Category: Untraceable Phone Scam Wiretapping Detection

Untraceable cell phones. SRSLY?

4/1/2021

Test your "secure" phone. Now.

Before everything, let’s face it: who do you really fear?
There are not so many hackers around that can actually track your cell phone, because of few simple reasons: expensive hardware needed, lack of knowledge regarding GSM stack and SS7 protocol effective exploits, not to mention that hackers have no interests on you, average Joe. Excepting your worried parents and jealous girlfriend, no one wants to know your (cell phone) geo-location. Tracking a cell phone is not a simple “push button” situation when is done by a hacker. That involve deep and extensive knowledge, pretty expensive hardware, time and not least, an considerable interest on you, average Joe. Which obviously is not the case unless you are just another skilled hacker or a high profile person.
The situation became serious when you did something bad or even illegal. Then, you became a target for law enforcement and/or intelligence agencies. And there is no way to hide your (cell phone) location. They have not only the legal ability to track down your cell phone at any time, but have also technological and human resources to do that, not to mention training and expertise.
In case you think that your own cell phone is secure, its time for 2 simple tests.

TEST No. 1: NETWORK TESTING BY EMERGENCY CALL.

Read more here.

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Another seller, busted: fake stealth phones for sale

5/31/2015

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This time: the guy behind imeichanger.com, secretgsm.com and antitap.com

Article disclaimer:
All data and information provided on this article is for informational purposes only, being widely available and collected off the Internet. We have taken website screenshots that might not be available at the time you read this blog entry, being removed by the website owner. All information is provided on an as-is basis. Read our Blog disclaimer.

The reputation (which we doubt that even exist before by some certain reasons) of antitap.com, imeichanger.com and secretgsm.com has been irremediably lost by these dirty actions of the guy behind these sites. We strongly recommend to avoid this websites.

The websites owner got caught using fake IMEI labels to fool the buyers that he sell proper and working stealth phones, and because of that he removed the pictures off his websites. That was too late, we have recorded him as scammer and all proofs are posted below and will remain available on our website, for anyone who wants to know the truth about this particular scammer.

Counterfeit stealth phone by antitap.com

We have discovered recently another website that is offering "stealth phones" on cheap prices. Apparently, this vendor is selling stealth phones that comes on the right platform: G608.

A fake IMEI sticker, for a fake stealth phone. By antitap.com

Getting IMEI from a fake stealth phone The thing that caught our attention in the mention "ANTITAP" on the back label, as you can see in the screenshot attached. Being an unusual and irregular mention on any mobile phone label and even more for a phone produced by Samsung, we proceeded to investigate this inscription. Thus, we used a software application called Barcode Scanner (an Android application freely available on Play Store) for reading bar code label. You can do this as well.

The IMEI barcode shows the fake label: Samsung G600, and not G608. Busted.

By scanning the bar code directly from our PC screen, we've got this result: The digits you can see in the photo above are just the phone IMEI. This bar code containing phone IMEI is present on any mobile phone.
We've proceeded further, in order to identify the phone model, by correlating IMEI that appears on the label. By parsing the IMEI code on a online IMEI analysing tool (www.imei.info), we've got this result:

Checking fake IMEI

Checking up the IMEI:

And surprise: IMEI belongs to Samsung G600. Busted! So, the IMEI claimed to belong to a Samsung G608 actually belongs to a Samsung G600, which is the wrong platform used by scammers to sell fake stealth phones. Simple as that.

A genuine Samsung G600 back label looks like this:

Proper Samsung S/N: 11 digit

Please note the structure of Serial Number: 11 digit, as Samsung official says.

We did not stop there and asked an Samsung official about this label (IMEI and S/N). Here is his response: samsung_reply.pdf Download File

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO.,LTD.
416 Maetan3-Dong Yeongtong-gu, Suwon city, Gyeonggi-Do, Korea 442-742

Date: Jan12, 2015

RE: Request of Information for IMEI 355683044004277

To: Mr. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The IMEI 355683044004277 belongs to an Samsung SGH-G600 that was produced by Samsung Electronics in 2007.

