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I purchased a phone from craigslist didn't know that t mobile had a imei system and didn't have t mobile service at the time bought the phone with case phone looked brand new etc i activate phones not working turns out bad imei.
The good news is that i have the text from seller and a tmobile rep told me that he is a tmobile customer i asked if he could check if the phone was purchased on the account to check if it matched up and he told me he couldn't give me anymore information anyone know how i should go about this situation with the police?
Nothing you can do except using the phone as an ipod.
Sent From My Htc Amaze running rum+coke
Probably not much u can do especially if he included the words "as is" anywhere in the post, but if he didn't you can probably go to your local police station and file a police report and take the guy to small claims court......I think anyway.......you might want to ask Binary he's a cop he would know better then me.
will_69_67 said:
Probably not much u can do especially if he included the words "as is" anywhere in the post, but if he didn't you can probably go to your local police station and file a police report and take the guy to small claims court......I think anyway.......you might want to ask Binary he's a cop he would know better then me.
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Well he can report it to his local police station but there's not much they can do. This is actually more of a civil action unless you can provide reasonable doubt that the seller is selling stolen merchandise. And if the post says "AS-IS" or anything similiar then you're SOL. You can try to contact Craigslist and report the seller for selling stolen merchandise. They might cooperate with you to take the seller to civil court.
That's about the best that you can do.
Good luck!
That's what you get for buying on craigslist. If it was ebay at least you would have been protected.
Binary100100 said:
Well he can report it to his local police station but there's not much they can do. This is actually more of a civil action unless you can provide reasonable doubt that the seller is selling stolen merchandise. And if the post says "AS-IS" or anything similiar then you're SOL. You can try to contact Craigslist and report the seller for selling stolen merchandise. They might cooperate with you to take the seller to civil court.
That's about the best that you can do.
Good luck!
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Thanks everyone who helped, Binary i know that normally with craigslist stuff if you get scammed its pretty much on you. But the guy told me he got the phone off a upgrade and decided to stick with his old phone therefore he is lying. I also know that the number he was using to do the business with is linked to t mobile which leaves his information for the police vulnerable. Luckily my mom works at a high school and i have access to a police officer. Since you're a police officer i was wondering if i had information showing that the phone he sold me is directly linked to his account and shows that he said the phone was stolen/lost i can report him to asurion insurance and get him in trouble for insurance fraud at least. The one thing i was wondering is if he would say i stole the phone from him but i have the box with unopened accessories and text showing we were meeting up etc.
rasstar said:
That's what you get for buying on craigslist. If it was ebay at least you would have been protected.
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I don't see how this is helping can keep the negative comments to yourself lol
lajuan3 said:
Thanks everyone who helped, Binary i know that normally with craigslist stuff if you get scammed its pretty much on you. But the guy told me he got the phone off a upgrade and decided to stick with his old phone therefore he is lying. I also know that the number he was using to do the business with is linked to t mobile which leaves his information for the police vulnerable. Luckily my mom works at a high school and i have access to a police officer. Since you're a police officer i was wondering if i had information showing that the phone he sold me is directly linked to his account and shows that he said the phone was stolen/lost i can report him to asurion insurance and get him in trouble for insurance fraud at least. The one thing i was wondering is if he would say i stole the phone from him but i have the box with unopened accessories and text showing we were meeting up etc.
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I'm actually thinking that did the insurance fraud thing. He likely called Asurian to tell them that he lost the phone and would like a replacement. Asurian then puts the IMEI on a black list so it can't be activated again since it was reported "Lost/Stolen" and shipped him another. He then sold it to you. Now without a Bill Of Sale it's all on you. If you have the text message then you have his number. Contact the seller directly and inform him. Best case scenario he did not actually with full intent attempt to sell you a stolen phone. He may be able to call Asurian and say that he had found the device and they might then be able to remove it from the black list. However they will probably want the replacement back. The most that you can really do is threaten him to call the police... but this is really a civil matter. Just because you have the box and phone number doesn't mean anything. Here's an example. If you were a criminal and robbed someone's house, took their tv, computer, jewelry, phone, box for phone, etc you can also take their identity since almost everyone has bills laying around. At least mail. So they can have your name, phone number, address, IMEI, original packaging... whole nine yards. Does that still prove that you know eachother? Can he still use that to prove that the sale was legit? No way. This is a civil matter and not so much criminal so you're not going to get much assistance from the police.
