My "galaxy s5" came in today. Worked for one minute and died. Appear cheap made. Says made in China. Called tmobile she told me imei is unknown. Watch out if buying on ebay. I'm returning Monday
optimusv45 said:
My "galaxy s5" came in today. Worked for one minute and died. Appear cheap made. Says made in China. Called tmobile she told me imei is unknown. Watch out if buying on ebay. I'm returning Monday
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You have to be really careful on eBay with mobile phones. So many of them are blacklisted, blocked or are about to be. You have to make sure they can prove it was paid off. S3s have been around long enough as well as some S4s so your chances of getting a blocked phone are not as great but there are very few S5s that are not under contract of some sort. There are a couple of sites where you can check the IMEI for free, but that only shows what the state is today, and does not protect you from them reporting it lost or stolen after you buy it and have it for a couple of months.
gspears said:
You have to be really careful on eBay with mobile phones. So many of them are blacklisted, blocked or are about to be. You have to make sure they can prove it was paid off. S3s have been around long enough as well as some S4s so your chances of getting a blocked phone are not as great but there are very few S5s that are not under contract of some sort. There are a couple of sites where you can check the IMEI for free, but that only shows what the state is today, and does not protect you from them reporting it lost or stolen after you buy it and have it for a couple of months.
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I'm not that afraid of blocked phones. I'm planning on unlocking and using on att anyways. I'm just buying the tmobile version for the bootloader. The one I bought is straight up fake. They had a tmobile imei flashed to it.
optimusv45 said:
I'm not that afraid of blocked phones. I'm planning on unlocking and using on att anyways. I'm just buying the tmobile version for the bootloader. The one I bought is straight up fake. They had a tmobile imei flashed to it.
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AT&T and T-Mobile share phone blacklist data so depending on why it was blacklisted you can get it unlocked but that doesn't mean it will work on AT&Ts network. In my experience in dealing with used phones, if it's blacklisted for account or payment reasons then it will normally work on AT&T's network. But if it's reported lost or stolen and blacklisted for that reason, it normally won't work on AT&T's network.
I have a G900T I'm using on AT&T with no issues, but I've repaired and resold many blacklisted phones and have run into the issues I described earlier many times so I hijacked your thread to try and give a cautionary tale to others to help them avoid these headaches. I know how to deal with it but most ordinary Joes don't. I've seen the fake S5s and S4s and that's an issue too, but whether it's fake or not, if it doesn't work that sucks.
Sorry you ran into this issue and for hijacking your thread.
That's why I only use Swappa!
HF4L said:
That's why I only use Swappa!
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Swappa just makes sellers say their devices are whatever before listing. They don't have any real means to do quality check either. No real difference
gspears said:
AT&T and T-Mobile share phone blacklist data so depending on why it was blacklisted you can get it unlocked but that doesn't mean it will work on AT&Ts network. In my experience in dealing with used phones, if it's blacklisted for account or payment reasons then it will normally work on AT&T's network. But if it's reported lost or stolen and blacklisted for that reason, it normally won't work on AT&T's network.
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This is true. I have had a TMo S5 that got blacklisted after 2 days of me buying it. I had to just sell it off underpriced. Sigh.
From what I heard from multiple AT&T reps, and got done on the one I got (another TMo S5 from another person), was to take him to TMo store first to verify the account is on his name and that the phone has been paid for. And then go with him to AT&T store to register the IMEI on my name. Once AT&T registers the IMEI on a person's account in person with both parties present, black listing won't apply to that number any more.
optimusv45 said:
Swappa just makes sellers say their devices are whatever before listing. They don't have any real means to do quality check either. No real difference
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But swappa does require the esn to be checked which weeds out stolen, being financed (which is still consider stolen since Tmo still owns it til paid off), cloned esn/imei which will catch you a felony if in possession of and fake devices.
ShinySide said:
But swappa does require the esn to be checked which weeds out stolen, being financed (which is still consider stolen since Tmo still owns it til paid off), cloned esn/imei which will catch you a felony if in possession of and fake devices.
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My fake device checks fine on swappa. When I called tmobile she told me the imei is clear and the device is unknown
I'm coming from att note 3. What's you all opinion on note 3 locked bootloader vs galaxy s5 unlocked bootloader ?
