Delhi Police in India have dismantled a clandestine operation producing counterfeit mobile phones and manipulating IMEI numbers, hidden in a narrow lane of Karol Bagh.
During the Thursday raid, authorities arrested five suspects and seized a substantial amount of evidence, including over 1,800 mobile phones, laptops, and specialized software used for altering IMEI numbers.
Officials stated that this is one of the largest crackdowns on IMEI fraud in central Delhi in recent times.
According to the Financial Express, preliminary investigations reveal a highly organized and sophisticated scheme. The perpetrators sourced old phones from scrap markets and imported new components from China, then assembled devices by combining old motherboards with new casings and parts.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Nidhan Valson revealed that the suspects used “WRITEIMEI 0.2.2” software to alter IMEI numbers before distributing the phones. They confessed to operating this scheme for two years.
The case was initiated after police received reports of suspicious activities near the Karol Bagh police station over the past 15 days. Following a tip, surveillance teams traced the operation to a facility in a Bidhanpura building. After verification, police raided the site, catching five individuals assembling phones and altering IMEI numbers using laptops.
The raid uncovered the scale of the illegal operation. A total of 1,826 mobile phones, including both keypad and smartphones, were confiscated. Additionally, authorities seized a laptop containing WRITEIMEI 2.0 software, an IMEI scanner, thousands of phone components, and pre-printed IMEI labels.
Police warned that altered IMEI numbers could be exploited for illegal activities such as fraud, data theft, or evading tracking. The phones were sold in local markets after modification.
The case has been filed at Karol Bagh police station under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code. Investigators are expanding their probe to identify the sources of motherboards, the China-based component supply chain, and the distribution network for the counterfeit phones.
Authorities are also tracking down key distributors and accomplices to dismantle the entire IMEI fraud network.