My advice, contact the seller and tell him that you need ALL of his information. Name, address, contact information for his account, etc and tell him that you have to use it to get his information removed from the black list. Try to get his DL number too. Tell him that the insurance company requires a copy of it to remove it from the list. Make up something clever like that. Then use that information to file for court. It's up to you if you want to try to settle it in court or not but it's your best bet. PD has a lot more to worry about than Craigslist scams and unless the insurance company or TMobile wants to provide informatino willingly to a law enforcement official. They may or may not because they are under no legal obligation to comply unless it's ordered by the court. But again... that's really up to you.
One other option is to consult with your local prosecutor's office. Laws and procedures vary state by state, and between jurisdictions, but in Florida a lot of jurisdictions will operate some type of citizens dispute mediation program using volunteer mediators.
The idea is that by bringing both parties to the State Attorney's Office they will reach an agreement, or the more guilty party will make things right, and actually follow through on it because they believe it has a little more authority attached to whatever resolution is decided upon when in reality it may be an incident that is more civil in nature and could never be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal court.
we are talking about a $350 phone. just the court claim costs $200(at least here in IL).and there is no way you can get that guys information. the fact that he was able to sell you a bad imei phone means he is a pro, cuz not everybody can do that, you gotta have done it before. I am just curious how did you buy the phone without even trying to put a sim card on it..
What Binary said makes a lot sense otherwise not sure what else "Bad IMEI" could be implying.
If this is true, and t-mobile blacklist the phone for activation, may be you can try unlock and see if it works under other carrier such as AT&T? If works, you can try switch carrier or sell to AT&T users.
contact a subrogation service. They will scare the crap out of the guy and will get your money back...I got about 8 years ago on ebay when it wasn't so safe, someone sold me a laptop but it was just a poster of a laptop. Problem was in the description it never said laptop, it said item and it was basically a poster of laptop with its specs. so what I got was a laminated poster of a laptop for 1100 dollars. Subrogation services is a good thing. look into it.
Felinos11 said:
we are talking about a $350 phone. just the court claim costs $200(at least here in IL).and there is no way you can get that guys information. the fact that he was able to sell you a bad imei phone means he is a pro, cuz not everybody can do that, you gotta have done it before. I am just curious how did you buy the phone without even trying to put a sim card on it..
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Well i was switching from sprint to tmobile back in the day you could pop a sim in and thebphone would just work even if lost or stolen i guess things changed and i got hustled im not to worried im sure i can get it unlocked and make atleast the 330 i spent back its just that i signed a 2yr contract got scammed and want him to face some sort of consequence
lajuan3 said:
Well i was switching from sprint to tmobile back in the day you could pop a sim in and thebphone would just work even if lost or stolen i guess things changed and i got hustled im not to worried im sure i can get it unlocked and make atleast the 330 i spent back its just that i signed a 2yr contract got scammed and want him to face some sort of consequence
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U can never unlock an imei blacklisted phone.
tmobile block the imei number of the phone, when the phone ever was reported stolen lost or the guy asked for an exchange and never return it, there is no way to unlock the imei number so you are screw,
i say get together with some friends find this guy a kick his ass!!
when did you sign your contact.... If you just activated you might be under buyers remorse
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using Tapatalk
I was informed i could unlock and use on other networks just not tmobile with a bad imei? i was planning on selling on ebay including the info that it has to be unlocked and switched to anyone besides tmobile.
I signed the contract because i have a 14day period where i can cancel without a fee i figured i would find a way to change the imei if worse came to worse.
Last i was told by a t mobile rep that they were changing my imei and it will take around 2hours.
I thought it was as simple as putting in your sim card? I guess tmobile is getting with the times.
If the guy never used the phone asurion would never do a claim for him! They have to see the imei active for them to file a claim!
And it is possible to unblock a imei asurion can do it.
Sent from my HTC Amaze 4G using Tapatalk
Asurion told me it was up to T-Mobile T-Mobile said no I call again
they say they are changing it for me it will take 2hours been 2hours still no service
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using XDA App
I buy wholesale lots of phones and resell them individually on ebay. Now I have to check IMEIs on ATT and T-Mobile since they started this whole blacklist bullcrap. The bad thing is that AT&T won't give me information or tell me if phones are blacklisted or not. They'll tell me to "bring it into your local store and they can check it". I know the only reason they do this is because the store will take it away from me if it shows up as a lost or stolen device. Eff that. I already paid money for it, I can at least sell it for parts or try to get my money back!
I was on AT&T chat today, and I heard a new one that I can't understand: "It is an at&t phone but it's from a resellers account that means the service provider of that phone only buy cellphone service from us at&t that they provide to theyre customers. So with that, the account the phone came from is not directly connected with us for me to identify if the phone is cleared to be bought or not. I am sorry though."