The serial number R1VPANTITAP is wrong an is not specific to Samsung S/N. Serial numbers used for Samsung G600 and Samsung G608 series are having 11 (eleven) digit, a sequence of letters and numbers but not only letters.

We are happy to assist you in your academic study. Please do not hesitate to contact us for further assistance.

Sincerely,
SEOUNG HO PARK
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO.,LTD.

We also find that FCC ID A3LSGHG606 from that fake Samsung G608 belongs actually to Samsung G600:

FCC ID belongs to Samsung G600

This particular scammer is trying to fool buyers and taking advantage of the lack of information of most of you, when it comes to special mobile phones called stealth phones. This scammer sell fake stealth phones, making them to look like original ones (XCell) by sticking a false label on the back of the phone. And nothing more. No hardware modifications, no filters, nothing that can be named a real and working stealth phone.

Moreover, this scammer is trying to convince the website visitors and potential buyers that Samsung Electronics has built the "stealth phone" that he sell. Nothing could be more wrong: Samsung has never built stealth phones but only regular cellular phones.
The real IMEI change stealth phones are being built based on a patent that belong to XCell Technologies, the manufacturer company. The phones are manufactured only by XCell Technologies and sold directly to consumers or through various resellers and regional dealers, under various brand names or even as no name stealth phones for discrete use, considering XCell reputation and brand awareness.
You can easily identify a real XCell stealth phone by checking up the security seal and other things mentioned in the previous post.

Conclusions

If the low price is the only choice maker, you should think once again before buying a cheap stealth phone from a dubious seller: is that you want? A fake stealth phone is as useful as a real one? It will work the same? Will really protect your privacy? The answers are found in comparative tests presented in the previous post.

And not at last: our advice is just to avoid www.imeichanger.com and secretgsm.com, if you really care of your calls privacy.

Fake Samsung G608 sold by antitap.com

Update 30.05.2015:
The websites owner (imeichanger.com, antitap.com and secretgsm.com) has removed by some obvious reasons (he got caught using fake IMEI labels to fool the buyers that he sell proper and working stealth phones) the pictures that shows fake IMEI sticker. Right now he is only stating that the phones he sell are Samsung G608, as you can see on above screenshot.

Just for your own knowledge, if you want to challenge this scammer to disclose the real Samsung platform, you might ask him certain questions. Please contact us for further information.

Another hilarious and cheap trick used by this funny scammer (trick actually used before by the same person) is pretending out of the blue that he sell nothing but IMEI stealth Phone v4 (?!). Why this? Well, there is a simple and straight forward explanation: since XCell Technologies has recently released the real v3 Stealth Phone (please see their promo video), the scammer think that by simply claiming that he sell the newest version (v4), he will boost his sales. Since XCell Technologies - the real manufacturer - is clearly showing what the differences are between previous version (v2) an actual version (v3) on their videos (video 1, video 2) and webpage, the scammer is just stating that he sell v4 version. Only words with no facts behind. Not even a few pictures to support false claims. Moreover, he has used the same stolen pictures on phone description (please note that picture shadow used by XCell Technologies).
Just to have fun on what he will find appropriate to explain in what exactly consist the changes that his "v4" is having you might challenge him to reply to your questions. Because we did and we had a lot of fun.

As a conclusion, what you should be sure is that there is no real "v4" version, but only words, a ridiculous and strange marketing strategy to sell something fake and obsolete.

Fake v4 version sold by antitap.com

Here is the real and the latest version of stealth phone developed by the genuine manufacturer, XCell Technologies. Please note the clearly spotted differences between the latest version (v3) an the previous one:

What else?
Well, as before there is no product manual, but only few heterogeneous and promiscuous explanations copied off the XCell website. Because XCell Technologies has understood do not disclose some crucial functions and how to be used to general public but only to its users, the scammer that have no clue about how the phone work and how cell phone interception is actually performed, has simply skipped the explanations about Channel lock and Unping functions. Also, he have no clue about how to proper use the IMEI change function. Actually there is no user instructions but only a promiscuous and hard to understand phone description. The conclusions are yours, and are more than relevant.

