IMEI check: is this phone stolen?
Type in the IMEI — 15 digits — and we answer plainly: the police are looking for this phone, or they are not. We check against the open wanted list of mobile phones that Ukraine's National Police and Interior Ministry publish on data.gov.ua. We are not the police and not an official service.
- whether the police are looking for a phone with this IMEI — yes or no;
- which model the first 8 digits stand for, to check it against the listing;
- the day the registry data is as of.
The source is Ukraine's open Interior Ministry registry on data.gov.ua, copied fresh every day. Details below.
Where the data comes from
Ukraine's open Interior Ministry registry of stolen and lost mobile phones, published on data.gov.ua; our copy is refreshed daily. . The open data does not hold everything the police do, so a number being absent is no guarantee.
The build code and the change log of our copy are open on GitHub. How much the data can be trusted — the data-quality report.
Sources: “Information on stolen and lost mobile phones” — the National Police of Ukraine and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine (archive), published on data.gov.ua under CC BY 4.0. Our copy is a derived dataset.
Frequently asked questions
What is an IMEI and where do I find it?
A 15-digit number unique to every phone. Dial *#06# and it appears on screen. It is also in the phone's settings (the «About device» section) and on the box next to the barcode.
It says the phone is on the wanted list. Is it definitely stolen?
It means exactly one thing: the police hold a report of a phone with this number being stolen or lost, and the report reached the open data. We show that fact and the report date — the details are for the police to verify. Either way, do not buy such a device.
It says the phone is not on the wanted list. Is it definitely clean?
No. It only means the police open data holds no report: one may never have been filed, or it has not arrived yet. So still check at the meeting: dial *#06# and compare the number on screen with the one on the box.
Do you store the numbers people type?
No. The check works without any sign-up, and the number you type is not recorded anywhere.
How do you know the model from the digits?
The first eight digits of an IMEI are a model code assigned to manufacturers by the GSMA, the industry association. It tells us the make and model before you finish typing — and we say honestly when we do not know a code.
▶ How it works: Is this phone stolen? An IMEI check on the web
Buying or selling? See what this phone is worth on the market — a free valuation built from live listings.