...what does that even mean? It's an i717 Note for AT&T, so I'm confused.
Also, if I got AT&T and T-Mobile prepaid plans, could I use those SIMs to check the phones and see if they worked? This new blacklisting database is really making life difficult for me...
In sorry for the hardship for you as an independent seller but I'm beyond happy about the new black list as a consumer who has had his new phone stolen and T-Mobile basically said "oh well".
It's about time they implemented this.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
mooglepimp said:
I buy wholesale lots of phones and resell them individually on ebay. Now I have to check IMEIs on ATT and T-Mobile since they started this whole blacklist bullcrap. The bad thing is that AT&T won't give me information or tell me if phones are blacklisted or not. They'll tell me to "bring it into your local store and they can check it". I know the only reason they do this is because the store will take it away from me if it shows up as a lost or stolen device. Eff that. I already paid money for it, I can at least sell it for parts or try to get my money back!
I was on AT&T chat today, and I heard a new one that I can't understand: "It is an at&t phone but it's from a resellers account that means the service provider of that phone only buy cellphone service from us at&t that they provide to theyre customers. So with that, the account the phone came from is not directly connected with us for me to identify if the phone is cleared to be bought or not. I am sorry though."
...what does that even mean? It's an i717 Note for AT&T, so I'm confused.
Also, if I got AT&T and T-Mobile prepaid plans, could I use those SIMs to check the phones and see if they worked? This new blacklisting database is really making life difficult for me...
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It's likely a straight talk device, or a device from a reseller.
Basically, even though it's an ATT device, it was sold buy a reseller account, and not ATT. Even if it runs on the ATT network.
they dont keep the IMEI numbers from reseller phones, only the ones they sell directly, so they cant release an IMEI number for use on the network, because they have no record of it to release.
Clear as mud ?....LOL
But a prepaid sim should fire up, with the right APN settings...g
uoY_redruM said:
In sorry for the hardship for you as an independent seller but I'm beyond happy about the new black list as a consumer who has had his new phone stolen and T-Mobile basically said "oh well".
It's about time they implemented this.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
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Although I can empathize with you....it seems that they are doing nothing but screwing over the person who buys a resold phone. Nothing they do will protect you as the person who got it stolen, and they make is SOOOOO DIFFICULT to check the IMEI that it really just screws over the buyer who got a blacklisted phone and now can't do anything about it :-/
This might sound like a broken record with ebay/craigslist scams, you can add me to the list.
I'm going to keep it short and to the point.
- I'm a T-Mobile user, purchased an AT&T Phone (LG Optimus G) on Craigslist , which i then unlocked via ebay code.
- a couple weeks of use the phone was reported stolen, blacklisted.
> On the day of purchase I saved the craigslist ad on the computer, which contained the seller's number, and it had the date as well.
What should i do?
- Contact the seller?
- Contact AT&T Insurance Company?
- Sell it on Ebay, is it illegal?
Would greatly appreciate any help or info as I am stranded without a phone, so the sooner the better, thank you.
sasoq said:
This might sound like a broken record with ebay/craigslist scams, you can add me to the list.
I'm going to keep it short and to the point.
- I'm a T-Mobile user, purchased an AT&T Phone (LG Optimus G) on Craigslist , which i then unlocked via ebay code.
- a couple weeks of use the phone was reported stolen, blacklisted.
> On the day of purchase I saved the craigslist ad on the computer, which contained the seller's number, and it had the date as well.
What should i do?
- Contact the seller?
- Contact AT&T Insurance Company?
- Sell it on Ebay, is it illegal?
Would greatly appreciate any help or info as I am stranded without a phone, so the sooner the better, thank you.
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Click to collapse
If I can put my 2 cents in, I believe I have a unique perspective on this since I'm an international buyer-
You can easily list this phone on ebay as BAD IMEI, since this phone is unlocked it can be used on any GSM carrier in the world except AT&T and T-mobile (who share blacklists), which to most people who live outside of the US like me is completely fine- who cares about AT&T honestly lol. So just list it as BAD IMEI on AT&T but unlocked for international carriers, and you'll be able to sell it for like 10-20 bucks less than a regular device easy.
sasoq said:
This might sound like a broken record with ebay/craigslist scams, you can add me to the list.
I'm going to keep it short and to the point.
- I'm a T-Mobile user, purchased an AT&T Phone (LG Optimus G) on Craigslist , which i then unlocked via ebay code.
- a couple weeks of use the phone was reported stolen, blacklisted.