Following our investigations, we found that the website is run by a private person. There is no company behind website. Hence the risk of buying off this site any products offered for sale. On Contact page there is only a contact form, with no postal address or other details regarding company location, things which should arouse suspicions straight away, to anyone. No wonder this scammer is confusing a website with the company itself, which beyond being a funny approach it relives his business understanding. We'll be back with more info.

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The truth exposed: Stealth Phones, fake vs. real ones

5/30/2015

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The ultimate test
Before reading any explanation, please watch the video footage below. It is self explanatory.
This is the supreme test that any scammer or fake stealth phones vendor will hide from you.

The video contains a test done with a SIM card that was intercepted (taped) at that time, tested on two stealth phones (aka change IMEI phones, untraceable phones or dynamic IMEI phones) that looks the same but
are essentially different: a fake and a real one.

First we have tested the fake stealth phone. Although the SIM card was intercepted, no call interception alarm was triggered.
The second time we have tested the intercepted SIM card on a real stealth phone. Interception alarm was triggered as soon as the SIM card has been inserted into the phone. Also during the call was displayed call interception alarm: an open padlock red that persists throughout the call.

Preliminaries.

We are a team of three mobile communications professionals from an European University. Read more about us.

Elaborating an academic study about security of mobile communications, our team bought among others a stealth phone via the Internet, as anyone else would do: by choosing the lowest price. We regretted this later, because at that time the low price was only one that made the difference.

Our case.

Current market shows a relative abundance of stealth phones, most of them sold by private individuals on traditional online sales channels (Internet consumer-to-consumer direct sales). A person interested in buying such a phone is no doubt attracted by the lower price, as the only selection criterion, in the absence of significant information about stealth phones and how mobile wiretap works.
Many buyers have already made this wrong choice, and now their mobile calls security is seriously affected. Why? Because they bought a cell phone that just looks like a stealth phone without actually having stealth phone functions: only apparently stealth functions are present on the phone, but they do not work properly, as vendors claim.
Why this situation? Because a stealth phone needs not only special software, but also substantial hardware changes that make the software run properly. Both software and hardware changes are patented by a Swiss based company, XCell Technologies LLC. This company (and their resellers and distributors) are only able to deliver a true stealth phone, 100% functional.
From technical explanations provided by the company representatives we understand that malfunction also come from the wrong choice of phone platform. While legitimate manufacturer use Samsung G608 platform, those fake stealth phones use cheaper Samsung G600 platform, which is simply not compatible 100% with the software (see Photo 1). We have to mention that the two phones Samsung G600 and G608 looks apparently identical, but have significant structural differences.

Photo 1

Have you ever wondered why some stealth phones are sold by private individuals? The answer is unequivocal and straightforward: on these phones is installed a cracked software, which not work properly, is unstable and is a fraud, in the end of the day. Also, these phones are not hardware modified in any way, which makes the software installed to be useless, giving only the appearance of a stealth phone, not the functionality of a real stealth phone.
In fact, people who sell these fake stealth phones do not know anything about the phone function, nor about the ways in which mobile phones are wiretapped (intercepted). They are limited to installing the cracked software on the phone and copying brief explanations and images from legitimate manufacturer webpage, trying to look more real, informed and professional.
Those who buy a fake stealth phone from a private person (as we did in the first instance) will have to face other problems, too: the lack of elementary customer service or worse,completely wrong explanations about stealth phone functions that will seriously affect the security of mobile calls. Also there is no product guarantee or eventual replacement or repair. The fake stealth phone bought by us got stuck after a few weeks of testing and we were lucky that we managed to make the film. Repair or replacement was refused repeatedly by the vendor, and the website where we've bought has not taken any action against him. Vendor says he only sells phones, not repair nor replace them because it's just a private person and he do not provide additional information about the phone, for those who bought it. But when it comes to personal security and mobile communications, such an approach is totally wrong.

