VIJAYAWADA: The Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) wing of the Department of Telecommunications has received a total of 1.64 lakh complaints related to lost or missing mobile phones across Andhra Pradesh, of which around 49,000 handsets were successfully recovered and returned to their rightful owners.
Among the States, Andhra Pradesh ranks 10th with 1,64,760 complaints registered so far as on February 15 and sixth in recovery of lost mobile phones (49,549 recovered), reflecting comparatively better enforcement and coordination by the police machinery. The overall recovery rate of lost or missing mobile phones stands at 47.46 per cent, according to official data.
The complaints regarding lost or stolen mobile phones are initially registered at local police stations or Cybercrime police stations.
These complaints are then forwarded to the CEIR portal operated by the Department of Telecommunications. Once the complaint is uploaded, the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number of the handset is traced and immediately blocked to prevent misuse. Many district units had launched dedicated portals to receive complaints from the public.
These special portals allow anyone to raise a missing mobile phone complaint from anywhere in their respective district jurisdiction without approaching the police station.
In order to raise a complaint, the complainant must send a ‘Hi’ message to the dedicated phone number through WhatsApp, following which the complainant will receive an automated response with a QR code and link.
By clicking on the link, the user will be redirected to a web portal, where details such as name and address of the complainant, the IMEI number of the lost mobile, location of the mobile’s missing and other details need to be furnished.
“The details of the complaint will be forwarded to the Cybercrime wing, where another team will trace the location and other particulars of the mobile phones using the IMEI furnished by the complainant.
The police will safely hand over the recovered property to the complainant’s residence upon tracing,” NTR district police commissioner (CP) SV Rajashekhara Babu told TNIE.
The CP further explained that whenever a blocked mobile phone is reactivated using a SIM card or connected to an active network, the CEIR system automatically generates an alert. This alert is shared with the police, enabling them to trace the handset’s location. Based on these digital signals, police teams initiate recovery operations and subsequently hand over the mobile phones to the complainants after due verification.
However, despite the advanced tracking mechanism, police authorities admit that there is a significant gap between the number of phones traced and those actually recovered. A senior police officer attributed this shortfall to operational and jurisdictional challenges, especially when traced mobile phones are located in other States.
“Recovering handsets traced outside the State has become a major challenge. Interstate coordination is time-consuming and often delays action, allowing the devices to change hands multiple times,” the CP added.
He stressed the need for stronger interstate coordination and standard operating procedures to improve recovery rates and ensure faster handover of recovered devices to owners.
The police officials have further urged citizens to promptly report lost mobile phones and ensure accurate IMEI details are provided, stating that timely reporting significantly improves chances of recovery.