> On the day of purchase I saved the craigslist ad on the computer, which contained the seller's number, and it had the date as well.
What should i do?
- Contact the seller?
- Contact AT&T Insurance Company?
- Sell it on Ebay, is it illegal?
Would greatly appreciate any help or info as I am stranded without a phone, so the sooner the better, thank you.
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Click to collapse
Or you could find out who's phone it actually is, and turn it into AT&T and contact the local authorities. Get the dude arrested and return the phone to its owner who's probably heartbroken without their LGOG.
In the process get your money back from the dude, he'll have to do crap court anyway they'll add that to his charges and square you away.
You're basically summed up into two probabilities, he either;
A) Stole the phone, and sold it to you. In which case you are now the receiver of stolen property, and now you're going to break the same law and sell it, again. Comical.
B) He owned the phone, and reported it stolen after selling it, thus he's probably committing some pathetic small version of insurance fraud, of which I'm sure AT&T would love to know. In this case I'm almost positive AT&T will let you keep the phone and they'll remove the blacklist since after the fact.
Bonus round: You could just call AT&T / their insurance, and tell them you have the phone, the situation you're in, and present the evidence you kept.
Just think, worst case scenario someone could effectively do the exact same thing and use your ebay ad as proof they purchased the phone not knowingly that it was stolen, and then YOU have to deal with the legality of selling stolen property. The world is retarded, have fun
[r.]GimP said:
Or you could find out who's phone it actually is, and turn it into AT&T and contact the local authorities. Get the dude arrested and return the phone to its owner who's probably heartbroken without their LGOG.
In the process get your money back from the dude, he'll have to do crap court anyway they'll add that to his charges and square you away.
You're basically summed up into two probabilities, he either;
A) Stole the phone, and sold it to you. In which case you are now the receiver of stolen property, and now you're going to break the same law and sell it, again. Comical.
B) He owned the phone, and reported it stolen after selling it, thus he's probably committing some pathetic small version of insurance fraud, of which I'm sure AT&T would love to know. In this case I'm almost positive AT&T will let you keep the phone and they'll remove the blacklist since after the fact.
Bonus round: You could just call AT&T / their insurance, and tell them you have the phone, the situation you're in, and present the evidence you kept.
Just think, worst case scenario someone could effectively do the exact same thing and use your ebay ad as proof they purchased the phone not knowingly that it was stolen, and then YOU have to deal with the legality of selling stolen property. The world is retarded, have fun
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I am wondering if there may be a third scenario.
C) the person that sold the phone neither stole the phone or reported it stolen, but didn't fulfill his contract and AT&T had it blacklisted.
adfurgerson said:
I am wondering if there may be a third scenario.
C) the person that sold the phone neither stole the phone or reported it stolen, but didn't fulfill his contract and AT&T had it blacklisted.
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Touche' I'd call AT&T for sure, especially if I was using it and it cut off
[r.]GimP said:
Touche' I'd call AT&T for sure, especially if I was using it and it cut off
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+ I thought the phone number on the ad would be a real number turned out it's not, i think it's a google voice number because I called and heard "could not complete your call please try again.." associated with google voice, dialed *70 plus the number and got through two rings and a end call. Does anyone know how i can find out the real number on google voice?
Idk if i should contact at&t wouldn't they want to take the phone, since it was reported stolen? Meanwhile I have the phone, Is there any way i can still use the phone with a blacklisted imei. I know I've seen some cases where Roms can give a phone a different Imei. Thanks guys for the responses
This thread is a little dated but just for clarity, a device won't be blacklisted due to breach of contract. A device is only added to the blacklist if it's reported lost or stolen.
As an aside, calling the carrier won't change the situation much. They don't want the device back and certainly aren't removing it from the blacklist.
Sent from my LG-E970 using xda app-developers app
Yeah op is likely the victim of insurance fraud.
Sent from my LG Optimus G using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
So my dad bought an HTC One off of Craigslist brand new a few months ago. Today, it randomly stopped recog izing the Sim. It turns out that the original owners decided to call in the device as stolen and got theirs replaced from their insurance. He called T-Mobile and they said that there's nothing they can do about this.
Is there any way to make the phone usable again? Changing the IMEI, flashing a custom ROM, or whatever. Everything works, except the SIM is not recognized.
Thanks for your help.
Your SOL. You won't get imei changing help on XDA. Advise I seen given in this situation, is to sell it overseas as it useless in AT&T too.
