ESN Cloning is illegal!!

[ten0rplaya04]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I just finished reading the document and I've come to these conclusions:

- Anyone who purchases CDMA Workshop could be fined for knowledgeable possession of software which could alter the serial number of a phone.
- Working as a telecommunications store "could" exempt you from prosecution.

Personal thoughts:
[HIDE-THANKS]Another thing to consider would be that if the ESN(MEID)/MIN pairs are NOT in use by another phone, it "could" be considered as "not cloned." This is not a standard idea, but since the intent is not to defraud but utilize a phone which a person OWNS, it should be rewritten as such. CDMA phone owners aren't given the leverage that GSM users are afforded when considering a different carrier/phone. With GSM systems, a simple code to unlock the phone and moving your sim card over allows you to use a non-network phone.


The correct way (though still not legal) would be to Zero out the MEID/ESN and MIN from the original phone BEFORE modifying the serial number on the phone you'd like to use. You should then remove the sticker from the original phone and place it upon the new phone's sticker so there is no confusing that the other phone is a valid phone. I remind you that this is not legal under the current terms but Congress should re-evaluate the current market place.

Sprint and Verizon have stated they'd like to allow Customer Owned devices on their network, but they are limiting what devices will be allowed and neither have allowed cellular telephones. AT&T and TMobile already use this practice, but this is more because of the GSM standard rather than their own business policies.[/HIDE-THANKS]

[whitey10tc]

You are correct, but as my lawyer ounce told me. It's upto the courts and attorneys to really interpret the law. As for your personal thoughts: you have some good points but it would take an act of congress to change this law. As for the two carriers mentioned one will and has allowed customer provided handsets on their network. It takes alot of hard work but it can be done.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I just finished reading the document and I've come to these conclusions:

- Anyone who purchases CDMA Workshop could be fined for knowledgeable possession of software which could alter the serial number of a phone.
- Working as a telecommunications store "could" exempt you from prosecution.

Personal thoughts:
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[decadude]

ESN Cloning is illegal and definitely not worth the trouble. I'll also point out that sim card cloning is illegal as well under federal guidelines. COMP128v1 encrypted cards are vulnerable but it is the fact of understanding security rather than utilizing your knowledge for malicious purposes. I work for a small retail company in arkansas doing IT security and people are caught often trying to breech security so never think your too smart to out think the system otherwise you will welcome yourself to a jail cell NOT COOL.

[jp135]

I’ve recently become interested in the subject of cloning phones for one simple reason. Verizon will practically give me a phone every time I sign a new two year agreement. The problem is, in my experience their phones do not last two years. If I am still under contract, they will charge me out the anus to get that phone replaced (insurance is a rip off).

They recently started enforcing their policy that if you purchase a prepaid phone at Wal-Mart, they require you to activate the phone under the prepaid plan for 6 months before they will allow you to switch to a postpaid plan. You cannot just go to their website and switch the ESN’s anymore.

As whitey10tc stated when he started this thread, “ESN Cloning is illegal.” I don’t disagree and the cloning.pdf document provided is a great read. Thank you for providing it.

It is important to understand what it means when you use the term “cloning.” The cloning.pdf document defines cloning as such: “The “cloning” of a cellular telephone occurs when the account number of a victim telephone user is stolen and reprogrammed into another cellular telephone.”

As addressed in cloning.pdf, one aspect of fraud that is a concern for wireless carriers is loss of use of an ESN when a phone is cloned and the ESN is reported stolen. There is a growing list of ESN’s that cannot be used anymore as a result of this.

ten0rplay04 stated that he read the cloning.pdf document and arrived at the following conclusion: “Anyone who purchases CDMA Workshop could be fined for knowledgeable possession of software which could alter the serial number of a phone. Working as a telecommunications store "could" exempt you from prosecution.” Based solely on the cloning.pdf document, I don’t agree with that conclusion and I have sent an email to CDMA WS makers to see if they agree. There are many functions included in the CDMA WS that have become very useful to users at any level.

The cloning.pdf document discusses the difficulty that law enforcement had in proving intent to defraud when they came across scanners and software used to modify cellular equipment. They had decided that scanners which could capture ESN’s have no legitimate use. Congress eliminated the intent to defraud element in the 1998 revision with respect to other types of hardware and software equipment.

Simply possessing hardware or software (other than scanners) does not imply the intent to defraud anymore. The document clearly states that, “the government only has to prove that the defendant used or possessed the hardware or software with the knowledge that it had been configured for modifying a cellular phone so that the phone could be used to obtain unauthorized access to telecommunications services.”

The key phrase is “unauthorized access to telecommunications services.” I agree with whitey10tc that having two devices with the same phone number is not authorized but I disagree with his statement that swapping the ESN’s of phones that you own “is illegal.” I also disagree with his statement that the PDF document proves that “the federal government and most governments around the world feel differently.” I believe that is opinion only and I did not read that anywhere in the document.

