It’s good to check whether the phone you own is genuine or fake .You might be possessing a stolen phone unknowingly.
To check whether the phone is genuine, consumers are required to follow these steps:
1. Dial *#06# on the mobile phone to display the International Mobile Equipment Identifier
(IMEI) number(s) of the mobile phone.
2. Note down the displayed IMEI number.
3. Send the IMEI Number, as an SMS text message, to Short Code 1555. Please note that the SMS will not attract any charge.
4. You will receive an SMS response from the Communication Authority displaying details of the mobile phone, including the make and model.
5. If the details displayed in the SMS message are the same as those of the mobile phone used to send the text message and/or the one intended to be purchased, then it is genuine.
6. If the displayed details do not match, then the mobile phone used to send the SMS or intended to be purchased is not be genuine.
Members of the public are advised that counterfeit mobile phone devices provide poor quality of service and experience, and pose a major threat to personal health and national security.
In Kenya, people are always warned not to buy second hand smartphones. Such phones are usually stolen from elsewhere and sold in the streets cheaply. One of the signs that a phone is not genuine is when someone selling a smartphone worth Ksh 100k for Ksh 10k only. You should ask them why the difference.
Thousands of people are rotting in jail for owning stolen smartphones. The thieves committed a crime before stealing the smartphone, only for them to sell to someone innocent. When the phone is traced and you are found to be owning it, you are jailed for handling stolen property.