HTC One
You're screwed, unlock it if you can. Hopefully it was fully paid for so you can do that, then like the other guy said sell it on Ebay to someone overseas. Be honest and say it's blocked. It will still sell. The thieves have a good racket going, and the carriers refuse to stop it by adding kill switches.
jawmail said:
You're screwed, unlock it if you can. Hopefully it was fully paid for so you can do that, then like the other guy said sell it on Ebay to someone overseas. Be honest and say it's blocked. It will still sell. The thieves have a good racket going, and the carriers refuse to stop it by adding kill switches.
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What would adding kill switches do. ? You take your chances with buying from Cl just this last month I had two htc ones and a iPhone 5. Switched back to a used HTC one and have had no issues. I've met every one of those people at the store. The thing is the system will only grant someone a warranty or insurance claim on a device used last. If enough time passes or the other person registers a new phone the insurance/ warranty system will register a new device. Any claims on the only one will be invalid. I believe scammers are waiting just long enough before that or not registering new devices to their account so they can still claim the device as lost or stolen.
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
monkeypaws said:
What would adding kill switches do. ? You take your chances with buying from Cl just this last month I had two htc ones and a iPhone 5. Switched back to a used HTC one and have had no issues. I've met every one of those people at the store. The thing is the system will only grant someone a warranty or insurance claim on a device used last. If enough time passes or the other person registers a new phone the insurance/ warranty system will register a new device. Any claims on the only one will be invalid. I believe scammers are waiting just long enough before that or not registering new devices to their account so they can still claim the device as lost or stolen.
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
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Kill switches would prevent the phone from being used domestically and possibly internationally. Similar to how Verizon does it by locking the phone IMEI or MEID whatever they call it on Verizon phones. If you buy one that's locked it "lost or stolen" and doesn't work on their network.
Read this, explains what might be done if the carriers agree. Right now they make too much money from insurance to care. Don't know if I can post links but Google 'cell phone kill switch'. http://www.today.com/money/push-get-kill-switch-smartphones-2D11897060
I ran into this a while back with a GS3 on TMO.
Heres what usually happens. Scammer has insurance on his phone. Sells it to you. Then waits up to 30 days to file a claim. Lost / Stolen.
Once a claim has been filed they have an additional 180 days to pay the deductible and finalize the claim. Once that happens the IMEI gets entered into the system and bam you have a WiFi only device.
I went to the TMO store by my office and spoke with a manager.. The system is flawed in favor of the insurance companies and carriers.
I can prove that unit was active and in use on my account for 3 months before it got shut off. Yet TMO refuses to do anything.
I emailed Assurion twice to let them know the user who filed the IMEI as lost/stolen was performing insurance fraud and it fell on deaf ears.
Why? Because they keep selling the monthly subscription to the scammers and honest users plus they collect the deductible.
Carriers wont do anything because most of the time it forces the user who got scammed to buy buy a new phone.. Rarely will they change carriers. So TMO still gets paid.
IAmSixNine said:
I ran into this a while back with a GS3 on TMO.
Heres what usually happens. Scammer has insurance on his phone. Sells it to you. Then waits up to 30 days to file a claim. Lost / Stolen.
Once a claim has been filed they have an additional 180 days to pay the deductible and finalize the claim. Once that happens the IMEI gets entered into the system and bam you have a WiFi only device.
I went to the TMO store by my office and spoke with a manager.. The system is flawed in favor of the insurance companies and carriers.
I can prove that unit was active and in use on my account for 3 months before it got shut off. Yet TMO refuses to do anything.
I emailed Assurion twice to let them know the user who filed the IMEI as lost/stolen was performing insurance fraud and it fell on deaf ears.
Why? Because they keep selling the monthly subscription to the scammers and honest users plus they collect the deductible.
Carriers wont do anything because most of the time it forces the user who got scammed to buy buy a new phone.. Rarely will they change carriers. So TMO still gets paid.
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Yes that is very typical. It's so sad they do not stop the theft and the fraud. It will happen it's only a matter of time.
Nothing you can do. Sorry but that's just how it is. I refuse to buy any phone that's not from the company I'm with. That being tmobile. That way I have a record of buying my phone and they can't block it
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Sucks man.
I'd say to check your imei against the stolen registries, but that wouldn't have done you any good.
Sent from my LG-V510 using xda app-developers app
If you have even a phone number or any contact information from when your dad bought the phone, you should report the seller to the FBI or your local US Attorney's Office and perhaps even attempt to file a lawsuit for fraud. I'm shocked that people are willing to commit federal crimes for $300.
