Security breach in Vivo Phones: Same IMEI number found in 13,557 phones

Meerut Police has unearthed a much expected security breach in the Chinese made phones Vivo ,where over 13,000 phones were found to be running on the same International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. Meerut’s medical station police has started investigating the incident and a fraud case has been filed against Vivo Communication Technology Co. Ltd and its service centres.

Vivo’s security breach is being considered a major lapse and the security officers are scurrying around to find the extent of the operation.

According to a report by Hindustan, the lapse came into light when a Sub-inspector got his Vivo handset exchanged from a service centre in Delhi but the IMEI number on the box of the phone was different from the one in the phone, which rose a few eyebrows within the Police department. The then ADG Prashant Kumar afterward directed the investigation to Prabal Kumar Pankaj (Crime Cell in-charge of Meerut Zone Police) and Cyber Expert Vijay Kumar.

Under the new rules of TRAI, an IMEI cannot be active on more than one mobile number. The cyber cell has admitted that the mobile company is grossly negligent in this matter and is in violation of TRAI rules. Hence it is a clear case of violation. Hence, the cyber cell has given notice to Harmanjit Singh, the nodal officer of Vivo India under section 91 CrPC. It is being reported that the Meerut Police was not satisfied with the response to the notice.