Mobile phone cloning involves illegally reprogramming the identifying information from one phone into another. This allows calls made on the cloned phone to be billed to the legitimate subscriber. While mobile cloning has been an issue since the 1990s in other markets, it is an emerging threat in India. Cloning can be done by using software to modify the phone's ESN or MIN and programs these identifiers into another phone. Service providers find it difficult to detect cloning right away due to monthly billing cycles.