Today, I bought a Pixel 6 Pro for my brother. In my country, phone imports are heavily regulated, and every phone is subject to a tax that's often higher than the phone's actual price, making it financially unfeasible for many people. To bypass this, the market has adopted a new tactic: selling phones with altered IMEI numbers, sometimes changing them to match those of lower-budget devices.

The Pixel 6 Pro I purchased has an altered IMEI, and this change persists even after reboots and factory resets. However, the device's boot process was verified, and there was no warning about boot integrity issues or failure to verify.

Given that the boot process is verified and passes without issues, how could they have changed the IMEI number in the first place? Is it possible for the IMEI to be altered without affecting boot integrity?

  • de0u replied to this.

    ans Which OS is the device running? How is it known that the device is a genuine Pixel 6 Pro?

    • de0u replied to this.

        it was a geniune pixel running stock pixel os. it had everything it could not be faked, it is not just one device. The whole market is flooded with them .
        The problem is that it did not show a warning that boot integerity is compromised.

        • de0u replied to this.

          de0u How is it known that the device is a genuine Pixel 6 Pro?

          ans it was a geniune pixel running stock pixel os.

          In the past there have been some fairly convincing fakes of expensive phones, such as iPhones, which is why I asked how it is known that the device is genuine. For example, if the device is able to install and run certain banking apps that require Play Integrity attestation to pass, that would increase the likelihood of it being a genuine Pixel device.

          ans The problem is that it did not show a warning that boot integerity is compromised.

          If somebody has figured out a way to change the IMEI number stored in a Pixel's flash storage, that by itself would not compromise boot integrity. The IMEI is just a number. In the past it was possible to change IMEI values for older Pixel devices using a Qualcomm technician service tool.

                  de0u
                  My understanding is that Graphene does not facilitate changing Imei, and I had assumed it was not possible... would it not be a worthy inclusion if it is possible?

                  • de0u replied to this.

                      ans I guess another way to check would be trying to flash GrapheneOS to the device. If it's not an extremely good simulation of a Pixel, either the flashing will fail or the device will be bricked -- most likely permanently.

                      Perhaps there is a Pixel IMEI editor in the wild... perhaps somebody paid somebody in a Pixel factory to manufacture a run of devices with bogus IMEIs... many things are possible in theory.

                        FaberCastell My understanding is that Graphene does not facilitate changing Imei, and I had assumed it was not possible...

                        It might indeed not be possible. In theory a batch of Pixels might have been built with bogus IMEIs at a legitimate factory. If so, changing IMEIs after manufacture might still not be possible. Or it might require a special software tool that has been leaked. It's not clear what the situation is.

                        FaberCastell would it not be a worthy inclusion if it is possible?

                        Opinions may differ. My understanding is that the GrapheneOS project hopes to convince various government authorities that Play Integrity is unfairly banning legitimately secure GrapheneOS devices. Because IMEI editing is illegal in many jurisdictions, I can easily imagine that the project might not want to be on record as enabling IMEI editing.

                        Please note that I do not speak for the GrapheneOS project.

                            In my opinion the device's imei was changed through either a tool that did not tampered boot integrity or it could have been changed through some physical tinkering.
                            Moreover later this weekend I would check the boot integrity thoroughly and inform you guys.
                            Moreover the phones are original in my opinion. I will check it by connecting to graphene flash tool but I won't flash it as it is not mine.
                            As a graphene user myself I can confidently say it was an original not a replica.

                            DeletedUser87 My government provides a web portal to check duties and it was not of a pixel it was of some lower end phone and showing tax of a few dollars instead of few hundred dollars.
                            I think each manufacturer have a unique prefix for their devices and it checks from that.

                                ans I don't know, maybe they just lied in their customs declaration and no one checked? It's pretty hard to change IMEIs, that would be publicly known by now I would think. What happens if you enter the IMEI on Google's Pixel repair website?

                                • ans replied to this.

                                    The problem is that there might now be duplicate IMEI out there, and if you had a legitimate, and expensive, phone, you wouldn't want it blocked because the networks had caught up to the fakes and issued a shut down command.

                                      7 days later

                                      In my opinion the factory tools have been leaked, through which they change the imei. The device is same to same to a normal pixel just the imei is changed.

                                      2 months later

                                      ans Did you try and flash grapheneOS on it, i have the same phone and want to try oit grapheneOS.

                                      • ans replied to this.

                                          • Aans

                                            • Post #18

                                            grapheneosenjoyer1233 I am Currently using graphene os on a similar pixel 6. Everything works just there is a warning in graphene in a notification that says that your phone is in engineering prototype not all security features would be available. But it is working so fine for me.

                                                • Aans

                                                  • Post #20

                                                  Yeah the imei remains changed