Delhi Police have busted a major illegal mobile manufacturing and IMEI tampering unit in Karol Bagh, marking a big success in the fight against cybercrime. Five men have been arrested, and 1,826 phones, along with laptops containing IMEI tampering software, were seized during Operation Cyberhawk.
IMEI is a unique 15-digit number used to identify and track every mobile device. The gang was allegedly changing this number to stop stolen or fraud-linked phones from being tracked by authorities.
IMEI Tampering In Delhi Cybercrime Case
The accused were using IMEI tampering to hide the identity of phones that were either stolen or used for cyberfraud. IMEI labels, scanners, specialised software, and thousands of mobile body parts were recovered.
The police said the unit was working like a small factory, assembling illegal phones and making them appear brand new. Many of these phones were old or damaged devices with new outer bodies and new IMEIs printed on stickers.
The Karol Bagh police station had been watching suspicious mobile activity in Beadonpura for 15 days. Inputs kept coming in that an illegal assembly and IMEI-changing setup was being run from the fourth floor of a building. Once the information was confirmed, officers planned to catch the gang red-handed.
Illegal Mobile Manufacturing Racket Exposed In Karol Bagh
On November 20, the police raided Aditya Electronics & Accessories on the fourth floor of a commercial building in Beadonpura. Five men: Ashok Kumar, Ramnarayan, Dharmendra Kumar, Deepanshu, and Deepak, were found fitting old mobile motherboards into new phone bodies.
IMEI-changing software like WRITEIMEI 0.2.2 and WRITEIMEI 2.0 was running on laptops, and phones with fresh IMEIs were being packed for sale.
The accused said they bought old and stolen motherboards from scrap dealers in and around Delhi. New phone bodies were imported from China through suppliers.
The finished counterfeit phones were then sold in Karol Bagh, Gaffar Market, and other popular mobile markets in Delhi-NCR. According to police, the customers were mostly criminals trying to avoid tracking.
Investigations are now underway to identify the suppliers in China and the final buyers of these illegal phones.
