Stolen Phone Checker, New CTIA App Helps User Find Stolen Phone

People might not steal someone's phone, but they can easily purchase a stolen phone without any idea. So, to ensure that people don't break the law, a new tool from CTIA has come and called Stolen Phone Checker. Now, the CTIA is a nonprofit organization that represents the US wireless communication industry.

The Stolen Phone Checker app from the CTIA allows the user to check if the phone they want to purchase has arrived from any illegitimate source. Perfectly named, the app allows users to search if a device has been reported as stolen or lost. This site is absolutely free to use for anyone and users just need to put in their IMEI, ESN or MEID, Digital Trends reported. Each of these codes is unique for every mobile and every device usually comes with either one of these codes.

The users need to find the codes and that is a bit tricky. In some devices, the code is at the back of the device, while others might require the users to go through the settings menu for the code. Once the user finds the code they need to visit the Stolen Phone Checker app and feed in the details. The users would then be informed if the phone is safe to use or has been stolen.

However, there's also a problem, if the lost or stolen phone's user didn't report, then the app won't know about it. But still, the Stolen Phone Checker app would be useful. But again, according to Android Authority, if the actual phone owner reports the theft, the device might be blocked from accessing the wireless network. This means the user won't be able to send any texts or make calls from the device.

The service keeps a record of ten years of smartphone's history including the device capabilities and model information. "The service provides the wireless industry with the definitive, single source of real-time lost or stolen mobile device data," the firm mentioned on its website. The firm further added, "Using multiple source databases, the Stolen Phone Checker helps consumers, commercial organizations and law enforcement agencies in the US to know if a mobile device has been reported lost or stolen."