source: http://www.ndtv.com/template/templat...egory=National
Saturday, January 8, 2005 (New Delhi):


Mohammad Yaseen, alias Monu, allegedly ran an illegal mobile phone exchange racket in New Delhi.

Yaseen cloned mobile phone numbers and made calls from them while the genuine owners of those numbers were billed.

"He used a software named Petagonia, which can be used for CDMA phones made available by Reliance, Tata and Garuda. It is run on a technique of divisional multiplexing," said Karnail Singh, joint commissioner of police, Special Cell.

"These phones have ESN numbers, which he can cloned using the software. Yaseen used to buy a phone or get the ESN number of any phone and clone it," added Singh.

Expat connection

Expatriates, from places like Dubai, contacted Yaseen to connect them to a number in India. Yaseen would then set up a conferencing call, using a stolen CDMA phone number. He received his payments through a Hawala network.

"They used to buy a phone, convert it into three by cloning it and then use all of them for four hours. He would then throw it without paying the bills. Since Yaseen used to operate from his car, it was difficult to trace him," added Singh.

After his arrest, the police also recovered 23 mobile phones, a laptop and software cds.

The police claim that illegal cloning of mobile phones may be the first such case in the country. But such a flourishing racket once again brings up the need to make our cyber laws more stringent.
not even gsm cell phones are spared

source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/a...how/986550.cms
NEW DELHI: Slowly but surely, technology is showing up its ugly face too. Today it's increasingly being used by new-age criminals in a variety of ways. The latest is mobile phone cloning. Millions of mobile phones users, be it GSM or CDMA, run the risk of having their phones cloned. And the worst part is that there isn’t much that you can do to prevent this.


A resident of Moradabad, Mohammed Yasin was arrested from South Delhi on Friday for cloning mobile phones and using them to facilitate ISD calls. A senior police officer says that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

"Yasin used a software called Patagonia which can be used to clone only CDMA phones but there are software packages available in the market which can be used to clone even GSM phones. The man who is trying to clone your GSM phone just needs to know your International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) or instrument number. We are trying to identify phone dealers in Gaffar Market and Nehru Place who can make it possible," says the police officer, adding that Yasin had bought the software from Nehru Place.

The 15-digit IMEI number is programmed into the handset when it is manufactured. The officer cites the example of a businessman who recently cloned the GSM phone of his rival and sent an SMS to the police that a Delhi VVIP would die in a blast. According to joint commissioner of police (special cell) Karnal Singh, not just the SIM but also the IMEI number can be cloned making it difficult to detect the crime.

"The only precaution he can take is to scrutinise the phone bills and find out whether or not it mentions any call which was not made by him. We are talking to service pro-viders to look for a way out," he says.

A SIM can be cloned again and again and they can be used at different places. Police say they can track messages and calls sent by cloned phones. However, if the accused manages to also clone the IMEI number of the handset, for which softwares are available, there is no way he can be traced. Adding to the police woes is the fact that the sale of Patagonia or other softwares used for cloning is legal in the country.


well any ideas on how it is done and the s\w used?
just curious