Cloned Nokia handsets have been somewhat of a passion of hate for me over the last few years, especially when these cloned Nokia handsets are sold to unsuspecting consumers as genuine. ·We have seen our fare share of these unhappy buyers too within our very own Nokiausers forums. ·

Members registering to our forums because they either suspect something isn’t quite right with their purchase, or simply put, the device they have does not perform in the way they expected it to work.

Due to seeing so many unhappy members come and go through our forums after buying a cloned Nokia device, I took it upon myself to try and get something done about it, however, cloned Nokia devices, well, any cloned/fake mobile phone for that matter has a massive Global market, which seems to be untouchable. These Chinese factories making cloned mobile phones are as big as the real manufacturing plants, and are governed and protected by mafia type level of security. No joke!

What I did personally, to try and help people not to fall for these fake Nokia handsets, was to educate our forum members on what to look out for with a cloned device, posting photos side by side of cloned device next to a real Nokia handset. ·We first had a stead flow of Nokia N95-1 fake handsets, and then of course, the most troublesome to date, the N95 8GB, with several different level of clones, all ranging from small details added to fool the unsuspecting consumer. ·

The Chinese even hacked an old version of Nokia’s OS, and increased the level of functionality of their clones so that when you entered *#0000# the result that popped up would display a real, valid firmware version. ·This of course eventually fooled even more people, but the likes of myself, and a few other Nokiausers forums members have a very keen eye on protecting our forum members, and are always ready to help anyone should they ever have a question regarding a device before handing over their hard earned.

Now we are seeing cloned devices of the latest Nokia handsets, the N8, the E7, and even the N9. ·So what exactly is Nokia doing about this Global problem? Lets ask them here shall we, and see if we get a reply. ·I had emailed Nokia sometime ago regarding what kind of investigative measures they may have in place to combat these fake, cloned Nokia handsets hitting the mass consumer markets, but back then I didn’t have the reach I do now, so I will certainly be putting this question to them once more very soon. ·Especially after reading the following article, which this post of mine is referring to, it was posted locally on a Swedish website. ·Read for yourselves, excuse the translation, I used Google Translate….

“A 33-year-old Katrineholm to pay more than 60,000Kr in damages and legal costs to the mobile phone manufacturer Nokia. This man then imported 20 counterfeit Nokia products.Related Customs Service seized the 20 mobile phones, which came in the shipment, from China in April this year.

Mobile phones are identical to the Nokia brand, but has not manufactured by them or with their permission.Nokia, which has exclusive rights to the business use of the Nokia brand in Sweden, Katrineholm believe that the author has made trademark infringement or at least contributed to trademark infringement.

33-year-old carries on business in which he imports and sells products, including mobile phones.Stockholm District Court prohibits Katrineholm maker to introduce and sell mobile phones that carry the Nokia brand, which is not manufactured by them or with their permission.

He is also threatened with a fine of 100-000 if he continues with his criminal activities.The 20 mobile phones seized by customs to be destroyed.”

Link to above article - Thanks Tommie

So as you can see, yes this is only a very small number, just 20 fake Nokia handsets, and the importers intent is clear, he obviously was planning on selling these on as genuine handsets to unsuspecting consumers. ·Although a small number, and legal action being taken, I would like to see this kind of investigation escalated on a global level, with teams heading out to China to uncover these factories, and hit the supply at the very heart of their manufacturing processes rather than cherry-picking small, insignificant cases such as the story above.

Over the last few years I have been doing some investigating of my own, and sourced several factories manufacturing cloned devices. ·I published some of my findings here on Nokiausers, and as a result was contacted by the BBC, but after exchanging emails, and some details, answering questions, little to nothing ever come of it sadly.

I have painstakingly gathered photos, which I have learned from, and detailed every single trick in the book these counterfeiters have put into motion for one reason, and one reason only. ·To rip people off, period.! Yes I know some cloned devices suit some people, with dual sim functionality and whatnot, but at the end of the day, these are counterfeit items, and something needs doing about it.

Sadly, all this counterfeiting appears to go on right in front of everyone’s face, blatantly on the web, and links available for all, so even with this transparency, why does counterfeiting continue? Why and how do these counterfeiting rings manufacturer cloned devices before even the real deal are released, where do these counterfeiters get the specifications(external dimensions) etc? ·You see, this process of counterfeiting goes much more deeper than one thinks, with some level of serious leakage from the likes of Nokia internal info, and alike.

As you can probably tell from my tone in writing, and before I turn this post into a rant so to speak, I will end it now, but let me tell you that, I just don’t like to see people ripped off of their hard earned cash, and something needs to be done about it, and I’m ready to join Nokia in their fight to combat, and take these counterfeiting rings down once and for all.! I know its no easy task, and will need Government level support, with policing, and very careful planning, but it can be done, surely? Nokia?