Edit: disregard this one. I posted in the sticky to discuss other devices
optimusv45 said:
Swappa just makes sellers say their devices are whatever before listing. They don't have any real means to do quality check either. No real difference
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That's not true. Swappa makes sellers refund you fully if the phone stops working due to an imei issue. On eBay, if I state the device turns on and appears to function as normal but could have a blocked imei. And eBay won't make me refund the buyer due to an accurate description.
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
elesbb said:
That's not true. Swappa makes sellers refund you fully if the phone stops working due to an imei issue. On eBay, if I state the device turns on and appears to function as normal but could have a blocked imei. And eBay won't make me refund the buyer due to an accurate description.
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
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I haven't sold on swappa. How do they make you refund ? They somehow can withdraw money from your PayPal after you get the money ?
http://swappa.com/faq/general/paypal_dispute_swappa
Plus, I don't think the powers to be here at XDA would promote a service like Swappa without doing some do diligance. Plus I've bought and sold on Swappa, and have good results each time.
HF4L said:
http://swappa.com/faq/general/paypal_dispute_swappa
Plus, I don't think the powers to be here at XDA would promote a service like Swappa without doing some do diligance. Plus I've bought and sold on Swappa, and have good results each time.
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I see. I don't try to be a pain but just for the sake of discussion, from what I read it's still vague in how they are able to promise people refunds. Just curious if they will just pay for it or somehow make the seller refund obviously without access to their PayPal. Like on ebay, if you don't get what the listing is, eBay will cover you first and go for the seller themselves
Bought my first device on swappa. From what I read on swappas FAQ, if something goes south they just have you use PayPal dispute resolution ... not great, all the refund they can promise you is the 10 bucks fee which is of course nothing
optimusv45 said:
Bought my first device on swappa. From what I read on swappas FAQ, if something goes south they just have you use PayPal dispute resolution ... not great, all the refund they can promise you is the 10 bucks fee which is of course nothing
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That's strange cause I had bought a phone that was reported incomplete payment and they wanted me to dispute it with them before going to PayPal. I guess it all depends on the situation.
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
elesbb said:
That's strange cause I had bought a phone that was reported incomplete payment and they wanted me to dispute it with them before going to PayPal. I guess it all depends on the situation.
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
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Yeah that's what's stated on their official FAQ. After hearing so many positive things about swappa, of course I made a purchase on a seller that doesn't have much past selling history, something I would never do on ebay. Now seller doesn't reply at all, even after the staff left two messages. I guess we'll see what happens. Yes swappa just tells you to dispute with them, them being the seller, if they just don't say anything, you can't do anything about it. I feel swappa is great for sellers because you get immediate payment but not great for buyers. Of course sellers get their money FIRST lol, why would they even care about you. A couple hundred dollars phone scam is so easy you just need a unverified PayPal account, which is just an email, when someone buys you get the money right away. You don't verify your PayPal to transfer funds instead you just use the unverified PayPal to pay for online purchases. And they refund they handle is the 10 bucks lol, PayPal does the rest( what's said in this post is what I understand of swappa and currently what's going on with me. By no means it is 100% correct, feel free to comment). I'll probably sell on swappa and buy on eBay from now on
Pics of the phone?
RakumiAzuri said:
Pics of the phone?
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Looks like this
Pic
I can't post pics for dome reason
Related
I'm buying a brand new, sealed Unlocked Droid Razr off a friend for $485.
He claims he has connections, but I won't be able to get a receipt.
I understand I won't be able to register for a warranty, which is fine by me...
But what are the chances that the phones are stolen, and might I get into trouble for purchasing it off him then?
P.S. He bought a Razr for himself last week as well.
Zadabest said:
I'm buying a brand new, sealed Unlocked Droid Razr off a friend for $485.
He claims he has connections, but I won't be able to get a receipt.
I understand I won't be able to register for a warranty, which is fine by me...
But what are the chances that the phones are stolen, and might I get into trouble for purchasing it off him then?
P.S. He bought a Razr for himself last week as well.
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I would steer clear of this one.. smells fishy.
and FWIW... yes, if you buy stolen property, you have technically 'received stolen property'.. which in some areas is considered a felony.
beyond registering for a warranty, you wouldn't be able to activate it if it's reported stolen.
Most likely, someone, made an insurance claim and never sent the 'bad one' back.. or claimed they never received the replacement.
Happens more frequently than you might imagine.
just my .02
Well the insurance claim would make sense, but remember that its brand new sealed in box... Not only that, but this isn't the ONLY device he has.
