15 digit code. Where was your smartphone manufactured - how to find out? How to find a phone by Apple's IMEI

Sometimes troubles happen in life. One of them may be the case when someone steals someone else's phone for profit. It so happens that, according to the state of the device, you can't get a lot of money - the phone may turn out to be old, broken or inexpensive initially. But the former owner of the device is upset if only because someone gets possession of all personal files and data. Agree, it's unpleasant.

In order to forestall such a course of development of the situation, you just need to lock your phone. In this article, we will explain how to block your phone if it is stolen, as well as what actions should be taken next.

We distinguish between the concepts - phone and SIM card

At the very beginning, I would like to distinguish between two concepts, and they need to be distinguished: this is the phone itself (a physical device) and the SIM card that is installed in it. In order to prevent intruders from seeing your private correspondence, photos and other data, it is enough that your smartphone has a security key (password). If you have an Android or iOS device, thieves will not be able to access your files without resetting all settings. Therefore, if they carry out such a reset, all information left by you on the device will be deleted. Even without completely locking the phone.

The function of such blocking is different: it is to prevent fraudsters from selling your phone. Read on how this is done.

As for the SIM card, it is blocked so that fraudsters cannot make calls from your number and vice versa - no one called the number. They also block the card if they make a copy at the operator (as often do victims of mobile phone thefts). Those who want to deactivate the card ask how to block the number. We will talk about this in the next chapter.

Card blocking

It is very simple to make your SIM card stop functioning. It is enough to call the operator and ask to deactivate your number. To confirm the action, you will need the following information: 3-4 numbers to which calls were made most often, information about the state of the account, as well as information about the last replenishment of the balance. It is not necessary to name every penny - it is important to just show that you are guided, at least approximately. This is all instructions on how to block a phone number. The operator will accept the application and disconnect the card from the network.

In this regard, it is worth noting the following: as a rule, attackers independently remove the card as quickly as possible from the stolen device. We will explain the reason for this a little further. At this stage, you have figured out how to block a number, it is not difficult at all. This action will not affect the phone, but the card itself will make a useless piece of plastic.

Blocking by IMEI

As for deactivating the device, the procedure is about the same. In the same way as to block a phone number, you can ask to turn off the device itself. However, this requires more information than just the most popular numbers, balance and top-up. It is important to know the secret 15-digit code that is used to identify each mobile phone. It is called IMEI. By communicating this value to the operator, you can render your device unusable.

Some operators give instructions on how to lock your phone. MTS, for example, reports that this procedure must be done as quickly as possible - before the thief has time to remove the SIM card from the device. If you do not have time, then it will be more difficult to establish where the phone is.

In order for everything to happen as needed, it is necessary to promptly, immediately after the theft, contact the operator again and, after dictating the IMEI, ask to lock the device. If you have time, the phone will stop functioning even when the SIM card is removed from it later.

What is IMEI and how can I find it?

However, if you are wondering how to block your phone if it is stolen, it is important to clarify one point about this 15-digit code. There are two ways to find it. The first one is a set of combination * 06 #, which will show on the screen the code assigned to your device. It works on any device model. The second way is the original box in which the mobile device was sold. The IMEI can also be found there.

Ideally, it is necessary for the victim of the scammers to contact the operator and provide them with the code as soon as possible after the theft. Accordingly, for this she needs to have IMEI at hand. And which of us carries this 15-digit number with us? Many are not even aware of its existence.

We contact the police

Knowing how to lock your phone if it is stolen is only half the battle. In fact, the task of any owner is not just to make what has been stolen useless, but also to return the thing. For this you need to contact the nearest police station, where you will receive a statement about the incident. Law enforcement officers will have to write down the IMEI number for further searches for the device and at the same time they will take from you a description of the person you suspect, perhaps they will find out some more additional information.

The procedure for contacting the police is, in fact, more important than looking for information on how to block a lost phone. Therefore, both of these steps must be completed as quickly as possible.

Search for a criminal

The police (or rather, the district department) will accept your statement about the theft, after which it will begin to develop in the so-called department "K". It is there that information on your case will be transferred. The specialists of this unit receive instructions exclusively from the police, so you should not try to contact them directly.

Law enforcement officers will contact mobile operators and look for where the device with the number you specified in the application was registered. As soon as the signal from it is "detected", a task force will be sent there, which will find out how this or that person got this device.