Actually you are all wrong, Any locked/blocked/stolen/blacklisted tmobile phone be unlocked for att, Tmobile only blacklisted on there own network, I am currently using a blocked htc one that checkesnfree.com says it blocked by tmobile and it says no service when I put in my tmobile sim card, I bought an unlock code form ebay for $4 and am currently using the tmobile htc one on H2o wireless (atat) towers
works perfect
jqwest said:
Actually you are all wrong, Any locked/blocked/stolen/blacklisted tmobile phone be unlocked for att, Tmobile only blacklisted on there own network, I am currently using a blocked htc one that checkesnfree.com says it blocked by tmobile and it says no service when I put in my tmobile sim card, I bought an unlock code form ebay for $4 and am currently using the tmobile htc one on H2o wireless (atat) towers
works perfect
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Actually, you're mistaken.
A "blocked" device on T-Mobile is still usable on AT&T. A "blocked" device is not a blacklisted device, and therefor is eligible for use on another carrier (not MVNO of the blocked carrier).
A device can only be blacklisted if it has been reported as lost or stolen. If the device is just blocked on T-Mobile, then it wasn't reported as lost or stolen.
I buy used phones as a business and if a tmobile phone is blacklisted/lost/stolen/blocked for non payment. they only blackliston tmobile cell towers. This is fact any bad tmobile phone after unlocked can be used on atat regardless of imei status with tmobile, Im currently using a tmobile htc one that is blacklisted/blocked by tmobile, Im using it on atat
Hey all,
I did some searching so it makes me suspect this isn't possible yet, but does anyone have a method to change the IMEI or MEID of the LG V30+ (Sprint, if that matters)? I need to change it and not just mask it.
The short story is I bought on on eBay but it was already tied to someone's account. The seller won't give me that person's contact info, Sprint won't tell me if there's a finance balance on it and if I can pay it off, and Sprint won't give me that person's contact info either. eBay declined my request for a refund, so now I'm just trying to see if I can make this thing usable at all.
Thanks!
Changing IMEI is illegal you know?
t1mman said:
Changing IMEI is illegal you know?
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I've done some research and can't find anything that says it is illegal in the United States, which is where I live. I do believe it's illegal in Europe but I don't intend to use the phone there so I'm not really concerned about that.
The way I see it I legally bought a phone. I was mislead a little bit, but the phone is not reported stolen so that means the original owner sold it legally to someone else who bought it. That original owner still owes Sprint money, but that should have nothing to do with the phone itself. So I'd just like to use the phone I paid for. I have an IMEI from an older phone that went into the toilet, so I don't really see the problem with swapping the IMEI of this one out for that one.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2249666&p=40723213
Is it google account lock ? Did you do a imei check ?
If its google account lock some sites provide service to bypass that
Imei check status - will tell you about just that the status. Could say clean , unpaid bills anything other than clean you may have to pay to get rid of that bad status aince sprint aint helping u
Another thing when you try to activate it on your sprint account they will remind you that you will be taking over unpaid payments left by previous owner. All the times i activated sprint phones a d the rep tells me that means ill be takong over payments. And on some phones wherr the rep doesnt say anything about taking over payments means phone is paid off by previous owner.
nizmoboy98 said:
Is it google account lock ? Did you do a imei check ?
If its google account lock some sites provide service to bypass that
Imei check status - will tell you about just that the status. Could say clean , unpaid bills anything other than clean you may have to pay to get rid of that bad status aince sprint aint helping u
Another thing when you try to activate it on your sprint account they will remind you that you will be taking over unpaid payments left by previous owner. All the times i activated sprint phones a d the rep tells me that means ill be takong over payments. And on some phones wherr the rep doesnt say anything about taking over payments means phone is paid off by previous owner.
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When I put the IMEI into swappa's IMEI checker it says "Financial Eligibility - Device is not eligible for resale (financed)." When I talk to Sprint (Which I've done over a few calls and trips to the store) they tell me it can't be put on my account because it's still attached to another account, but they don't tell me why at all. They've never told me if I could just take over payments for the phone, which is interesting since I've asked specifically about that. I wonder if something else is blocking this IMEI? So far I haven't been able to reach anyone at Sprint that can tell me anything about the phone's previous owner or any financial obligations on the phone.
Do you happen to know of a different IMEI checker I should try that might give me more information?
Imei checker by cavallo enterprise
I tried that on my insuranced replacement lg v30 and it gave me unpaid balance on mines
cjshrader said:
The way I see it I legally bought a phone. I was mislead a little bit, but the phone is not reported stolen so that means the original owner sold it legally to someone else who bought it. That original owner still owes Sprint money, but that should have nothing to do with the phone itself.
