“The Korean government plans to offer a reward of a maximum 10 million won for those who report producers of cloned cell phones.
Every cell phone has a unique factory-set electronic serial number (ESN). A cloned phone is one illegally programmed to have an identical ESN as a legitimate handset.
Cloning of cell phones has emerged as a social headache in Korea, where more than 38 million among the country’s total 48 million population are subscribed to mobile telephone services.
The number of cloned phones detected by the ministry decreased from 1,097 units in 2003 to 858 in 2004. But the figure exploded almost eight-fold to 6,574 last year.
In the hands of unscrupulous people, cloned cell phones can be used to wiretap conversations of legitimate handset owners as well as commit other identity theft-based crimes.”
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