Remember: the operator can only find out the location of the device after appropriate requests from the police. He has no right to do this on his own initiative. Therefore, demanding that your thing be returned to you is not necessary from him, but from the police.

Device protection software

Finally, if you use a smartphone, in addition to the question of how to lock your phone if it is stolen, you can also ask yourself how to control your device yourself. In this regard, an interesting solution was offered by Apple, having fitted the AppleID phones.

For Android, there are some third-party apps that can take a photo from a stolen phone and send it online, send messages to the screen, and so on. For simple phones, of course, such solutions will not work.

As practice shows, most often the phone is stolen by means of a primitive robbery in a dark alley, quiet park, underpass. Such actions are usually aimed at people who cannot defend themselves and repel intruders. Young women, adolescents become victims of criminals most often. Invisible theft takes place mainly in a crowded place, where, in the midst of the rush and hustle and bustle, it is difficult to notice how the thief sneaked into the pocket or bag.

Theft or loss of a mobile phone always brings a lot of worries to its owner. The difficulty of returning the found phone is due to the peculiarities of the Russian mentality. Having found a phone, people do not want to return it and take it for themselves. One of the most effective ways is to search for a mobile phone by IMEI.

What is IMEI?

IMEI is a 15-digit code (International Mobile Equipment Identity). It is unique for each device and is assigned to the phone by the manufacturer. This code is issued to each cellular device operating in GSM, IDEN, WCDMA networks. IMEI is stored in the phone's factory firmware. Its main task is to authorize and identify in the cellular network. Therefore, searching for a cell phone by IMEI can be effective if it is stolen or lost.

When a smartphone is stolen, the owner submits an official application and blacklists the IMEI. In the countries of the European Union and the United States, such a phone will not work in any cellular network, since it is imposed a call barring, except for emergency services, and when you try to register, a signal is sent to the service, which allows you to send the relevant information about the place and time of exit to the police to the network. Therefore, in foreign countries, thanks to such a system of work, it is possible to successfully track the phone by IMEI and resist theft, since when it is blacklisted, it becomes a useless thing. In Russia, unfortunately, such a mechanism to combat cybercriminals has not yet been developed.

How to find out the IMEI of the phone?

First of all, in order to answer the question of how to find a phone by IMEI, it is important to find this code. In order to find out the IMEI, just dial a simple command * # 06 # - and the 15-digit code will be displayed on the screen. The information is also located under the battery in the table along with the serial number, on the original packaging or sticker and in the warranty card. Thus, this code is a kind of "fingerprint", since every time you register in the GSM network, the cellular operator sees the location by the phone's IMEI.

Can i change IMEI?

On some phone models, a way to change IMEI has been found, as a rule, these are Chinese devices. This feature is not available on newer mobile devices. Since manufacturers are interested in providing their users with the maximum level of protection and security, they are constantly looking for solutions to resist theft. However, on an equal footing with manufacturers, scammers are also looking for ways and loopholes to hack the device's software and resell a stolen phone. It should be noted that in some countries, for example, in Kazakhstan, an article is provided for unauthorized access to protected information, which can lead to imprisonment for up to 3 years. In Russia, for changing the IMEI, Articles 273, 272 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are provided. And in judicial practice, there are cases of imprisonment under these articles for a period of 3 years.

How to find a phone by IMEI

In Russia, cellular operators have access to information about the location of phones. However, they have no right to disclose this information to ordinary citizens and provide it only at the request of law enforcement agencies.

To search for a phone by IMEI, you need to contact the police with a free-form statement, indicating your last name, first name and patronymic, passport data and IMEI of the stolen phone. It is also necessary to provide copies of documents confirming the ownership of the device. After that, police officers make a request to a cellular communication company in Russia, who check whether a subscriber with the specified IMEI is registered in the network, and give an official response to law enforcement agencies. The intelligence services, in turn, having learned the location of the attacker, search for him and take appropriate measures.

However, in practice, due to the bureaucratic structure of our state, requests to the police are processed rather slowly, and while the case is underway, the attacker will have time to resell the phone in the secondary market or change the IMEI. And cellular operators, in turn, do not turn off a cell phone until it is proven that it is indeed stolen. Therefore, a revision of the legal framework is required to simplify the system for dealing with theft of mobile devices.