So I'd just like to use the phone I paid for. I have an IMEI from an older phone that went into the toilet, so I don't really see the problem with swapping the IMEI of this one out for that one.
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I'm sorry you are out the money....
But the flaw in your logic is that 2017 $800-$900 LG V30 phone still belongs to Sprint, until paid off. The person who "sold" it to you had no right to sell property they do not own (unless they used the money to pay off the balance). So, technically, they are stealing it. The only reason it's not been "reported" stolen is Sprint is probably taking care of this in civil proceedings as opposed to criminal proceedings? They are probably getting a judgement against the person. In which case, Sprint doesn't want to deal with you because that just complicates the case.
IF the person you bought it from had used that money to immediately pay of the balance, then everything would be OK. But they probably sold for lot less than owed to Sprint. (Sprint wants customers with recurring monthly payments, they don't want to be Best Buy. The financial price of the contract is probably a LOT more than the hardware cost of the phone.)
This phone was released in October. The user probably didn't make any payments, to be honest. So you would be out not only what you paid them, but probably the full amount they owe Sprint for up to two years?
Sprint also had deals where you would get a phone, get free first year service, but then be obligated to pay for 2nd year of service. People signed a legal contract. To get out of the contract they had to pay the value of what was still left. The amount owed on this phone might not be just the cost of the phone, but a year or two of Sprint service charges. I haven't seen the contract, I really couldn't care less about Sprint --- I've helped many friends escape Sprint -- I'm just speculating why Sprint isn't being helpful with you. It seems it's more than just the phone?
One Sprint deal was to LEASE TWO PHONES. LEASE one phone, get one for free:
http://newsroom.sprint.com/lg-v30-a...e-get-one-on-us-just-38-per-month-for-two.htm
In which case, they weren't even buying the phone from Sprint over two years, they were renting it.
I see this a lot with new Sprint phones sold on Craigslist and eBay -- lots of drama for some reason. Earlier this year was lots of posts for help in unlocking Sprint Galaxy S8/S8+. It's not that those model phones cannot be unlocked, it's that money was owed on them still. People were getting new Sprint phones for "free", then turning around and selling them on eBay, Craigslist. But they weren't free. They had signed a contract, and until the terms were fulfilled it was still Sprint's phones. So, it was really a scam.
In many countries, changing IMEI numbers is like changing VIN on a car. It's against the law, because either the car is stolen or some other bad intent is happening.
Sent from my carrier unlocked LG V30+ US998
cjshrader said:
I've done some research and can't find anything that says it is illegal in the United States, which is where I live. I do believe it's illegal in Europe but I don't intend to use the phone there so I'm not really concerned about that.
The way I see it I legally bought a phone. I was mislead a little bit, but the phone is not reported stolen so that means the original owner sold it legally to someone else who bought it. That original owner still owes Sprint money, but that should have nothing to do with the phone itself. So I'd just like to use the phone I paid for. I have an IMEI from an older phone that went into the toilet, so I don't really see the problem with swapping the IMEI of this one out for that one.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_cloning#Effectiveness_and_legislation
https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/cell-phone-fraud
Contact your seller, explain the situation, and if the description didn't state the IMEI issue, or didn't state the item was AS-IS, contact paypal/ebay and open a dispute.
If it was stated, well, you knew what you where getting into!
Good luck!
I appreciate all the comments from everyone. Although I'm not sure that simply changing your IMEI is specifically illegal, I can see 100% how someone could use that information to do something illegal and therefore this forum wouldn't want to discuss it.
I'm going to continue to try to use the resources nizmoboy98 provided to me to see if I can learn any more (They haven't been working so far and have me a little nervous that they are also some form of scam...but I'll give the benefit of the doubt).
If that doesn't give me any additional worthwhile information, then I'll have to sell it for parts on eBay and be much more upfront than the seller was to me. I won't make all my money back but maybe I can make some. (The seller did say the phone was as-is but also said the only problem with it was it was "Activated on someone else's account" which didn't mean the same thing to me as it did to him) I've learned a valuable and expensive lesson about checking IMEIs in the future.
cjshrader said:
I appreciate all the comments from everyone. Although I'm not sure that simply changing your IMEI is specifically illegal, I can see 100% how someone could use that information to do something illegal and therefore this forum wouldn't want to discuss it.
I'm going to continue to try to use the resources nizmoboy98 provided to me to see if I can learn any more (They haven't been working so far and have me a little nervous that they are also some form of scam...but I'll give the benefit of the doubt).
