For some time the market was flooded with many hi-tech products forged, especially smartphones. Many of these product sare practically unrecognizable compared to the original, same design, same materials and the same package, then, how do you defend yourself? How to recognize a smartphone original from a clone?

Let's seehow to proceed.

Versione Italiana

Especially if you want to buy a used smartphone, you should be very careful.

To recognize a cloned smartphone (or tablet) must verify the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity), a unique identification code, made up of 15 numbers, that distinguishes the devices with cellular connectivity GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA and LTE.

Find the IMEI

The IMEI is usually present, physically, on the packaging and on the bottom of the battery slot of the device with special adhesives that show the number (image below).

Alternatively, if you can't see the box, or you have on your hands a smartphone that does not allow easy access to the battery, you can enter the code *#06# on your phone and wait a few moments to view the IMEI appear on the display (image below) .

Check IMEI

Access to the site IMEI.info to see if your smartphone is original or cloned.

Enter the IMEI code in the form and click CHECK, after a few seconds you will see the tab for the IMEI code entered with the generic data model.

In the case of a smartphone original file, the data model will be consistent with your smartphone that you have on your hands, then same type of make, model and year of manufacture.

If it's a smartphone cloned the card resulting probably take you back to a very old model of mobile phone.

The system may not even show any result, don't fear, it's special cases, where maybe the producers have failed to provide the IMEI codes to the site.

A tip, finally, if you want to purchase a smartphone used by an unknown person is always a good idea to check out the device before purchase and be wary of sellers rushed and unhelpful.