Is it possible to return a stolen phone by calculating it by IMEI yourself

Despite the fact that there are a number of web services on the Internet that offer to use a phone search by IMEI code, they do not give any guarantee about the accuracy of the information. Since only cellular operators have official information, they have no right to give information to anyone, with the exception of law enforcement agencies. Therefore, these methods are questioned, and it is worthwhile to remain vigilant when referring to them. It will be possible to calculate the stolen phone only if it is not turned off, and any actions are performed from it - calls, checking the balance, sending messages.

How intelligence agencies find the location of a stolen phone

A mobile phone can only be found through the GSM cellular standard. The signal from the mobile device is analyzed by software that allows you to determine the sector and the nearest base of the station in which the subscriber is registered. Such a search system allows you to find a phone by IMEI and find out its location with an accuracy of 100-200 meters, which is sufficient for an attacker to be caught by law enforcement officers.

What to do if your phone is stolen?

For those who want by IMEI, just follow the next steps.

1. To find a stolen phone, do not immediately block the SIM card. If calls are made from her, there is a possibility of discovering the location of the intruder, which will help police officers in the investigation of the case. Blocking is advisable only if there is a large amount of money on the account and a postpaid billing system is used, since all conversations on the attacker's cell phone will have to be paid for by the owner.
2. Find out IMEI. If the IMEI is unknown, it can be found on the original packaging in which the device was sold. By identifier, it is possible to find a stolen phone even if the SIM card is replaced by another mobile operator. However, the factory code of the phone does not always coincide with the code indicated on the packaging, so it is worth checking it at the stage of buying the phone.
3. Contact your operator's mobile phone store to receive a printout of calls from the date the phone was lost.
4. With a passport, documents for the purchase of a phone that confirm ownership (warranty card, check, box), printout of calls, you must contact the police with a statement about the loss of your mobile device. In the application, you must indicate your contact information, as well as the IMEI number, and insist that law enforcement officers contact the cellular operator to search for the loss by identification number.
5. You can add your phone to one of the stolen phone databases on such Internet resources as imeis.ru, trackerplus.ru, tech-touch.ru and others. If you enter your details, you can protect buyers from purchasing a stolen phone. And also in the event that an attacker tries to sell the phone on the secondary market, other members of this service will inform you about it.

Stolen phone search techniques

Android Device Manager is a service provided for Android-based mobile devices. When registering in the service, it becomes possible to use the service "Phone search by IMEI satellite". The option also offers to make a free call to the lost phone at maximum volume, which allows you to find the phone in the event that it was not stolen, but lost on the street or at home.

How to find a phone by Apple's IMEI

IPhones are popular all over the world and more often than not they are the prey for cybercriminals. These devices are in high demand, price and good liquidity. Apple manufacturers have taken care of the safety of their users by providing the ability to track the location of the device using the geolocation system. To do this, you need to use the iCloud option, in which you can turn on the "Find IPhone" function. After your device is lost, just go to icloud.com and enter your password and Apple ID. In the event that this function was not activated before the theft, the system will not track the phone, and it will not be possible to find it in this way. In this case, the only correct decision is to file a corresponding statement with law enforcement agencies.

Alternative ways to find a stolen phone

1. It is recommended to create a business card on the phone about the owner with contact information in case the phone is not stolen, but lost, and the people who found it want to return the lost to the rightful owner.
2. Many manufacturers of mobile devices offer various services that involve sending SMS messages when changing the SIM card to the number specified during registration.
3. You can use the LoSToleN service, which is a database of stolen phones and allows you to place information about the IMEI of a missing gadget for a reward if found.

Finding data on the Internet

With the development of information technology, many services on the Internet offer a phone search program by IMEI. However, it is worth remembering that in most cases such offices are fraudulent and operate illegally. They ask to send a paid SMS to gain access to the service, which ultimately does not provide any information. Therefore, in search of a solution to the problem of how to find a phone by IMEI, you should not resort to methods of searching for information in the global network.

In order to find a phone, you must have access to the equipment and software of all cellular operators in the country. Therefore, such a service cannot be provided by ordinary web offices. Only law enforcement agencies have access to information, which receive information upon request from any mobile operator. Therefore, an independent search for a stolen phone is a futile occupation that takes a lot of time and effort. The only correct solution that can help is contacting the special services.