If that doesn't give me any additional worthwhile information, then I'll have to sell it for parts on eBay and be much more upfront than the seller was to me. I won't make all my money back but maybe I can make some. (The seller did say the phone was as-is but also said the only problem with it was it was "Activated on someone else's account" which didn't mean the same thing to me as it did to him) I've learned a valuable and expensive lesson about checking IMEIs in the future.
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If you paid by CC, just dispute the charges with your CC company and they'll give you your money back. (Chargeback) now if the seller indeed showed it was not usable, you're outta luck.
cjshrader said:
I appreciate all the comments from everyone. Although I'm not sure that simply changing your IMEI is specifically illegal, I can see 100% how someone could use that information to do something illegal and therefore this forum wouldn't want to discuss it.
I'm going to continue to try to use the resources nizmoboy98 provided to me to see if I can learn any more (They haven't been working so far and have me a little nervous that they are also some form of scam...but I'll give the benefit of the doubt).
If that doesn't give me any additional worthwhile information, then I'll have to sell it for parts on eBay and be much more upfront than the seller was to me. I won't make all my money back but maybe I can make some. (The seller did say the phone was as-is but also said the only problem with it was it was "Activated on someone else's account" which didn't mean the same thing to me as it did to him) I've learned a valuable and expensive lesson about checking IMEIs in the future.
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Really sorry for what seems like a loss. The phone is a great phone. I hope something positive and inexpensive works in your favor.
Sent from my LG-H931 using XDA Labs
Just use some of the online services to sim unlock the phone. Screw the provider, they are all assholes.
That's if I understood correctly what you meant by "locked to another persons account"
Mr CATFISH said:
Really sorry for what seems like a loss. The phone is a great phone. I hope something positive and inexpensive works in your favor.
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I appreciate that, and even though I'm paying extra for one I'm definitely thinking it's going to be the next phone I get. I've been on a Note 4 for a long time and it's on its last legs.
adsubzero said:
Just use some of the online services to sim unlock the phone. Screw the provider, they are all assholes.
That's if I understood correctly what you meant by "locked to another persons account"
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The IMEI is tied to that account, I don't think the SIM card would affect anything.
Josh McGrath said:
If you paid by CC, just dispute the charges with your CC company and they'll give you your money back. (Chargeback) now if the seller indeed showed it was not usable, you're outta luck.
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The purchase was through Paypal, and since eBay and Paypal are generally in lock step together. That being said, I should still take a shot, it wouldn't hurt. This is effectively a bad IMEI phone, and the seller said the problem with it was it was "activated on someone else's account." Those two things don't mean the same to me.
cjshrader said:
The IMEI is tied to that account, I don't think the SIM card would affect anything.
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He's saying there are other providers who don't care that it's a blacklisted phone. That IF you get the phone carrier unlocked through an unlock code perhaps you can then use it with another service provider.
My understanding is there's a U.S. carrier blacklist covering all four major carriers. Whether there are loopholes, I don't know. Like maybe since is not actually been reported lost/stolen?
But there's also tons of U.S. MVNOs who may or may not suscribe to that list. Those MVNOs use the major carriers, like AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, but provide their own SIM cards.
I'm just explaining what the other person meant. What you do is your own decision.
Sent from my official carrier unlocked LG V30+ US998
Try and search ebay for the this seller and message the seller any questions you have. Ask seller if you will get refund if it does not work . im guessing sites that provide this service knows someone that works at sprint and maybe pays them under the table to change status of imei
Hey all,
Just to close this topic I called eBay just to give it one more shot (I'd already opened a case and had it denied, even after appeal). After speaking with them, they told me it's against eBay policy to sell a phone with a bad IMEI so they will actually go through with the refund. I immediately bought another version of this phone on swappa, so basically I think this is the happiest possible ending (except for the seller on eBay, who is about to have their phone back).
Once again thanks for all the comments, I appreciate it.
cjshrader said:
Hey all,
Just to close this topic I called eBay just to give it one more shot (I'd already opened a case and had it denied, even after appeal). After speaking with them, they told me it's against eBay policy to sell a phone with a bad IMEI so they will actually go through with the refund. I immediately bought another version of this phone on swappa, so basically I think this is the happiest possible ending (except for the seller on eBay, who is about to have their phone back).
Once again thanks for all the comments, I appreciate it.
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You sent the seller back a bad phone?
MicroMod777 said:
You sent the seller back a bad phone?
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Well, with the refund it's now eBay seller's property (again)...
He can sell it to someone outside the U.S. and it will work.
MicroMod777 said:
You sent the seller back a bad phone?
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This is a year old thread ?