should be taken in account only if you are one of those unlucky owners, not when the phone is still on its way...

Samssung S7: Imei

Hi,
I would like change my imei. I have already root, and install twrp for xposed and plugin imei changer.
Its working but i can t call. And i think its the 2 last letters who do problem. I have 15 letters for imei i would like change *************** / 01 to ... / 05
But i don't know how to do.
Help me please (i try to speak english because i am french.

ZeeN0x said:
Hi,
I would like change my imei. I have already root, and install twrp for xposed and plugin imei changer.
Its working but i can t call. And i think its the 2 last letters who do problem. I have 15 letters for imei i would like change *************** / 01 to ... / 05
But i don't know how to do.
Help me please (i try to speak english because i am french.
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Click to collapse
Hi
Changing the IMEI is ILEGAL everywhere , you will not get any help for that in this forum.
What happen to the original phone IMEI?

MAX 404 said:
Hi
Changing the IMEI is ILEGAL everywhere , you will not get any help for that in this forum.
What happen to the original phone IMEI?
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Click to collapse
The issue is likely because he has one of those IMEI's that is tied to a specific carrier that the carrier doesn't want to turn loose. (For example, my S7 has an IMEI that is tied to VZW due to it being a device that was sold ONLY by VZW in the US - and as a lot of us have pointed out, an IMEI is unique to the specific phone; you have more control over a phone number than you do your handset's IMEI - and a locked IMEI will not accept a ported number. I can't take my locked IMEI (handset) to Tracfone, even though the handset is otherwise compatible with the VZW side of Tracfone's network (in fact, when it was in service, it was a VZW handset) because VZW has the IMEI on lockdown.

PGHammer said:
The issue is likely because he has one of those IMEI's that is tied to a specific carrier that the carrier doesn't want to turn loose. (For example, my S7 has an IMEI that is tied to VZW due to it being a device that was sold ONLY by VZW in the US - and as a lot of us have pointed out, an IMEI is unique to the specific phone; you have more control over a phone number than you do your handset's IMEI - and a locked IMEI will not accept a ported number. I can't take my locked IMEI (handset) to Tracfone, even though the handset is otherwise compatible with the VZW side of Tracfone's network (in fact, when it was in service, it was a VZW handset) because VZW has the IMEI on lockdown.
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Even if that is the case... still ilegal

MAX 404 said:
Even if that is the case... still ilegal
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Say what others want to hear is legal but it is illegal to say what is true. I just want to use a telephone that I paid.
But i can t tell you for change my imei i am responsible of my acts and i juste say :
"What coresponding the /05 /03 /01 at the end of imei" Is it illegal to respond at my answer ?

Zeenox said:
Say what others want to hear is legal but it is illegal to say what is true. I just want to use a telephone that I paid.
But i can t tell you for change my imei i am responsible of my acts and i juste say :
"What coresponding the /05 /03 /01 at the end of imei" Is it illegal to respond at my answer ?
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Click to collapse
Hi
I am not judging , I am not even saying if you should or not .... I am saying is ilegal to change the Imei number of your phone whatever the reason maybe.

ALWAYS backup your EFS folder, no matter what phone u have., and then save it on ur PC.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/s7-edge/how-to/guide-how-to-fix-check-drk-imei-issues-t3379516
This link solves most ppl with IMEI problems.

Thread closed
Changing IMEI discussion is not allowed on XDA, even if it's not for bad intentions, we do not allow "things which will obviously lead to legal trouble":
9. Don't get us into trouble.
Don't post copyrighted materials or do other things which will obviously lead to legal trouble. If you wouldn't do it on your own homepage, you probably shouldn't do it here either. This does not mean that we agree with everything that the software piracy lobby try to impose on us. It simply means that you cannot break any laws here, since we'll end up dealing with the legal hassle caused by you. Please use common sense: respect the forum, its users and those that write great code.
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Thank you for your understanding.
Wood Man
Senior Moderator

