International Mobile Equipment Identity or IMEI number is a unique number for every GSM, WCDMA and iDEN mobile phone as well as some satellite phones. We have already covered some important IMEI aspects on VirginTech, like how to check IMEI validity, how to find a valid IMEI number and how to find iPhone IMEI number. If you’ve not gone through them earlier, I would recommend you to take a minute to go through them.
How to block Lost/Stolen Mobile Phone using IMEI number:
Mobile phones have a IMEI number associated with them which you must note down at some secret location. The point that makes these IMEI numbers very important is that with the help of IMEI number you can impose a ban on your stolen or lost mobile phone.
If you have IMEI no of your stolen phone then report it to your local operator to block the device. This makes your network provider to put your phone’s IMEI no in a shared database called as an Equipment Identity Register (EIR) which reduces the threats of theft of handsets by enabling individual operators to prevent the use of stolen handsets in their own network.
Now to make the stolen phone inaccessible in other networks (service providers) also, your IMEI no is transferred to Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) which is a database of the IMEI numbers of blacklisted handsets. Once the device number is listed on CEIR, it wouldn’t work with any of the network provider.
Shahab khan is a Tech blogger from India & a founder of VirginTech. He blogs about Technology, internet, Social media, computer tips & tricks and Web 2.0. 
{ 49 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank for the share. Searching or such a thing.
You’re welcome pavan. I’m glad you liked it
few days ago i was working i central hyd panjagitta mobile phones is restricted they allowed 2 days and the next day i kept my mobile i my inne pocket and went in the store in the afternoon a hr sir seen me and he took my mobile and retrned it and that night security person named minthu working in central panjagutta had caught my mobile that day i went to home without taking my mobile a fnr said that they will give the mobile after 2or 3 weeks i felt my mobile will come with in 1 or 2 weeks but days passed i did not get my mobile back i had given my fir complaint to floor manager they did not listen to my words, days have passed i asked the hr sir means he said at last my mobile has been lost they say if u want the mobile you should leave the job i left the also at last the consultancy which i have joined they gave 1000rs they said they will not give my salary also i let the job also ls say a suggestion to my problem my mobile is NOKIA=5030\r\n
SIR PLS CALL ME SIR OR SAY THE MOBILE NO TO CALL U SIR
@ch sunil, Sunil thanks for taking your time to comment here.
See if you are looking to get back your stolen mobile then it would be possible only by lodging an FIR. But if you’re concerned about the misuse of your phone then above article will help you all the way in blocking your mobile phone so that no one can misuse it. Just go through the above article once more and do let me know if you need any further help. I will be happy to help you.
Note: Please don’t post your IMEI number publicly on any site or forums because its a unique identification number for a particular phone and it should be kept secret.
hello sir this is vali from chilakaluripet i have lost my mobile phone at guntur please send me 9885645535 or 9700604779 or 9966700630
My Samsung Memoir was stolen! I have my IMEI number and I have filed a police report. My service provider is not helping me at all! I have not blocked it yet, only suspended my account. Please, please help me get my back. Please e-mail me.
Joseph …I am getting back to you a bit late ..so apologies for that.
Anyway Joseph with the help of imei number you can only impose a ban on your mobile device due to which it will become useless to your phone stealer. I would advice you that you should block your device immediately by following the procedure given in the post above.
Also since you have filed a police report too, so i hope you would get back your cellphone soon. Once you get your phone back, you can get it activated again. So don’t hesitate in blocking it for now.
Do let me know if you need any other help.
i lost my mobile nokia n-72 on 23.3.10. i dont have imei no. so what should i do to find the imei no.
i had police complaint, but due to no imei no. i am helpless. so plz help me to find out the imei no. of n-72.
I lost my mobile nokia 6070, I have filled report in grp police station kanpur please block my nokia mobile imei number.
Thanking you
C P YADAVII-12
NTPC DIBIYAPUR AURAIYA
U.P, CONTACT NO. 9411638257
Thanks for commenting Chandra! We will try our best to help you regarding this issue but before getting into this issue here is a small advice for you that you must keep in mind forever. Please don’t post your IMEI number anywhere publicly. IMEI number is supposed to be kept secret.
Anyway coming to your lost mobile issue. We would advice your IMEI number to your local operator and ask them to impose a ban on it.
who can be the local operator to be contacted
thanks
Sir, my mobile has been stolen at journey time if possible please help me.
