If you have ever wondered how cell phones are cloned, it is pretty much something that is straightforward even though there is nothing pretty about it when you are the victim. This is because things such as your calls text messages, and other information can easily be intercepted by a jealous lover, your employee, or even someone with whom you have a dealing.
How easy can phone cloning be? As far back as 2007 when technology was not this advanced, a computer systems technician at Walmart Stores intercepted calls, text messages, and pagers of the company. While this may not exactly be cloning, it is that easy. It gets interesting to know that it doesn’t matter whether what you make use of is an Android phone, iPhone, or even a Windows phone, it can still be cloned.
WHAT IS CELLPHONE CLONING?
Cell or mobile phone cloning is an act or process whereby secured data or the identity of an original cellphone is transferred or copied to another one. In this case, the other cellphone then becomes the exact and direct replica of the original cellphone.
When this happens the original or legitimate user pays the bills of the cloned cellphone, that is phone calls, text messages, and internet usage. Unfortunately, the service provider cannot help in this situation because they don’t have the means or ways to differentiate calls from the cloned cellphone and the original cellphone. The legitimate owner suffers the pain of paying both bills.
Beyond just footing the bills, the main issue for many is that you get to “share” all your information with someone else.
HOW CELL PHONES ARE CLONED
For the big question on how cell phones are cloned, there are a good number of ways that it can be done whether you have direct access to the phone or phone.
Whenever calls are initiated from your phone, your ESN (electronic serial number) and MIN (mobile identification number) are transmitted to your network and this is how it determines who is dialing and foots the bill. The moment someone is able to listen to the transmission and capture the code, they can turn the tables on you by making calls from their ends while you get to pay the bills.
Here are ways that cell phones are cloned
1. Cloning is a technique of taking an already programmed data stored in an original cellphone and illegally transfer the same data into another different cellphone. The criminal then gets unrestricted access to your mobile phone by using a software. Once the software is successfully installed, they will need your phone’s unique digital code (IMEI) number. The IMEI number will then be imprinted digitally on any mobile phone the hacker wants.
2. Another simple way how cell phones are cloned is through actually cloning your SIM through the use of SIM Cloning Tools. What the hacker does here, is to replicate your SIM by getting its International Mobile Subscriber Identity and make use of it on a new SIM.
3. Your cell phone can also be cloned through the secret menu. The person trying to clone our phone here, must have access to the device and he will use it to pull your ESN code which he will use on another phone to make it act like yours.
4. Someone can also make use of smartphone spy tools to intercept your cell phone. With this method, one doesn’t even need to jailbreak your phone or root it or even have access to your sim. By simply registering with the spy tool and following the specified steps according to the tool, you may find yourself as another victim of phone cloning.
HOW TO KNOW WHEN YOUR CELLPHONE IS CLONED
There are a good number of signs to show that your cellphone is cloned. They include;
- When wrong numbers that you cannot recognize frequently call you- If you notice numbers you don’t recognize calling you frequently, it could be that someone somewhere has been using a clone of your cellphone to call people or numbers you don’t know.
- When calls immediately hang up after you answer them- A lot of things can cause your calls to keep dropping, however, if receive calls that terminate or hang up immediately, you may as well want to check to see if your phone has been cloned.
- You’re restricted from making outgoing calls- Sometimes you find it very difficult to place calls or you’re totally restricted then it could be that someone is using your cellphone also.
- Problem with having access to your voice messages and emails- A cloned cellphone means that somebody is reading your messages and listening to your voicemails. This means that sometimes, it may be hard for you to access same or you will realize that they have already been opened even when you didn’t do that.
- Are you paying a huge amount of money for bills you cannot explain? If you notice that suddenly your service provider charges higher than before, then it may be that you are paying double.
- Incoming calls that are always busy- When you pick incoming calls that are always showing busy Network signal, check because your phone maybe cloned.
If you noticed anything fishy going on with your cellphone, do a little background check online to enable you know whether everything is okay or not. It is important for you to understand that there are other things relating to network that may also cause some of these problems. However, when you get more than two, you may consider to find out if someone has cloned your device.
See Also: Make money hacking- Here are 5 legal and responsible ways to do it white hat
HOW YOU CAN STOP CELL PHONE CLONING
A whole lot solutions or methods have been prescribed to help stop your cellphone from being cloned.
- Call your service provider. If you notice that you are getting calls from wrong numbers or you hardly access your voice messages and emails, making outgoing calls is difficult, and you are being overcharged for calls and emails. You should call your service provider immediately and register your complaint with them. Since they provide those services for which you pay, they will be able to keep track of all calls and messages to your cellphone and the time at which those calls were made and messages or mails sent. With this you will be able to know exactly if you’re one the making those calls and sending those messages or not.
- Ask your service provider for authentification. Authentification is a technique used by mobile phone service providers to verify a user’s true identity. It is done through a mathematical procedure in which identical calculations are carried out in both the cellphone and the mobile network. Through this calculation, a secret data known as the “key” is created and reprogrammed into both cellphone and network before the service is fully activated. When this is done the hacker cannot have access to this secret data “key” and without it the cellphone cannot be cloned.
- Check your phone for spyware/malware. Spywares/malwares are softwares that can give others access to your phone data. They are often poisonous. Hackers can use them to track your cellphone. Make sure you check your phone constantly for spywares/malwares and get rid of them.
- Keep your phone close to you and make use of security: Because one may sometimes need to access your phone before one can clone it, you may want to always keep your phone close to you and most importantly, use security to lock it.
