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I recently watched a show where someone was able to clone a smartphone with the FID, IMEI or other numbers found on a phone. They were able to see the other parties text messages and call logs.

My question is this: If someone had access to these numbers from your phone would they also be able to monitor applications that use the internet such as tango, skype, whatsapp, bbm. Are those applications related to the numbers on the back of your phone in any way or are they only relevant to services provided by cell phone companies.

Is there a way to monitor these applications that does not involve software installed or your phone or can you only monitor them with spyware.

Chase
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SMS and call logs use the cell network's messaging channels to send traffic. That uses the IMEI to address where the messages should go. That's why a cloned IMEI can receive duplicates.

Internet traffic uses the data channel and leverages TCP/IP. This cannot be cloned with just the IMEI.

Neil Smithline
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schroeder
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  • Thanks do you know if phones that use CDMA can also be cloned in this way or if they are immune. – Chase Jan 13 '16 at 12:31