How to prevent yourself from buying a stolen phone

When buying a phone on the secondary market, it is worth checking it in the stolen phone database to avoid trouble in the future. Since in the event that the owner has already filed a statement with the police, it will be quite difficult to prove that the phone was not stolen by you, and the device will have to be returned to the copyright holder. However, not all stolen mobile devices are recorded in the database. You should not buy a mobile phone without documents from a private person, and if such a device is offered, this should immediately alert. Also, when buying a device, it is recommended to check the IMEI of the phone with the one indicated on the package.

As a rule, opening the cover of the mobile phone and taking out the battery, we will see the most popular inscription on the whole planet “Made in China”. This is not evidence that the smartphone, like the battery, came from China. The fact is that the Heavenly Chancellery possesses factories and production facilities. The battery of the latest iPhone is also labeled “Made in China”. Find out on our website if your smartphone is original.

The inscription in the instructions that the phone was made in that country, which is evidenced by the inscription, is also not worth trusting. If the pirates managed to forge the phone, then they have no problems with the printing house either.

So, the surest way to find out which country your mobile phone came from is the IMEI address. The same 15-digit code. It is he who will help determine the country of origin.

The procedure is as follows:

2. You will receive a 15-digit set of numbers.

3. The seventh and eighth digits are the so-called FAC (Final Assembly Code)

4. These two numbers will indicate the country of origin

But there is a small caveat. The countries-producers of mobile gadgets try not to disclose their codes for various reasons. Therefore, there may be various contradictions.

Here are some of them:

01 or 10 or 70 - these codes correspond to Finland, which means that phones with such numbering are of good quality;

02 or 20 is the United Arab Emirates code. Although this country is full of the richest sheikhs, poor fellows from other countries are working on the phones. Accordingly, the phone will be of poor quality;

07, 08 or 78 - Germany. There is no need to find fault with the high-quality assembly of the Germans;

03 or 80 - China. Controversial quality. The guys work hard, but sometimes they do well;

30 - Korea;

19 or 40 - Great Britain;

60 - Singapore;

05 - India;

04 - Hungary;

00 is a special situation. It means that the phone was produced back in 2003-2004, when the FAC was abolished.

Service Passport, by which you can check the originality of a mobile device, as well as virtually certify the status of a mobile phone or tablet. We hope you keep the IMEI of your mobile devices.

What methods do you use?

When purchasing a mobile phone or tablet of a well-known or unfamiliar brand, the consumer is primarily interested in the real country of manufacture of the device. Many eminent brands place their production on the territory of other states, most often in China, for example, the same Samsung can be produced both in South Korea and have apocryphal Chinese "roots".

In the article:

But do not be skeptical about electronic devices manufactured outside the vendor countries. Manufacturers value their reputation very much and will never agree to sell a substandard product under their brand name. But nevertheless, the buyer wants to be sure that he has chosen an original smartphone, to establish the origin of the device purchased "from hand" or to make sure that the information specified in the documents regarding a particular device is up to date. These nuances and a whole series of useful data about the gadget are stored in a special IMEI code of the device.

The Internet assistant Tarif-online.ru will tell you how to find out the country of the phone manufacturer by IMEI and what features of the code you should pay attention to. We will also describe an alternative way to obtain reliable information about the country of manufacture using the serial number of the device.

IMEI features

Numeric identifier IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) consists of 15 digits and is a unique identification marker for each sample of mobile equipment (phone, smartphone, tablet, modem, router), regardless of the country in which it was manufactured. Guided by the structure of the international IMEI identifier, it is possible to unambiguously establish not only in which state the factory is located, but also who is the manufacturer of the phone, its model, date of issue and serial number.

Important! IMEI is a unique identifier for each GSM and UMTS mobile phone and serves for accurate and complete identification of providers in cellular networks. To date, many devices have been developed that can simultaneously use 2 or more SIM cards from different operators. Such devices have several IMEIs, the number of which depends on the number of SIM card slots.

Each device owner can find out his international mobile equipment identifier from four standard sources:

• warranty card;
• an inscription with a code on the primary packaging;
• an inscription with a code on the phone case (under the battery);
• an electronic IMEI entry in the factory firmware.

To find out the identifier registered in the gadget's memory, you need to form a request * # 06 #.

