Is it possible for thieves to change the IMEI number of a phone??

[IamAdiSri]

Hi all, my father owns a Lumia 520 (Nokia), but it got stolen today. He has lodged a police complaint already, giving the IMEI number in the process. We have also contacted our service provider (Airtel India), to block the SIM card.
I'm still a bit worried though, as I've read a slew of these articles on the internet, which detail the process to HACK and CHANGE THE IMEI NUMBER of ANDROID PHONES and IPHONES.
This got me worried, so i looked around if it was possible to change the IMEI number on a WINDOWS PHONE, however i was unable to find any results (a slight relief!!).
Hence i decided to consult the WPCentral forums on the issue. I would like to know whether a WP8 device can be hacked to change its IMEI number.

I would also like to make it clear to everyone that I AM NOT ASKING FOR THE METHOD TO CARRY OUT THE TASK MENTIONED ABOVE, ONLY WHETHER IT IS POSSIBLE AT ALL TO DO SO. I ALSO FORBID ANY FORUM MEMBER TO REVEAL THE PROCESS EVEN IF THEY KNOW OF IT (provided there is one).

 

[RustyU]

Any phone is 'venerable' with the right tools, to be honest.

 

[IamAdiSri]

Any phone is 'venerable' with the right tools, to be honest.

well, i was kinda hopeful, seeing that you cant even connect a Windows phone to a computer without first password-unlocking the phone. :/

 

[hopmedic]

Anything is possible, but with the secure boot, it's not likely. There are people who have been trying to "jailbreak" WP8 devices since they came out, and so far, to my knowlege, there has only been success on one of the Samsung Ativ models.

 

[benedict]

remote lock the phone from windowsphone.com

 

[juanitoriv]

Yeah, under the "Find My Phone", you can make it ring, lock it and even completely wipe it.. Check it out