For these reasons we had to buy another stealth phone, to be able to continue our study on mobile communications security. This way we found XCel Technologies, a legitimate company that manufacture and sells these real stealth phones. Before buying the phone we have asked about operating conditions and repair or replacement in case of failure. We received a prompt and professional customer service, every single time. This company replaces any defective mobile phone, the general warranty term is two years, common to any other mobile phone. Until now, however, was not the case for any fixes, the phone works perfectly and does the job, as you can see in the video.

Customer service responses has helped us in our research on mobile communications security, through understanding the ways in which the mobile phone is monitored, tracked and wiretapped, the way it works IMSI catchers (aka StingRays in US) and possibility to detect them. Our study results will be published soon on the University website. Our study conclusions promises to be extremely interesting.

Other differences.

Besides that wiretapping alerts do not work at all, fake stealth phones differ from real ones not only from functional point of view but as legal aspects too. Fake stealth phones differ from real ones by the following aspects:

For legal protection of hardware changes, on real stealth phones are applied security seals, on the inside of the phone. See Photo 2, below.

Photo 2: Security seals

Real stealth phones have engraved the manufacturer logo (see Photo 3), because they can not be legally sold as original Samsung phones, since hardware and software changes that has been done are beyond the control of Samsung Electronics Co. From this point of view XCell Technologies comply with local law and international copyright law, without any export restriction of their products. Legitimate manufacturer sell stealth phones that are Samsung modded cell phones.

Photo 3

Photo 4

Another visible difference: fake stealth phones are using shoddy packaging, a ridiculous copy of the original packaging, as can be seen in the Photo 4. We've got information from other fake stealth phone users that some vendors sell these handsets even in paper envelopes or wrapped in bubble foil without any other packaging.
Since a real stealth phone have software and hardware changes, can not be sold as a genuine Samsung phone in the original packaging, because basically is another product. The packaging used by the legitimate manufacturer is a quality one, unique and distinctive.

What else a scammer or fake stealth phone vendor will use to make you think that is selling a genuine stealth phone?
Well, some of them are trying to use some counterfeit IMEI stickers on the phone backside, trying to give a genuine appearance to their fake stealth phones.Sure, a sticker will not make a fake stealth phone, genuine. In fact not the sticker is important in our opinion, but the phone functions. And fake stealth phone functions does not work at all, as we have clearly demonstrated in the test above.
Others will try to lure you with attractive and suspiciously low prices. It's too good to be true? If you find yourself asking this question, then probably yes, it is not true.
Others will try to use marketing methods that looks pretty hilarious when it comes to secure phones, as the guy behind imeichanger.com, anti-tap.com and secretgsm.com has done in the past: offering a free t-shirt for every handset that he sold. The same guy has been caught in the past, using fake G608 IMEI stickers, trying to fool people that he is selling proper stealth phones and not fake ones. From then, his business reputation was pretty much ruined and now is trying to promote the idea that the sites and business owner has changed, trying to escape of such a bad reputation.. Please see our blog.

Counterfeit stealth phones

Conclusions.

The low price can often be a trap, and in this particular case can be a very dangerous one: it will cost your personal security and will disclose secrets that you think you defend by using a fake stealth phone.

A counterfeit stealth phone is a ticking bomb in your pocket. Unfortunately you find out that you have been fulled by the scammer when usually is way too late: you "stealth" phone has been wiretapped and you got busted.

Trying to help those who want to buy a stealth phone, we asked XCell Technologies to notify us the resellers and distributors list. Company representatives were pretty reserved on the subject, saying that permission to disclose these details is not a part of distribution agreement, emphasizing that some resellers sell these phones under their own trademark and do not wish these details to be made public.
As you can guess, private individuals selling fake stealth phones does not fall into this category.