After this action, a 15-digit code will instantly appear on the screen. For example, for devices with two SIM cards, the representation of the numeric code may look like this:

IMEI 1: 357885051455122

IMEI 2: 357885051455130

Please note that authorized organizations and manufacturers are constantly trying to improve the protection of mobile equipment against unauthorized IMEI changes using special software. In particular, this resulted in the fact that now the identifier is stored in the memory of the gadget in a special, one-time programmable zone. In addition, in 2004, the format of the IMEI itself was changed.

On older devices, the international mobile equipment identifier was represented as 357885 05 145 512 0 (IMEI 1 from our example with the last digit replaced):

• the first six digits (357885) indicated the phone model and origin (TAC);
• the next, seventh and eighth digits (05) identify the country of build (FAC);
• digits from ninth to fourteenth (145512) indicated the serial number of the device;
• the last fifteenth digit (0) is a check number and until 2004 it was always zero.

On the one hand, the new IMEI format is simplified, on the other, it uses a complex check digit verification algorithm. On modern devices, the international mobile equipment identifier must be grouped as follows - 35 788505 145512 2:

• the first two digits (35) represent the registered RBI code and indicate that the IMEI is used for this device, and not the MAID (Mobile Equipment Identity) code, which is stitched on new CDMA mobile phones instead of the 32-bit ESN (Electronic Serial Number);
• the next six digits (788505) indicate the model and place of manufacture of the telephone and together with the RBI code form a general picture of the origin of the device (TAC);
• digits from ninth to fourteenth (145512) are the serial number of the gadget;
• the last, fifteenth digit (2) acts as a control number and, using the Luna algorithm, constantly monitors attempts to inadvertently distort the data.

Regardless of the IMEI writing standard, knowing the seventh and eighth digits of the identifier (except 00), you can determine the country in which your phone was produced. Codes with two zeros (00) are transitional between the two IMEI standards and do not allow identifying the country of origin.

Definitions of the country of manufacture of the phone by IMEI

We already know which numbers of the international mobile equipment identifier indicate the country of origin. It is rather difficult to link the seventh and eighth digits of IMEI with a real country, since contradictions may arise between the real origin of the device and the state for which the equipment was manufactured. For example, German-made mobile phones have a country code of 07, but the new South Korean smartphones Samsung Grand Prime, which were originally sent to Germany, received the same code, and then without any IMEI changes were dispersed throughout Europe.

The online assistant site will try to organize the available information by IMEI codes so that you can determine the country of manufacture of the phone as accurately as possible.

Returning to our example IMEI 35 788505 145512 2 with country code 05, we see that this device is manufactured in India.

In addition to our table, you can also use a number of special services that allow you to find out the origin of the device online, using for this not only the IMEI, but also the serial number of the phone, which is also indicated on the case and in the documentation. The most popular are "IMEI TOOLS" and "SNDeepInfo".

The search results for the place of manufacture of a mobile phone must be identical, regardless of whether the data from the packaging box or the body of the gadget, the analysis of the IMEI or the serial number are used for this. If the documents say that the phone is made in South Korea and the Chinese code 80 is indicated in the IMEI, most likely this device is a fake.

Finally

The Tarif-online.ru website hopes that this article was useful to you in solving the question of how to find out the country of manufacture of the phone by IMEI. For a better understanding of the material presented in the review, do not forget to check out our training video.

If you have any questions or want feedback, use the comments on this article. We will also be glad to receive your correct additions to this difficult and confusing topic.

An automatic old / new code comparison system makes it easy to get new 15-digit codes based on your old codes (30 characters).

For this you need:

1. Download and open this TEMPLATE

2. Insert the old 30-digit codes into the first column (column) of the template

4. Press the button "Select file" in the system, find and load the saved template (the file will be displayed on the page).

5. Press the "Fill" button

6. The system will automatically issue a file in Excel format with a correspondence table, where complete data on the new and old code will be indicated (old code, old name / characteristic / unit of measure / MKEI, as well as new code, new name / characteristic). Also inside the table, explanations are given on the statuses of deleted, replacing codes, etc.

Attention! It is imperative to check the data (name, characteristics, standards, units) of the new 15-digit codes, since changes have been made to the description of most of the codes.

Code status values:

1. "Removed" - this code has been removed due to an incorrect description. Next to the column "Replaced by:" a substitute 15-digit code may be indicated
2. "This code will be improved or deleted" - this is a code that is being revised, as a result, the code will acquire a 15-digit code or will be deleted