He could easily order more.
Zadabest said:
Well the insurance claim would make sense, but remember that its brand new sealed in box... Not only that, but this isn't the ONLY device he has.
He could easily order more.
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Doesn't mean they aren't stolen. Someone he knows may have got hold of a shipment of stolen razr's?
Sent from my XT910 using XDA
Can't I just do an IMEI searchup to check the validity of the phone?
That would require me to unbox it though no? :/
Zadabest said:
Can't I just do an IMEI searchup to check the validity of the phone?
That would require me to unbox it though no? :/
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I don't know how it works where you are. For you to be even posting about it on here says that you have suspicions about the phone. Steer clear and buy legit.
Sent from my XT910 using XDA
You can call with the esn number and they can say if it is flagged or not. I thought all the numbers you need would be on the upc of the phone box unless that is missing.
He stuck in his old SIM card into his new phone, and it worked fine.
So I don't think it's locked.
that would not happen with a razr. the only thing the sim card slot is for is LTE so unless he is only in an ATT LTE area then that wouldnt work(unless you guys are not in the US). but yea, ask for the ESN and call and verify with VZW that it is not a stolen product. if it is clean then i would do it.
See if you can ask him to wait a few days. Even though it might not be flagged as stolen right now, it might in a few days. Depends on the person that sells it but it does look like a stolen device.
Me, I don't want the "hook up" on anything.
If I can't take it back to the store, I don't want it.
Are you willing to go to jail for a phone, well are you?
There are people out there who have friends in Verizon, AT&T, Vodafone or whatever carrier you choose. Those people sometimes get cheap stuff off of those friends.
My opinion is - you might want to check IMEI, but if it does not get flagged, just buy the phoen and sign a small buy/sell paper that will provide where you bought it from. When problems occur you will be safe.
Is this your friend? http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yj9yisLa4ao
ZolaSlo
LOL^ That's hilarious ;D
I don't think I'd ... go to jail even if I do buy a stolen phone...
I'd most definitely get that confiscated though :/
And I'm not from the US, I'm actually from Canada...
I think he's either buying and reselling from the internet, or knows somebody working at a mobile company here. (I hope so at least)
$499.99 on amazon.
Did he by chance get that phone when Verizon had their bogo sale a few weeks ago?
I got a bad imei phone from craigslist. What can i do with it? can i sell it on ebay? So many dishonest people on craigslist. a lesson learn for me.
dealkk said:
I got a bad imei phone from craigslist. What can i do with it? can i sell it on ebay? So many dishonest people on craigslist. a lesson learn for me.
Click to expand...
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Sell it as is
Or unlock it
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
dealkk said:
I got a bad imei phone from craigslist. What can i do with it? can i sell it on ebay? So many dishonest people on craigslist. a lesson learn for me.
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just curious- what do you mean by a bad IMEI? what makes it bad?
saucyross said:
just curious- what do you mean by a bad IMEI? what makes it bad?
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It's when someone reports phone lost or stolen.
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
nanobutter said:
It's when someone reports phone lost or stolen.
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
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Or doesn't pay their EIP on it or says they didn't receive it and sells it. There's many ways T-Mobile phones can be blacklisted.
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
Basically it's junk use it on WIFI or be just as dishonest as the person who sold it to you. Or be honest & maybe someone will but it to use on WIFI. But blacklisted it's a brick. No amount of flashing or roms can change an imei. It still does everything the phone can do, but it will never have cellular service.
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
I feel for you, man. I got my One just a few days ago and seriously considered buying secondhand because I wanted to buy the phone outright and used phones run a couple hundred less. Ultimately I decided there was too much risk and it was worth the peace of mind to buy a new phone directly from TMO. You can't even trust buying a sealed phone still in the package from a third party, since people can steal them in transit or from the store and when the store does inventory and finds the phone missing it goes dead.
Contacting the police and filing a police report is about all you can do. Depending on how stupid the seller was, how much information you got and how motivated the cops are to follow up on your case, you may get your money back. As for the phone, it will not work on any of the US carriers or their MVNOs. About the only option is selling it on eBay to someone overseas. You can sell them on eBay as long as you disclose it has a bad IMEI.