It is my opinion that swapping the ESN’s between two phones that you legally purchased is completely legal as it does not provide unauthorized access.

If I legally own two cell phones and decide to swap the ESN’s, I have not stolen the ESN’s and I am not providing myself with unauthorized access to other services. I am paying for every bit of it. If I purchase a prepaid phone, I am not required to activate it. I can have it sit in my drawer forever so I have not defrauded them of their expected profit on the sale of that prepaid phone.

At this point, I feel I must say that I am not an attorney. The opinions I have stated here are my own opinions expressed under my First Amendment right to freedom of speech. I have no affiliation with the owners of this forum and do not claim to have expressed their opinion in any way.

[whitey10tc]

I’ve recently become interested in the subject of cloning phones for one simple reason. Verizon will practically give me a phone every time I sign a new two year agreement. The problem is, in my experience their phones do not last two years. If I am still under contract, they will charge me out the anus to get that phone replaced (insurance is a rip off).

Here is some additional info:

Operations

Fraud


Cellular fraud is defined as the unauthorized use, tampering, or manipulation of a cellular phone or service. Cellular industry estimates indicate that carriers lose millions per year to cellular fraud, with the principal cause being subscription fraud. Subscriber fraud occurs when a subscriber signs up for service with fraudulently obtained customer information or false identification.
In the past, cloning of cellular phones was a major concern. A cloned cellular telephone is one that has been reprogrammed to transmit the electronic serial number (ESN) and telephone number (MIN) belonging to another (legitimate) cellular telephone. Unscrupulous persons obtain valid ESN/MIN combinations by illegally monitoring the transmissions from the cellular telephones of legitimate subscribers. Each cellular telephone is supposed to have a unique factory-set ESN. After cloning, however, because both cellular telephones have the same ESN/MIN combination, cellular systems cannot distinguish the cloned cellular telephone from the legitimate one.
The Commission considers any knowing use of cellular telephone with an altered ESN to be a violation of the Communications Act (Section 301) and alteration of the ESN in a cellular telephone to be assisting in such violation. The Wireless Telephone Protection Act (Public Law 105-172) was signed into law on April 24, 1998, expanding the prior law to criminalize the use, possession, manufacture or sale of cloning hardware or software. The cellular equipment manufacturing industry has deployed authentication systems that have proven to be a very effective countermeasure to cloning. Authentication supplements the use of the ESN and MIN with a changing encrypted code that can not be obtained by off-the-air monitoring.

From the [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
Also look at it like the VIN of a car, it's assigned by the manufacturer to ID that unique vehicle.
Now as for ESN repair, there are very thin lines for repair and what defines a repair. To take a pre paid phone and "clone the ESN from a dead phone" to avoid insurance or buying a new phone or reupping a contract is fraud, theft, cloning, and illegal.

But you are free to interpret how you like. Just don't discuss the actual cloning or how to here.

[jp135]

whitey10tc

Great posts. You are an excellent source of information, but I’ll continue to play devil’s advocate here.

I know you have condensed the FCC advisory in an effort to be concise but I am attaching the full Advisory in case anyone wants to read it.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

We’ll probably need the advice of an attorney to get the certified answer here. I'm just saying, if I decided to do it, this is the argument I would use.

This does not fall under legislation crafted for the VID number in a car so let’s not confuse the issue.

In my opinion, an ESN repair is just what is says. The ESN somehow was corrupted so you flash it back to its proper state. I don’t believe you can repair it by putting it on a different phone.

Anytime you use the word cloning, I am in agreement that it is illegal.

Regarding cloning, the advisory states, “After cloning, both the legitimate and the fraudulent cell phones have the same ESN/MIN combination and cellular systems cannot distinguish the cloned cell phone from the legitimate one. The legitimate phone user then gets billed for the cloned phone’s calls. Call your carrier if you think you have been a victim of cloning fraud.”

I don’t believe swapping ESN’s is cloning in any way. It may be classified as unauthorized tampering, but where does it say you must obtain authorization to flash a phone? If I buy a used non-Verizon phone, does Verizon suddenly have the right to dictate what I do to the phone? I don’t believe that is spelled out anywhere.

Somewhere in one of these forums, it was suggested to swap the ESN's using the software and then swap the stickers inside the phones. It's not a VIN number.

Under subscription fraud, the advisory states, “Lawbreakers obtain your personal information and use it to set up a cell phone account in your name.” This is certainly not subscription fraud.

Declining insurance, keeping your old phone, and not extending you contract is not fraudulent. Cloning is fraudulent however.

I find this very interesting and would love to read any other sources you have dug up.

Thanks for the dialogue.