PSA: Here's why you shouldn't let strangers with smart glasses use your phone

All smartphones have an IMEI number, which is effectively the phone’s ID number. Unfortunately, cybercriminals and other bad actors often steal IMEI numbers to facilitate crimes. Now, a Redditor has outlined a rather crazy IMEI scam.

Redditor Prudent-Vacation-581 reported that a person with Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses recently asked to make a call from their phone. The Redditor reported that the stranger instead dialed *#06#, which reveals the device’s IMEI number, gave the phone back, and “ran away.” The user received a pop-up on their phone the following day, noting that the device is now unlocked.

Needless to say, this is almost certainly a scam to obtain the device’s IMEI number. Once a bad actor has obtained your phone’s IMEI, they can clone or block your device, conduct fraudulent SIM swaps, track your device location, and more.

IMEI scams aren’t new, but this particular instance might be the first time I’ve heard of these scammers using smart glasses. This approach makes sense, as these bad actors can quickly and somewhat surreptitiously snap a photo of the IMEI number and any other personal info. Meta’s glasses in particular have an LED light to show people that the device is capturing a photo or video. We have seen workarounds to disable this light, though, with varying degrees of success. So it might not be obvious that a scammer is taking a photo or recording a video.

In any event, we’d strongly recommend that you don’t let strangers use your phone for any reason. If you really want to let a stranger make a call, you can simply dial the number for them, put your device on speaker phone, and lock the device, all while the phone remains in your hands. And if a stranger is making this request with camera-equipped smart glasses like the Ray-Ban Meta shades, then it’s even more likely that they’re a scammer.

Have you just fallen victim to an IMEI scam like this? You should immediately contact your cellular network and bank so they can take the appropriate steps to protect your accounts. You’ll also want to back up your device data (locally where possible, and via the cloud otherwise) so that if your phone is compromised, you don’t lose personal information.