Hesster said:
I feel for you, man. I got my One just a few days ago and seriously considered buying secondhand because I wanted to buy the phone outright and used phones run a couple hundred less. Ultimately I decided there was too much risk and it was worth the peace of mind to buy a new phone directly from TMO. You can't even trust buying a sealed phone still in the package from a third party, since people can steal them in transit or from the store and when the store does inventory and finds the phone missing it goes dead.
Contacting the police and filing a police report is about all you can do. Depending on how stupid the seller was, how much information you got and how motivated the cops are to follow up on your case, you may get your money back. As for the phone, it will not work on any of the US carriers or their MVNOs. About the only option is selling it on eBay to someone overseas. You can sell them on eBay as long as you disclose it has a bad IMEI.
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Phones with bad imei can be used overseas? do you have something that confirms it? I would like to know since I was considering in purchasing one.
cristian.daniel23 said:
Phones with bad imei can be used overseas? do you have something that confirms it? I would like to know since I was considering in purchasing one.
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He isn't saying they work, he's saying that he should do to others the same thing that happened to him..
dealkk said:
I got a bad imei phone from craigslist. What can i do with it? can i sell it on ebay? So many dishonest people on craigslist. a lesson learn for me.
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No, don't sell it on ebay. When selling it on ebay you have to wait at least 2 or 3 days for the buyer to confirm whether or not the phone is working or not under some circumstances. The buyer can easily file a complaint using the resolution center thus resulting in the money that the buyer gave to you being locked until the problem is resolved. It's best to do it through craigslist since ebay and paypal have all those fees anyways.
cristian.daniel23 said:
Phones with bad imei can be used overseas? do you have something that confirms it? I would like to know since I was considering in purchasing one.
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I live in the US, so I've never tested it myself but I've heard from others on this board and elsewhere they bought bad IMEI phones for use in foreign countries and the phones worked. There is actually a huge international black market in stolen phones run by organized crime just for that purpose.
saucyross said:
He isn't saying they work, he's saying that he should do to others the same thing that happened to him..
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Uh, no. That's not what I'm saying at all. I am absolutely against selling a phone and not disclosing it has a bad IMEI. For some users, bad IMEIs don't matter. They either don't apply in the person's country, or the buyer is equipped to swap the motherboard with one from a damaged phone with a good IMEI. Those are the people you want to sell to.
bad imei
This happened to me as well. I bought an s4 from a guy he had changed the imei. I checked back of phone it in fact did not match the actual phone imei. Yet it worked fine. Anyway if u get a bad imei phone if u sim unlock it u can use it on any network but tmobile as long as its a gsm network. U can sell it to someone who intends to use it on att
Radsolutionz said:
This happened to me as well. I bought an s4 from a guy he had changed the imei. I checked back of phone it in fact did not match the actual phone imei. Yet it worked fine. Anyway if u get a bad imei phone if u sim unlock it u can use it on any network but tmobile as long as its a gsm network. U can sell it to someone who intends to use it on att
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doesnt at&t and t-mobile share their blacklists now? if so it can not be activated on either network.
dealkk said:
I got a bad imei phone from craigslist. What can i do with it? can i sell it on ebay? So many dishonest people on craigslist. a lesson learn for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pm message me. i have someone you can get in contact witth that can clean it out for you!
I'm thinking of buying blacklisted TMo GS5 (because of the unlocked bootloader & also because it's cheaper to get a blacklisted phone becuase of the stigma), if I were to unlock it would I be able to use it on AT&T or it's MVNO's? Has anywhere sucessfully tried it? Thanks,
Last time I checked at&t and Tmobile were sharing blacklisted list. Not 100% sure but I think that was the case a few years ago
Sent from my SM-G900T using xda app-developers app
As mentioned above and expanded I think ALL of the big phone companies share the blacklist emei's. I know I saw somewhere that other countries were gonna be doing the same. To help cut down on stolen phones that are bought and then shipped to other countries for use.
Sent From My Spiderman,Ironman,Red,Dark Blue,Green, GreyedOut BadAss Themed I337
Well I did have a blacklisted Note 3 that I was using on at&t. I had no idea it was blacklisted until I tried selling it on Swappa. But it did work for me.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
barondebxl said:
Well I did have a blacklisted Note 3 that I was using on at&t. I had no idea it was blacklisted until I tried selling it on Swappa. But it did work for me.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
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That is strange. If they were supposed to be sharing the database of blacklisted phones how were you able to use it?
Does anyone know for a fact that they are sharing the database? Anybody work at AT&T or T-mObile?
