: The Delhi Police on Wednesday claimed to have busted a gang which was allegedly involved in mobile snatching and then making permanent software changes to the phone, which made tracking them impossible.
Inexpensive software
The three men arrested have been identified as Fukran, who stantched the phones, Zuber and Ziya Ul Haq, who bought the snatched phones. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahadra) said that the technology used to change the IMEI and other identities of the mobile required relatively inexpensive software and almost no additional hardware requirements apart from a regular laptop.
The police said that almost every Android phone available was vulnerable to this kind of tampering. However, the snatchers-receiver trio did not have the wherewithal or knowhow to crack iPhones.
Untraceable
“More than 50 costly mobile phones, which were found to be snatched from different places, were recovered. A laptop, a computer and other formatting devices were also recovered by which they used to change the inherent IMEI number of snatched mobile phones and then sell them with a new IMEI. So these mobile phones could not be traced by surveillance,” said Ms. Prasad. The going rate for any phone would be between ₹1,000 and ₹4,000 depending on its condition.