S8+ IMEI Help

Ok so this is going to be a long one... sorry in advance if I've broken any site rules posting here (made an account so I could make this post).
First, I work retail loss prevention for an off-brand retailer (in the USA). About 3 months ago we found a T-Mobile s8+ in one of our fitting rooms. The phone was turned into me via one of the store employees where I let it sit in my office for 3 days while turned on, hoping someone who knows the original owner would call it. No one called, so I took the phone to my local T-Mobile store to turn it in or see if they could contact the owner. The T-Mobile representative told me that they would be unable to take the phone from me, or give me any information regarding the owner. So the phone sat in my stores Lost and Found box for 30 days as policy. Once those 30 days passed our policy states to throw out the phone with the normal trash. Being an expensive phone, and the technology lover I am, I kept the phone which I had all legal right to do since the store had thrown it out.
The phone itself had a pin-lock and probably some sensitive data regarding the previous owner which I was able to clear out via a re-flash of the OS on the phone (i'm not a bad guy I didn't want their personal data).
So, obviously, the phone itself has an IMEI number reported as "Lost" with T-Mobile. Which means I'm basically unable to use it on our carrier (Metro PCS), however my wife was using it for the camera and other apps while at the house.
Flash forward another month and my wife's phone begins to start acting up so I figured there could be some way to work out to let her use this s8+ (I own a normal s8 myself and have no real use for the s8+). So i called T-Mobile customer support, explained the situation described above, and they told me I would need to take the phone to a Samsung store to have the device refurbished? Well, I drove about 30 minutes out to the nearest Samsung store to be told they don't perform such a service.
So I decided to look into altering the IMEI# of the s8+ to a clean IMEI of my wife's current phone or an older one we no longer use, and all the laws and specifications regarding what can and can't be done. All I could dig up regarding IMEI laws in the US was here: congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/senate-bill/3186/text/is -- Which isn't actually a law it's a proposed bill that never got passed. I did find some stuff from the FCC about cell phone cloning fraud:fcc.gov/consumers/guides/cell-phone-fraud -- but this also doesn't exactly fit my situation since we only want to use one phone, not two under the same identifications. There also is the concern of 'is it really fraud if I own both phones in question?'.
So this brings us to the current status: I have this phone that I obtained legally with a bad IMEI and cannot use it for everyday purposes.
Any help on how we can get the phone to a usable state would be greatly appreciated.
[Edit update]: I realize this is a very unusual situation, and am fully aware of the stigma regarding asking what to do regarding bad IMEI numbers and just want to clarify that I do not intend to break any laws or act with malicious intent to others. I simply want to have a phone, which I own legally, working.

Best your gonna get on this is google can be your friend. We dont discuss this in any form here.

Starhound said:
Ok so this is going to be a long one... sorry in advance if I've broken any site rules posting here (made an account so I could make this post).
First, I work retail loss prevention for an off-brand retailer (in the USA). About 3 months ago we found a T-Mobile s8+ in one of our fitting rooms. The phone was turned into me via one of the store employees where I let it sit in my office for 3 days while turned on, hoping someone who knows the original owner would call it. No one called, so I took the phone to my local T-Mobile store to turn it in or see if they could contact the owner. The T-Mobile representative told me that they would be unable to take the phone from me, or give me any information regarding the owner. So the phone sat in my stores Lost and Found box for 30 days as policy. Once those 30 days passed our policy states to throw out the phone with the normal trash. Being an expensive phone, and the technology lover I am, I kept the phone which I had all legal right to do since the store had thrown it out.
The phone itself had a pin-lock and probably some sensitive data regarding the previous owner which I was able to clear out via a re-flash of the OS on the phone (i'm not a bad guy I didn't want their personal data).
So, obviously, the phone itself has an IMEI number reported as "Lost" with T-Mobile. Which means I'm basically unable to use it on our carrier (Metro PCS), however my wife was using it for the camera and other apps while at the house.
Flash forward another month and my wife's phone begins to start acting up so I figured there could be some way to work out to let her use this s8+ (I own a normal s8 myself and have no real use for the s8+). So i called T-Mobile customer support, explained the situation described above, and they told me I would need to take the phone to a Samsung store to have the device refurbished? Well, I drove about 30 minutes out to the nearest Samsung store to be told they don't perform such a service.
So I decided to look into altering the IMEI# of the s8+ to a clean IMEI of my wife's current phone or an older one we no longer use, and all the laws and specifications regarding what can and can't be done. All I could dig up regarding IMEI laws in the US was here: congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/senate-bill/3186/text/is -- Which isn't actually a law it's a proposed bill that never got passed. I did find some stuff from the FCC about cell phone cloning fraud:fcc.gov/consumers/guides/cell-phone-fraud -- but this also doesn't exactly fit my situation since we only want to use one phone, not two under the same identifications. There also is the concern of 'is it really fraud if I own both phones in question?'.
So this brings us to the current status: I have this phone that I obtained legally with a bad IMEI and cannot use it for everyday purposes.
Any help on how we can get the phone to a usable state would be greatly appreciated.
[Edit update]: I realize this is a very unusual situation, and am fully aware of the stigma regarding asking what to do regarding bad IMEI numbers and just want to clarify that I do not intend to break any laws or act with malicious intent to others. I simply want to have a phone, which I own legally, working.
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Click to collapse
This is illegal and will bring you to jail so dont even try it

