Some months ago, I was the target of attackers who had gained access to my phone service provider account and ordered a phone under my name, with the intent to intercept it when it was delivered. Fortunately I caught it early and was not charged for the phone, but it got me researching phone security. I'm aware there is an IMEI blacklist for stolen phones, which prevents them from accessing the network, and I'm aware that phones can be tracked by their IMEI.
What I'm wondering is whether that tracking is active, i.e. requires someone to manually check up on the phone, or whether there are passive "watchlists" that automatically inform phone providers and/or the authorities whenever a given IMEI tries to access the network. Based on what I heard from the representative I spoke to, the kind of scam I was targeted by is pretty pervasive, and the scammers are surely aware enough to check IMEIs themselves; the best strategy for law enforcement might be to leave the stolen devices whitelisted, but set something up so they'll be automatically detected and tracked if they try to access the network.