JoJo2211 said:
That is strange. If they were supposed to be sharing the database of blacklisted phones how were you able to use it?
Does anyone know for a fact that they are sharing the database? Anybody work at AT&T or T-mObile?
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I have no clue. I bought the note 3 from another XDA user. Used it for 3 weeks then put a listing on Swappa but it was declined cause the phone Imei was blacklisted. Phone worked perfectly fine for the few weeks I had it on AT&T.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
I unlock phones etc daily ... and yeah if you have a blacklisted at&t phone you Can't! Use it, unless you go overseas ... But if you have a blacklisted tmobile phone you can unlock it and use with another carrier example (At&t, red locket, h2o) with no problem ....
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
How does a phone that just came out get blacklisted? I'm under the un ow does derstanding that they only blacklist stolen or unpaid phones. Are you saving their now blacklisting phones from other carriers simply because they aren't looking their bootloader?
Sent from my SM-G900T using xda app-developers app
I am not a goody two shoes - far from it - but to me there is something morally wrong with buying and supporting Black listed phones = just to save a few bucks.
you are in effect supporting the people who stole the phone in the first place - I would rather pay a premium price for a new phone and know that I am not getting a deal because of someone elses misfortune than pay less for a black listed phone just to save money,
If you have ever had a phone stolen from you - I think you would agree - buying a black listed phone is not a victimless crime it can perpetrate the original theft and we should all consider avoiding that....all black listed phones are probably not stolen - but how do you know?
my two cents
mocsab said:
I am not a goody two shoes - far from it - but to me there is something morally wrong with buying and supporting Black listed phones = just to save a few bucks.
you are in effect supporting the people who stole the phone in the first place - I would rather pay a premium price for a new phone and know that I am not getting a deal because of someone elses misfortune than pay less for a black listed phone just to save money,
If you have ever had a phone stolen from you - I think you would agree - buying a black listed phone is not a victimless crime it can perpetrate the original theft and we should all consider avoiding that....all black listed phones are probably not stolen - but how do you know?
my two cents
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Most blacklisted phones are either financed or reported lost. That's why they are blacklisted by the carrier. I've never had anybody steal my phone or know of anyone who had their phone stolen. Those who default on their payment deserve to get their phones blacklisted but at that point they are out of the innitial $200+ anyway. So if they're looking to resell the phone to recoupe that money, I'm not sure how that should be looked down upon. Meanwhile those who lose their phones and later go on to report it as stolen because they want to get a new phone thru insurance, get no sympathy from me.
JoJo2211 said:
Most blacklisted phones are either financed or reported lost. That's why they are blacklisted by the carrier. I've never had anybody steal my phone or know of anyone who had their phone stolen. Those who default on their payment deserve to get their phones blacklisted but at that point they are out of the innitial $200+ anyway. So if they're looking to resell the phone to recoupe that money, I'm not sure how that should be looked down upon. Meanwhile those who lose their phones and later go on to report it as stolen because they want to get a new phone thru insurance, get no sympathy from me.
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This. But my friend was caught by this, and there is no resolve for the issue he ran into. Goes like this:
He wanted to upgrade, but his upgrade was not up yet, so he decided to go on craigslist and buy a Brand new in box factory sealed GS3. He did so for something like $450 right after launch. He took the phone out of the box, set it up with his SIM, was on tmo fine for about a month or 40 days or so.
He goes to use his phone, and it wont connect to tmo, wont call via wifi, ect. So he calls tmo. They tell him the phone's original account defaulted and was never paid on, even though it was now on his account, and he had been a customer for something like 12+ years with a 4G tablet, and multiple phones in the past, they said they could do nothing to remove the blacklist. They said it was originally purchased with another GS3. They think it was most likely some kind of identity fraud. Sign somebody up and grab two $450 phones and sellem factory sealed.
He ended up selling it as a blacklisted phone on tmo to an AT&T Sub who unlocked it and used it on that carrier, but at a large loss.
For this reason, I will never buy a second hand phone. Its not worth the risk of losing the amount of money these phones go for off contract. Unless someone can prove the phone is paid off. In which case I probably still wouldn't do it.
JoJo2211 said:
Most blacklisted phones are either financed or reported lost. That's why they are blacklisted by the carrier. I've never had anybody steal my phone or know of anyone who had their phone stolen. Those who default on their payment deserve to get their phones blacklisted but at that point they are out of the innitial $200+ anyway. So if they're looking to resell the phone to recoupe that money, I'm not sure how that should be looked down upon. Meanwhile those who lose their phones and later go on to report it as stolen because they want to get a new phone thru insurance, get no sympathy from me.