kpwnApps said:
This is illegal and will bring you to jail so dont even try it
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Click to collapse
In most countries yes not all but either way frowned talks on xda

Update: I no longer need assistance.
Side Note: Here is the US law regarding changing mobile identification numbers: govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2011-title18/USCODE-2011-title18-partI-chap47-sec1029

Starhound said:
Update: I no longer need assistance.
Side Note: Here is the US law regarding changing mobile identification numbers: govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2011-title18/USCODE-2011-title18-partI-chap47-sec1029
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Click to collapse
Yes as that may be true. But the rules here on xda as well as the rest of the world prohibit this. I do agree with you on the law here in US though. ???

Starhound said:
Update: I no longer need assistance.
Side Note: Here is the US law regarding changing mobile identification numbers: govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2011-title18/USCODE-2011-title18-partI-chap47-sec1029
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That law is surpassed by the cell phone cloning act of the early 90's. In the US it is illegal to alter the IMEI or even have tools that allow you to do so. It effects the IMEI and ESN (for older phones) many sites have been closed down for it. XDA has a very strong stance against it.
https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/cell-phone-fraud

solitarios.lupus said:
That law is surpassed by the cell phone cloning act of the early 90's. In the US it is illegal to alter the IMEI or even have tools that allow you to do so. It effects the IMEI and ESN (for older phones) many sites have been closed down for it. XDA has a very strong stance against it.
I'm not really here to argue if the act is illegal or not (it is). But, to point out I also wasn't exactly asking on instruction on how to change an IMEI.
I only asked what laws are in place that specify the legality of the situation (which has been solved), and what -can- be done in this situation (remains unsolved).
-Thank you
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Click to collapse

Starhound said:
solitarios.lupus said:
That law is surpassed by the cell phone cloning act of the early 90's. In the US it is illegal to alter the IMEI or even have tools that allow you to do so. It effects the IMEI and ESN (for older phones) many sites have been closed down for it. XDA has a very strong stance against it.
I'm not really here to argue if the act is illegal or not (it is). But, to point out I also wasn't exactly asking on instruction on how to change an IMEI.
I only asked what laws are in place that specify the legality of the situation (which has been solved), and what -can- be done in this situation (remains unsolved).
-Thank you
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Click to collapse
The only thing that can be done is turn it in to t-mobile. If I t was me. I would turn it in to t-mobile so they can return it to the proper owner.
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Click to collapse

solitarios.lupus said:
Starhound said:
The only thing that can be done is turn it in to t-mobile. If I t was me. I would turn it in to t-mobile so they can return it to the proper owner.
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Click to collapse
I attempted to do exactly that about 3 days after the phone was turned in to me (as described in original post). T-Mobile refused to take it from me. Nor would they give me information to contact the owner. Maybe that's not their standard policy, I don't know.
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Starhound said:
solitarios.lupus said:
I attempted to do exactly that about 3 days after the phone was turned in to me (as described in original post). T-Mobile refused to take it from me. Nor would they give me information to contact the owner. Maybe that's not their standard policy, I don't know.
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Click to collapse
I can tell you that is not their policy. Mail it to the corporate office with a letter saying what happened and where you took it. That person will be fired on the spot. But that is up to you. Either way it is useless unless you use it on att.
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Click to collapse

