Tracing stolen and lost mobile phones could become easier in future in the State. The Tamil Nadu Cyber Crime Wing along with the Department of Telecommunications shall be using the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) portal to facilitate people report their lost or stolen mobile devices. The portal will help in tracing such devices across pan-India telecom networks.
A senior police officer of Tamil Nadu Cyber Crime Wing said, “We along with DoT have taken up the work to create CEIR login ID for all police stations in districts/ commissionerates of the State to trace the lost/stolen mobiles. Recently, we had a briefing on this portal for our field officers. Initially, the log-in IDs were issued to all Cyber Crime Police Stations of Tamil Nadu. We have covered 1,300 of 1,800 police stations across the State. We have asked the police personnel to enter the details once complaint is received on the stolen/ missing mobiles.”
Using CEIR portal, the police and the public both can make a request to block the IMEI number of the device which is stolen or lost. The IMEI number will be blocked within 24 hours and the handset cannot be used again by any other users. Once any SIM is used in the blocked IMEI number, the network provider would receive the notification and the same would be intimated to the police and the owner of the handset. Location details and the mobile number would be shared with the police department by network providers to recover the lost/stolen mobiles.
The portal is citizen friendly and citizens themselves also can access the portal using the web link https://ceir.sancharsaathi.gov.in/Home/index.jsp.
“Citizens would receive periodical message to the alternative mobile number registered, once their IMEI number is blocked and traced. Once the traceability of the missing device is received, the citizen can approach the respective police stations to recover their lost/stolen mobiles and request for unblocking of IMEI number, which would again be initiated through CEIR portal. Blocking of the IMEI number will help people prevent their mobile handset from being involved in any illegal activity,” said the officer.
So far, 4,057 mobile phones have been blocked by using this facility and 1,082 devices were traced while 170 were recovered in Tamil Nadu, according to the CEIR Dash Board.
