Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Keep the serial number of your mobilephone

Friday, June 10, 2005

Keep the serial number of your mobilephone

Before anyone loses his/her mobile phone, one should first check the serial number of the phone by keying in *#06# where a 15-digit number will appear on the screen.

Please record it down and keep it for reference. In case the phone is lost, the rightful owner can call the service provider (Singtel, M1, Starhub, etc) to disable the phone by providing the serial number.

That means, the person who took the phone cannot use it at all even if they insert a new SIM card. If everyone knows this procedure, there would not be much use Taking away someone's phone. Please feel free to circulate this message.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...: I think you write very interesting articles. Good insight too.

Are you really a CEO of NTUC?; June 10, 2005 5:07 PM
LK said...: This actually reminds me of the people in Australia. Most of the Australians afraid that their mobiles will be stolen or lost, so most of them actually purchase the mobile insurances. Isn't it interesting?; June 10, 2005 8:31 PM
Tan Kin Lian said...: Yes, I am the CEO of NTUC Income.; June 11, 2005 5:59 AM
Ivan Chew said...: Hello Mr.Tan, I've posted your message in my blog, as well as other comments.

You can read it here. Thanks.; June 12, 2005 1:03 AM
Anonymous said...: i lost my phone some time in the begining of this year. I called Singtel and tell them to disable my SIM card and mobile phone. I was told that only the SIM card can be disabled and not the mobile phone. That serial number you mention is called IMEI number.; June 16, 2005 10:46 AM
Anonymous said...: I guess Mr Tan must wondering what is IMEI and how it work?

From:

Goon Doo; June 16, 2005 4:38 PM
ivan said...: i doubt Mr Tan is really that ignorant of modern tech, he is talking about the IMEI number. However given his status he might be accorded different treatment from us mere mortals. Namely, using this post, most people who go up to their Sg telco asking for the imei number to be disabled will end up being chased away with the reply "not economically feasible" or "not company policy".

Mr Tan: This procedure you talk of has been around for quite some time, at least 3-4 years ago, and foreign telcos do it. Unfortunately in Sg, the telcos have been extremely unresponsive. Perhaps a you might be able to change things abit.; June 17, 2005 7:27 PM
Tan Kin Lian said...: Perhaps, if the telco disable the SIM card, it will serve the same purpose.

So, there may be no practical advantage in disabling the phone.; June 17, 2005 10:41 PM
ivan said...: Mr Tan:

Unfortunately disabling the SIM card has not the same effect as blacklisting the IMEI. Disabling the SIM will not render the stolen phone unusable, merely saving the owner of the stolen phone from paying for unauthorised usage. However the value of Handphone theft lies not with free call but the resale of handphones (as you noted in your post), as such as the phone can be used still, the motivation and reward for theft continue to exist.

There WILL be practical advantage in disabling the phone.; June 18, 2005 3:45 AM
Tan Kin Lian said...: Even if one telco disable the phone, I suspect that it can still be used overseas, with another telco that does not disable it.

So, the deterent may not be effective.

Let me try to check more with the telco, on the practicality of this suggestion. If all telcos agree to disable it, then it might work.; June 20, 2005 9:44 AM
Anonymous said...: Mr Tan

I recently lost my HP & IC in a house break-in incident. Besides stealing my HP the culprit also used my IC to get new lines from both M1 and StarHub and bought 3 phones each. Altogether 7 phones.
Its so easy for them and the Telcos are just watching.

Hope someone you do something.

regds; July 20, 2005 4:27 PM

Friday, June 10, 2005

Keep the serial number of your mobilephone

11 comments:

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