1′st i need IMEI through using contact number or block this cell
Details are given:
Model No Nokia E71
Using SIM No 9910909108
Operator Name Airtel Delhi
Parchasing Date 09 May 2010
Hi Satyawan
Thanks for taking out your time to comment here.
Though you lost your IMEI number, its really great that you have got its IMEI number.
Anyway please go through the above post (article) once again . It will take you through the process of blocking your device with the help of imei number.
Also file an FIR for your lost mobile, as this is the only way to get your mobile device back.
i lost my phone just this morning after riding a public utility bus and i don’t believe i’ll be able to retrieve it again.
but i don’t have my IMEI number with me right now. is it possible that the IMEI number is also attached on the box of my mobile handset? i mean, the box where the new handset was packed after purchasing it? i remember seeing some long numbers there in a sticker and if i’m not mistaken, it’s labeled as serial number. well, the box is still at our house in the province. and another thing, is there a possibility to trace my handset after blocking it? what if the person who uses it now changes his SIM card after i blocked my mobile? will my mobile still function? thanks for the help. i’ll appreciate any time and effort you’ll give regarding my concern.
Thanks for commenting Camille!
IMEI number can be known through the concerned mobile only. On mobile boxes IMEI number is not printed. It is actually a serial number (i am not 100% sure on this).
IMEI number can’t help you in tracing your mobile phone but it can surely help you in blocking your device thereby making sure its not being misused. The process for blocking your mobile device has already been mentioned in the post above.
Once your device is blocked it would not work with any sim card, doesn’t matter which new sim is inserted in it. In simple words all network oriented features like GPRS, EDGE, Calling , messaging etc would stop functioning on it.
I hope i have cleared all your doubts. Please do let me know if you need any other help from my side.
Hi Shahab,
My phone got stolen and I have the IEMI number too. The police isnt co-operating, my network provider said that I contact the phone vendor i.e HTC to get the phone blocked. And HTC said that they dont have this facility in India.
How can i block myself the cell phone? Is there any software paid/unpaid to be used? Please let me know your suggestion on this issue.
Hello Shraddha,
Sorry for getting back to you too late. I contacted few phone manufacturers too almost all of them said the same thing that they don’t have device blocking facility by IMEI number in India yet.
BTW I am sorry to say there is no paid/unpaid software that can block the device through IMEI number.
Anyway i am still hunting for a process to get the lost phones blocked. Whenever I’ll get some information on it, I will update you guys for that. So stay tuned.
Thanks for being patient.
HI, sir
Can you help how me block my phone samsung gt-s3653 corby made in india..
Hi Jhun,
I have removed your imei number from your comment. The reason for that is given up the page in comment number 4. Please read it.
Infact your problem is quite similar to that of the others who have commented here. So I will advice you to go through all the comments. It will provide you the solution to many of your queries.
If it isn’t solved even after reading the above comments then do let me know. I will try to figure it out.
Thanks
how can my Nokia N73 mobile phone be blocked it has stolen. its serial no.3564250286529
Hi Darko,
First of all you have to get your IMEI number to block your device. serial number doesn’t aid you in blocking your device. So try to get your IMEI.
BTW Procedure for blocking a device is already given in the post above. Go through it once more.
Thanks
Hi sir, please help me block my cp. ive contacted nokia but they dont respond. thank you anyway and Godbless
Hi Angel,
Let me tell you first that Nokia customer care service is really great. I am very much sure that they will definitely respond to all your queries. So please try once more, go to this link http://www.nokia.com and at the bottom of the page select the region where you live and then go the nokia site of that region. On that site find a “Contact Us” link and let them know that you want to block your device through your IMEI.
I want to block my stolen phone on 15/5/10. which i purchased on 5/5/10. Model is nokia 5330
I see that you have mentioned it is not possible to block HTC phones using the IMEI number in India. Were you able to gather more info on the possibility?
Yes ambujam, Its not just HTC ,even nokia doesn’t have this facility in India. I contacted Nokia regarding this issue but they told me that this facility is not available in India.
Btw i haven’t got any alternative till now to block lost mobile via imei. But I am still looking to find a way out.
sir can you help me to block my nokia 6303c without the simcard it was lost at the 6:30pm time in the here in the philippines …
please email me thanks.
