looney
12-10-2005, 17:51
I think I'm fxxd, and need help to change my IMEI. Let me explain:
I live in Istanbul, Turkey. I have been a Palm user for around 7 years. I have upgraded to an unlocked Cingular Treo 650, which I bought it through eBay (it is way too expensive over here, at around $1200). It is not second hand or refurbished, and arrived at Postal Office Customs nice and shiny in its box. I paid the stocking and the legal customs fees, and had been using it happily some months now. So far so good.
Then this new law was passed to (supposedly) crack down on cellular phone theft. It required every GSM phone to be registered in a central database, which all three local GSM operators share. Any phone legally imported and sold inside Turkey is already in the list, and those that are not are notified by SMS to show up at a local reseller with their receipts and their phones to register; else their devices will be blacklisted and will not work ever again. Before this law was passed, if your phone was stolen you could notify the operator to blacklist the device. Now it is the other way around.
Anyway, my problem is even though my Treo is legally paid for, I cannot prove it. It did not arrive through the usual channels (the local distributor). None of the papers I have (eBay receipt, customs papers) include the IMEI number on them. It might as well be stolen, for all they care.
Now I realize I am getting into shady territory, but I also know the trick is possible. I also have a defunct old Siemens laying around in a drawer somewhere and I have this idea to copy its IMEI to my Treo 650, so I can continue enjoying its use. I am willing to pay for any help, I am somewhat desperate.
I live in Istanbul, Turkey. I have been a Palm user for around 7 years. I have upgraded to an unlocked Cingular Treo 650, which I bought it through eBay (it is way too expensive over here, at around $1200). It is not second hand or refurbished, and arrived at Postal Office Customs nice and shiny in its box. I paid the stocking and the legal customs fees, and had been using it happily some months now. So far so good.
Then this new law was passed to (supposedly) crack down on cellular phone theft. It required every GSM phone to be registered in a central database, which all three local GSM operators share. Any phone legally imported and sold inside Turkey is already in the list, and those that are not are notified by SMS to show up at a local reseller with their receipts and their phones to register; else their devices will be blacklisted and will not work ever again. Before this law was passed, if your phone was stolen you could notify the operator to blacklist the device. Now it is the other way around.
Anyway, my problem is even though my Treo is legally paid for, I cannot prove it. It did not arrive through the usual channels (the local distributor). None of the papers I have (eBay receipt, customs papers) include the IMEI number on them. It might as well be stolen, for all they care.
Now I realize I am getting into shady territory, but I also know the trick is possible. I also have a defunct old Siemens laying around in a drawer somewhere and I have this idea to copy its IMEI to my Treo 650, so I can continue enjoying its use. I am willing to pay for any help, I am somewhat desperate.