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Proof again that I very rarely know what i am talking about - - apologies -someone I know explained black listed phones differently to me - your explanation makes sense - I appreciate the clarification.
tupirujp said:
Blacklisted ? I clean imei's lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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So far only couple of people are able to do the new Galaxy S5 including me .... well the AT&T at the moment ... I'm waiting for a TMobile donor phone to begin the process ...
But I'm not gonna go into details about this kind of stuff ...
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
I thought blacklisted phones cannot connect to any GSM carriers in the US because they share the same IMEI database?
blacklisted != blocked != reported lost != reported stolen...
there's different situations that warrant where it'll be blocked from and different databases. actually, checkesnfree dot com does a pretty good job explaining it, though it's not 100% foolproof. just run a test with an imei number and see the different response types. they give you a decent list of possible results.
i've run AT&T on an unlocked T-Mobile SGS3 that was reported lost and it still works. because it's blocked from T-Mobile but not blacklisted across all.
hope this gives you some insight. i nearly got ripped by an eBay seller who sold me a fraudulently obtained S5 which i promptly returned and thank God it all worked out (dude had 100% positive across several years too, it surprised the sheeeet outta me). I ended up driving to Delaware (only 40 minutes from me and I had to do other shopping anyway) and got it tax free with my friend's T-Mobile number at $660 instead of $689. paid $25 on eBay for the unlock code and now I'm 100% worry free, bootloader lock free, KNOX free lol, and rooted.
lesson: it's a $650+ investment. be smart. since I'm running it on AT&T anyway, I could have kept that eBay phone which was blocked and not blacklisted, but why bother? who knows what could happen down the line? value would also be down. plus, I made 30 minutes of phone calls with my friend's T-Mo sim card (to be safe, 30, not just 5) just to ensure it also gets region unlocked too. =)
if you do buy it somewhere else, make sure they have a receipt showing it was PAID IN FULL. cash. they could report a stolen CC number down the line too so I wouldn't trust even one paid in full with CC. even then with a cash receipt I would be careful.. they could report it stolen later down the line, collect insurance, whatever! which goes around again to this: it's not worth it, just get it straight from the carrier! it's a freakin $650-$700 device, it's not worth gambling to save a few bucks!
Blacklisted doesnt necessarily mean stolen. Most of the time some ppls phone is damaged were thr company will demand them to buy another phone instead they report it lost n pay for insurance to get another one easy. It makes sense ur paying for insurance why not use to its full potential?
Sent from my SM-G900T using XDA Free mobile app
tupirujp said:
Blacklisted ? I clean imei's lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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Click to collapse
Are you sure? You'd be the first one in the world able to do that with the news Galaxy S5...
I just purchased a S5 a couple days ago from Craigslist. Meet the person in a T-mobile store and checked the imei before buying it. Everything checked out and I bought it.
A friend once gave me a Verison DroidX. I called Verizon and they confirmed it was Blacklisted. Took it to metro and activated it with no problems.
My S5 is black listed and working just fine on at&t network. No locked boot loader and rooted all the way. Got it cheap too haha
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 01:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:09 AM ----------
tupirujp said:
Blacklisted ? I clean imei's lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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You can't clean the S5 yet...... Waiting on the update lol. I think SPT is gonna get it first
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
Will sm g900t1 with bad esn work with AT&T and get LTE?
Hi i purchased a phone for my girlfriend on craigslist and it seems that it is black listed. What can I do? Can i unlock it and than use it with straight talk?
BTW I found out it was blacklisted because of unpaid account
CPN706 said:
Hi i purchased a phone for my girlfriend on craigslist and it seems that it is black listed. What can I do? Can i unlock it and than use it with straight talk?
BTW I found out it was blacklisted because of unpaid account
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IF you can get it unlocked, you would then need to make sure that Straight Talk doesn't share the same blacklist as Tmo. I know that there are several carriers that share a blacklist with Tmo and if you blocked w/ Tmo then you blocked with them too.
If you bought it knowing it was blacklisted, then shame on you.
If you didnt know, then i would call the person back and get your money back and or get the police involved. They should of disclosed that it was blacklisted when you bought.
