India, Sept. 1 -- The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has cautioned citizens against tampering with International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers and misusing other telecommunication identifiers, warning that such offences can attract imprisonment of up to three years and a fine of up to Rs 50 lakh.

The advisory, issued on 31 August, comes as the government steps up efforts to prevent the misuse of telecom resources for fraud and other unlawful activities. DoT said tampered or unauthorised identifiers can compromise citizen safety and the security and integrity of telecom networks.

An IMEI is a unique identifier assigned to a mobile device. It allows networks to identify individual handsets and is also used in systems de...