The Indian government has outlawed mobile devices with fake IMEI numbers.

The importation of any mobile phone that is false and uses a duplicate or copied unique identifying number that enables law enforcement to monitor any mobile phone is outlawed by the Indian government.

The office of the Director General of Foreign Trade issued a notification stating that “GSM mobile handsets with duplicate IMEI or fake IMEI & “CDMA mobile handsets” with duplicate MEID (Mobile Equipment Identifier) / ESN (Electronic Serial Number) or fake ESN/MEID are added to the list of “Prohibited” items for import.”

Any mobile phone that is false and uses a duplicate or copied unique identification number that enables law enforcement to track any mobile phone has been outlawed in India by the government.

“CDMA mobile handsets with duplicate ESN (Electronic Serial Number)/MEID (Mobile Equipment Identifier) or fraudulent ESN/MEID are added to the list of “Prohibited” commodities for import,” the office of the Director According to a notification from the General of Foreign Trade.

Every cell phone using the worldwide system for mobile emails (GSM) technology has an IMEI number, which ranges in size from 15 to 17.

Only a phone’s unique number and fraudulent mobile devices, the majority of which are imported from Chinese suppliers or other Asian locations and escape detection by authorities, can be used by the government or the police to trace a cellphone.

Any cell phone with an IMEI number that starts or ends with 00…00 is fraudulent, and such devices are forbidden in India. With or without an IMEI number or by functioning as a current real phone identification number, several cell phones are entering the grey market.

Indian Cellular Association National Chief Executive Pankaj Mohindra responded to the government notification by saying, “We welcome any crackdown on bogus IMEI or grey market. The implementation of this notice on the market will need to be handled carefully to prevent any disruptions to corporate operations while reducing the grey market.