MISSING CELL PHONES : KNOW YOUR IMEI NUMBERS

MISSING CELL PHONES : KNOW YOUR IMEI NUMBERS 15 Feb 2009, 0405 hrs IST, TNN Text: JAIPUR: Nineteen-year-old Rahul Gupta, a college student in Jaipur, travelling in a city bus from SMS Hospital found his cellphone kept in his belt pouch missing while alighting at the Tonk Road bus stand a couple of days ago. Hopes of getting his cell phone back are few as he did not possess International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number of the mobile phone. Gupta's case is not an isolated one, most cellphone users are not aware of their IMEI numbers, thus posing a hurdle for the police department in tracking lost or stolen cellphones. Such ignorance encourage offenders. In Rajasthan around 7,500 cellphones were reported missing last year. Jaipur city witnesses an average of 250 such cases every month. Though police are zeroing in on offenders and confiscating the handsets but lack of information about IMEI number poses difficulty in tracking the missing handsets. Going by police statistics, around 40% of the total cellphone missing incidents are reported in Jaipur, with Jaipur (South) on the top of list. Jaipur (south) reported 1,160 cases, Jaipur (north) 790 cases while Jaipur (east) reported 599 cases since January 1, 2008. As far as districts are concerned, Jaipur tops the list of mobile phone missing incidents, followed by Kota City with 1,119 cases, Jodhpur City with 775 cases, Jhunjhunu with 474 cases and Bharatpur with 415 cases. A senior police official said that crowded areas, including markets, city buses, temples are very often the favourite ground for cellphone thieves. Regarding modus operandi, he said that offenders immediately switch off the handset, remove the SIM card and try to dispose of it as quickly as possible in the second-hand market. Involvement of students in cellphone lifting incidents has worried the law-enforcers. Offering a piece of advice to cell phone users, he said that the stolen set could be tracked through the IMEI number, given to each phone, by submitting a written requisition to the service provider. Also people could play their role in curbing the menace by being extra cautious while travelling in buses and moving in crowded areas. Number of mobile phones missing reported since January 2008 Jaipur : 2554 Kota City : 1119 Jodhpur City : 775 Jhunjhunu : 474 Bharatpur : 415

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