Game developer wants me to give him my IMEI

[gkeller16]

I purchased full version of leave devil alone and get a email from Developer in broken English that he wants my IMEI. I had no idea what that was till I just looked it up, is this a bad idea to give to them?

 

[Martin030908]

I wouldn't give it to him. What reason did he state regarding why he needs it?

 

[gkeller16]

I purchased full version and was trying to figure out how to get it so I emailed him and this was the response I received

On Oct 18, 2010 12:10 AM, "Ｊǐщ" <[email protected]> wrote: > get you IMEI to me.send full version

 

[drivinfocused]

don't....... scammer

 

[gkeller16]

Yeah it seems fishy. Especially since they don't have the full version on the market. Too bad its a decent plants vs zombies clone.

 

[Martin030908]

don't....... scammer

Exactly my thoughts.

Your IMEI is used to identify your phone.... and it's not needed to install a game.

 

[gkeller16]

Ok ,ty guys for the quick answers.

 

[Martin030908]

Ok ,ty guys for the quick answers.

NP. Anytime.

And very glad you took the time to ask rather than just handing it out... I'm positive your saving yourself a giant headache. dancedroid

 

[Dave12308]

don't....... scammer

Exactly my thoughts.

Your IMEI is used to identify your phone.... and it's not needed to install a game.

Just a thought, but the dev MAY be using the IMEI as a globally unique identifier for DRM purposes. I still wouldn't give it to him/her; but it's just a thought as to the purpose.

 

[JoshuaW]

Not so weird

Hi guys
It's not so weird a game developer asking for the IMEI.
Many famous apps (games or not) do this indeed. For exmaple Shazam ( the music detector )

There is a permission that allow apps to read the IMEI.
permission:

Phone calls
read phone state and identity


This permission allow also the reading of IMSI and other properties of the mobile.

So if a apps have this permission and also have "full internet access" it can send your IMEI to the developer anyway. ( this is the case of Shazam ).

Well I don't know why this developer want your IMEI but Dave12308 is right it is possible that he wants for DRM purposes.

For the people who know android programming
You can check what i said in this link:

getDeviceId()
(official android site )

 

[gkeller16]

Just a update to the conclusion of this, dev refunded money
After telling him I wasn't giving him my number and left a comment on the market about it. He sent me a response a bit ago as to why he wants IMEI and this is what he said:

"Please remove your assessment, we need your IMEI is used in anti-piracy above, and will not disclose your IMEI!"