Indian police sue Vivo because 13,000 Vivo phones share the same imei

The Indian police have charged Vivo with fraud after it turned out that more than 13,500 phones of the brand have the same imei number. In India, adjusting the imei is punishable because the number is used to combat the black market.

The case came to light when a police inspector had his phone repaired at a Vivo repair center. When he got the phone back, he noticed that his phone’s imei number was different from what was written on the box. The inspector passed this on to the cyber department of the police, which spent five months investigating the incident, reports the Indian Live Mint.

This research shows that 13,577 Vivo phones share the same imei number. Whether all these phones have been to the repair center and why Vivo would give different phones the same imei number is not clear. Changing the imei number afterwards has been punishable in India since 2017. The imei number should be unique for every phone, in order to trace stolen phones.