Starhound said:
solitarios.lupus said:
That law is surpassed by the cell phone cloning act of the early 90's. In the US it is illegal to alter the IMEI or even have tools that allow you to do so. It effects the IMEI and ESN (for older phones) many sites have been closed down for it. XDA has a very strong stance against it.
I'm not really here to argue if the act is illegal or not (it is). But, to point out I also wasn't exactly asking on instruction on how to change an IMEI.
I only asked what laws are in place that specify the legality of the situation (which has been solved), and what -can- be done in this situation (remains unsolved).
-Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have your same issue. A phone was forgotten on the bathroom of my cafe and nobody reclaimed for more than 6 months. Once tried to used after this long time the phone seems to be reported lost and imei locked. I cleaned up the phone to erase all the old personal information but not able to use it.
I understand the role on this forum and nobody want talk about it. would be really appreciate if you can privately point me to the right direction to make the phone working.
I won't contribute to the pocket of a lot of people on youtube or ebay selling the service for 50 pound. This is not a businness for me but just try to use a phone instead of bin it
Mine is a G950F model
Thanks
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Click to collapse

Purchased financed lg stylo 5

So i accidentally purchased a financed lg stylo 5 from sprint. I got it off craigslist and the only contact method was via craigslist automated email link. So there is no viable method of contact with the previous owner. I purchased this phone to use my qlink wireless account on. It is compatible but has "financial obligations" preventing me from activating it. Talked to sprint, they said theres nothing i can do if i cant get ahold of the previous owner. So im wondering, can i root/wipe/flash the OS or something along those lines and basically remove the brain of the phone and install a new one, and then use it? Would that help? Is there some variation of this idea that would help? Or is there any other way i could make this phone usable? (Unlocked) im not super experienced with this kind of tech, but im a quick learner and i can figure it out if someone knows of a method i can look into.... Help!!??

Piranha289 said:
So i accidentally purchased a financed lg stylo 5 from sprint. I got it off craigslist and the only contact method was via craigslist automated email link. So there is no viable method of contact with the previous owner. I purchased this phone to use my qlink wireless account on. It is compatible but has "financial obligations" preventing me from activating it. Talked to sprint, they said theres nothing i can do if i cant get ahold of the previous owner. So im wondering, can i root/wipe/flash the OS or something along those lines and basically remove the brain of the phone and install a new one, and then use it? Would that help? Is there some variation of this idea that would help? Or is there any other way i could make this phone usable? (Unlocked) im not super experienced with this kind of tech, but im a quick learner and i can figure it out if someone knows of a method i can look into.... Help!!??
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It depends. If the "financial obligation" is due to the device being blacklisted due to the previous owner not paying the bill, you will not be able to activate the device unless the previous owner pays the bill and the carrier removes the device from blacklist. If this is what you are dealing with, the thing that is preventing you from activating is not in the device, it is in the carrier network that the previous owner had service with, this is why there is nothing you can do from your end.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk

Mod Edit: Quote removed since post removed.
Discussion of changing IMEI in order to activate a device is not allowed here because it is illegal to do that in a lot of places. Please do not discuss criminal procedures here.

Jeremy619 said:
swapping Sims from one phone to another, in my book, would not be illegal,
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@Droidriven is correct above. Here you can read our policy regarding the edit or change of IMEI:
[CLOSED]Need help changing IMEI number
***before you judge or warn me it is legal to change IMEI numbers in my country*** Hey guys. I am stuck at changing IMEI number of my rooted note 10 plus. I have got ut rooted but I am unable to change IMEI number. I tried xposed framework but...
forum.xda-developers.com
There's certainly nothing against the swap of a SIM from one phone to another but the IMEI is not connected to a SIM but to a device.
Regards
Oswald Boelcke
Senior Moderator
P.S. I've subscribed to this thread now.

Oswald Boelcke said:
@Droidriven is correct above. Here you can read our policy regarding the edit or change of IMEI:
[CLOSED]Need help changing IMEI number
***before you judge or warn me it is legal to change IMEI numbers in my country*** Hey guys. I am stuck at changing IMEI number of my rooted note 10 plus. I have got ut rooted but I am unable to change IMEI number. I tried xposed framework but...
forum.xda-developers.com
There's certainly nothing against the swap of a SIM from one phone to another but the IMEI is not connected to a SIM but to a device.
Regards
Oswald Boelcke
Senior Moderator
P.S. I've subscribed to this thread now.
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it's seems I can get everyone to respond to everything but a solution to fixing my phone.... but, sense we're nit picking.., all CDMA networks, and metro PCS Sims, are registered to the phones imei number, you can't take a metro PCS, or sprint Sim and use it on any other phone except the phones it's registered too... hence.. it's... LOCKED..., to the the phone its registered to imei, plain and simple, I posted a question on how to fix my phone if anyone would like to help me on that instead of comment on everything else I've gave advice on, thanks