Mumbai: A police team conducted a raid at Sara Market in Musafirkhana on October 25 and arrested a man for illegally changing IMEI numbers of stolen cell phones using high-tech devices. The accused, identified as Shahrukh Abdul Khan (23), was found to be in possession of devices known as Z3X Box and Octopus Box.
The Z3X Box is used to unlock Samsung and LG smartphones, while the Octopus box can be used to unlock LG handsets.
“The devices can be owned and operated by persons authorised by the companies in case of genuine problems. However, the accused did not have any such authorisation,” said Additional Commissioner of Police Pravin Padwal, South Region.
The police seized one Z3X Box and two Octopus Boxes, and took him to MRA Marg police station. Mr. Khan was arrested and charged with cheating and forgery under the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Information Technology Act.
“We are working on finding out where Mr. Khan got the devices from. Investigations have revealed that he procured them from a Mumbai-based man, who, a few days before the raid, shut down his shop, and has been missing since then,” said Mr. Padwal.
Changing IMEI numbers of stolen phones emerged as a racket around two years ago with the advent of a machine known as Flashers. It can read a cell phone’s IMEI number and change it by assigning it a random number, thus making it untraceable and ready for resale. The police said the Z3X box and the Octopus Box are advanced versions of Flashers, which can even unlock password-protected cell phones.
“It is likely that racketeers who were using Flashers have made contacts among authorised dealers of Z3X Boxes and Octopus Boxes, and are now running such rackets. We are probing the matter,” said an officer with the Mumbai Police.
