Lost Your Mobile Phone? ModiJi Might Help You!

Does it ever happen to you that this little supercomputer on which you are currently reading this post gets stolen or lost? Well not necessarily with you, but you may have heard someone telling you how their mobile phone got lost or stolen when they were travelling by train or were in a crowded place. It looks like the Indian Government and Department of Telecommunications now have a solution for this problem. Minister for Communications Ravi Shankar Prasad unveiled a portal on pilot basis in Mumbai which will help mobile phone users trace their stolen or lost mobile phones. The project is called Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR).

How does it work?

First, you’ll have to file an FIR with the police and then report the DoT through dedicated helpline number 14422. After analyzing and proper validation the DoT will block the particular IMEI and blacklist the mobile phone so that it can’t be used in future (Each mobile phone has a unique IMEI number). This pilot project is currently slowly rolled out only in Mumbai but it will roll out gradually elsewhere very soon. Along with this, if anyone tries to use the device using a different SIM, the service provider will identify the new user and inform the police and then they will trace the lost or stolen mobile phone.

However, this project will be facing difficulties from the advanced cybercriminals as there are certain tools available which can reprogram the IMEI numbers and therefore make it hard for the government to block those duplicate IMEI or blocking the genuine IMEI numbers. “Some miscreants do reprogram the IMEI number, which results in cloning of IMEI causing multiple phone devices with same IMEI number. As on date, there are many cases of cloned/ duplicated IMEI handsets in the network,” according to the department.

DoT has listed these as the primary objectives of the CEIR project, "Blocking of lost/stolen mobile phones across mobile networks thus discouraging theft of mobile phones; facilitate in tracing of such reported lost/stolen mobile phones; prevention of mobile devices with duplicate and fake IMEIs in the network; curtail the use of counterfeit mobile devices; reduced health risks to the users with the control of use of counterfeit mobile phones; improved QoS and reduced call drops with reduction in use of counterfeit mobile devices."

Well, it looks like the government is finally addressing some issues which could have been addressed years ago. Better late than never. Let’s see how the pilot project performs and it’s gradual roll-out across India.