Dear Alvin,
Please contact Nokia to know whether mobile blocking facility is available in your country or not.
i am in cameroon i lost my nokia E63 and i wish to block it how can i proceed i already have my IMEI number
Hi bernard!
Cellphone blocking facility is not available in all the countries. I don’t know whether its available in Cameroon or not.
Please contact the nokia guys at this link and they will let you know, if they have this facility there in cameroon, how you have to proceed further in blocking your device.
my phone was stolen last Saturday on 26th. The sim was removed. The thing is that the phone was bought in England and it was unlocked as i live in ireland
i have lost my mobile micromax q3.
plz send detail to me sim no. use my mobile no. is 09252526118 and 09214559687 and my e-mail id manishkala123@gmail.com plz sir send me detail on my mobile no. this imei no. is used sim no. thanks sir
some one stole my phone on 4th night i registerd a police complaint but they are lest intresterd in it.. i blocked my sim but i didnt got my phone back yet… is ther any possiblity that i will get my phone back if yes then plz help me…
i lost my nokia 7210 mobile. may i know how 2 deactivate the mobile
please sir/madam my samsung mobile HAS BEEN STOLEN type: B5702
please block it.
regards
ahmed misanga
A very helpful article to know what to do if your cellphone is lost. You can also check out my article which says how IMEI number helps in recovering such a mobile phone.
Well janit thanks for dropping by. Btw let me tell you one thing that IMEI number can’t recover a cellphone it can be used for blocking the mobile device only. For tracking and other purposes you need to have advance features in your phone like GPS etc
Hi mr shahab
please sir my samsung mobile HAS BEEN STOLEN type: B5702
please ASSIST to block it becouse our country service provider does not have the services to block mobile phone they can only block simcard lines and give us new line here in TANZANIA please assist me it really pains someone just snuched my phone on traffic jam and ran away just easily please block it i bought it with all my saving then it just goes
regards
ahmed misanga
Reply
Hello Ahmed!
I am really sorry to say that i can’t help you in this regard.
Actually i don’t have any idea about the place you live in .. i.e about tanzania.
Some countries have the provision of blocking cellphones with the help of IMEI while some don’t have this facility.
I will try my best to find more information regarding your problem but still i can’t guarantee you that i will come along with a solution.
hello…
i was looking for some ways to track my lost iphone which was snatched in the mall…
then i tot i would block it rather than be used by the snatcher…
i just wanna ask.. if i will block my phone…
is it sure that it wouldnt be unblock and used again??
thanks…
good day… ^^
You’re thinking it right way. Go ahead and block your device.
Btw Once the phone is returned it can be unblocked providing it hasn’t had an insurance claim on it. The network operator can remove the IMEI number from the Equipment Identity Register (EIR) which will allow it access to the networks again.
[Thanks to David H for the tip]
hii,
my name is sudheer.
i have lost my nokia 6303
email for communication: sweetdheer007@gmail.com
contact no.09966642600
please help me to find my lost phone.
Hi sudheer, I have recently written an article on how to recover your lost/stolen mobile phone.
Please go through it: How to Find, Recover stolen mobiles using imei
Sir,
I have lost my Samsung Corby on dtd: 10-08-2010 along with Docomo sim no. 09040738200 at Baripada and I have made a Police Diary at Baripada, Mayurbhanj, Orissa. Vide No. 262 dtd 10-08-2010.
Sir please Deactivate my Sim Card and also block my cell.
Thanking you.
G. Sikdar
Hi Mr. Shahab,
I have lost my nokia handset 5130 last week . As u mentioned i contacted the service provider(tata docomo) to block the handet. But they replied here are no such facilities in India. Can you make it clear sir? How can i block the handset to avoid misuse? I do have the Bill & FIR Copy
Hello Firosh!
If you are from India then I recommend you to read the 43rd comment about recovering mobiles by IMEI.
sir my mobile is stolen, please locate it and send me details wherever it is working.
Thanks
pls my nokia 3110c was stolen a week now and a want to get it block. Am from Nigeria and I uses MTN Nigeria network. Pls what should I do?
i left my unlocked iphone 3G in a rental car yesterday but (not surprisingly) nobody turned it in. i bought it in Italy, it had an italian SIM card (without contract) and i lost it in Germany. is there anything i can do to recover it (or at least block it)? Many thanks in advance!