The WHY in IMEI.

In short, that is what an IMEI number is. It is a unique set of numbers which tell your phone apart from every other phone. The other…

The WHY in IMEI.

Credit: en.oxforddictionaries.com

In short, that is what an IMEI number is. It is a unique set of numbers which distinguishes your phone apart from every other phone. The other purpose of an IMEI number is to prevent theft of your device.

A lot of people will never need to interact with it, which is why they usually turn a blind eye to it. However, noting down your IMEI number and keeping it private is very important. This blog will hopefully uncover all the mysteries surrounding an IMEI number!

Accessing your IMEI number

To stifle any rumours about how to access your IMEI number, here are four simple ways to check your IMEI number.

1. Dial *#06#, and it should appear.
2. Check your phone box and packaging, it should be on there.
3. Go onto the About settings on your phone and it should be there.
4. Log onto your online account manager for your mobile service provider and it should be noted there.

Once you have accessed your IMEI number, you should store it somewhere safe. We recommend doing that as soon as you upgrade or buy your new phone.

The importance of noting down your IMEI number

Should your phone get stolen, the first thing you should do is report it to your provider who will proceed to blacklist the phone. The phone provider will then add the IMEI to shared registries such as the CEIR (Central Equipment Identity Register), which blacklists the device among all other operators and carriers.

To check if your phone has been blacklisted, you can do a simple check with https://www.imei.info/.

So how risky is it to disclose your IMEI number?

If you are selling your phone, we advise you against showing your IMEI number to anyone you don’t trust as they can use this to clone it onto another device! This is just one type of phone scam, to read about other IMEI and phone scams check out this article here. If you do have a trusted seller who is on the verge of purchasing your phone and just wants to double check if the phone is not blacklisted, you can share your IMEI number. Be alert though, and think to yourself why are they asking for my IMEI number and do they want my IMEI number for the right reason.

IMEI Numbers and vendi

At vendi, we ask every seller to provide their IMEI number before they sell their phone. This means that there are no blacklisted phones on our platform and all buyers are safe from purchasing a blacklisted phone. We also do further security checks to make sure that the phone will not be blacklisted after the phone has been bought.

To avoid scams and issues with your IMEI number we offer three helpful tips:

1. Write down your IMEI number ASAP
2. Do not share it with anyone
3. When purchasing a phone check that it is not blacklisted and perform due diligence checks to ensure they won’t blacklist it in the future.

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