You have to be careful when you buy stuff like this off of craigslist. If i buy a phone off craigslist, i like to have the person meet me at a phone store the i was gonna activate it with or with the carrier he or she might have had it activated with ( they can make a note on the persons account that the phone was sold and not stolen or lost), to verify it was infact a good phone. If the person disagrees with what i want to do, then i walk away from it.. Or you can check the imei with some websites that will let you know if the phone is good or blacklisted. You have to be careful either way, cause some people will sell you a phone and then a couple of days later call and report the phone lost or stolen just to get a free phone,upgrade or to get out of a contract .
Sometimes it is better just to get the phone from the carrier to avoid all issues like this. Dont get me wrong, this doesnt happen all the time and some sellers are straight up with you. But it not worth the trouble now or in the future.
CPN706 said:
Hi i purchased a phone for my girlfriend on craigslist and it seems that it is black listed. What can I do? Can i unlock it and than use it with straight talk?
BTW I found out it was blacklisted because of unpaid account
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Galaxyuser88 is correct. Buying a phone from eBay or Craigslist or whatever is dangerous. Very few S5s are purchased outright, most are on two year contracts which are not up yet. But if you were sold a blacklisted phone, you should let the police know and try to get your money back.
That being said, if it's listed because of payment issues, it's normally not blacklisted on other carriers whereas if it's listed as lost or stolen it hits the big list that the carriers share. Of course there are exceptions to this so you never know for sure until you pay to unlock the phone and try it on another carrier. I used swift unlock to unlock my G900T so I could use it on AT&T. They were anything but swift but they were cheap at 19.99.
Anyway, good luck with it.
gspears said:
Galaxyuser88 is correct. Buying a phone from eBay or Craigslist or whatever is dangerous. Very few S5s are purchased outright, most are on two year contracts which are not up yet. But if you were sold a blacklisted phone, you should let the police know and try to get your money back.
That being said, if it's listed because of payment issues, it's normally not blacklisted on other carriers whereas if it's listed as lost or stolen it hits the big list that the carriers share. Of course there are exceptions to this so you never know for sure until you pay to unlock the phone and try it on another carrier. I used swift unlock to unlock my G900T so I could use it on AT&T. They were anything but swift but they were cheap at 19.99.
Anyway, good luck with it.
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Why don't you just shop around your area where small shops offer android repair. I can guarantee you that more then half of them can swap IMEI for no more then 50 bucks. Just ask tmo to send you a new sim, don't take the 0hone in.
galaxyuser88 said:
If you bought it knowing it was blacklisted, then shame on you.
If you didnt know, then i would call the person back and get your money back and or get the police involved. They should of disclosed that it was blacklisted when you bought.
You have to be careful when you buy stuff like this off of craigslist. If i buy a phone off craigslist, i like to have the person meet me at a phone store the i was gonna activate it with or with the carrier he or she might have had it activated with ( they can make a note on the persons account that the phone was sold and not stolen or lost), to verify it was infact a good phone. If the person disagrees with what i want to do, then i walk away from it.. Or you can check the imei with some websites that will let you know if the phone is good or blacklisted. You have to be careful either way, cause some people will sell you a phone and then a couple of days later call and report the phone lost or stolen just to get a free phone,upgrade or to get out of a contract .
Sometimes it is better just to get the phone from the carrier to avoid all issues like this. Dont get me wrong, this doesnt happen all the time and some sellers are straight up with you. But it not worth the trouble now or in the future.
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Bought it knowing it's blacklisted then shame on him? Blacklisted or not the phone was still the previous guys belonging, he exchanged some reduction in his credit score for the phone, of course he could sell it to someone else. many people buy blacklisted devices and use on other carriers. Many big stores on ebay sell them everyday. Blacklisted are still of values and you sound like they should just be wasted threw away or something. t-mobile s5 has unpaid bill and I'm using it on straight talk with no issues. It was cheaper than a normal one but I wasn't gonna use it on tmobile so everything worked out perfect for me
---------- Post added at 06:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:11 PM ----------
neshkoda said:
Why don't you just shop around your area where small shops offer android repair. I can guarantee you that more then half of them can swap IMEI for no more then 50 bucks. Just ask tmo to send you a new sim, don't take the 0hone in.
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Changing imei is illegal
optimusv45 said:
Bought it knowing it's blacklisted then shame on him? Blacklisted or not the phone was still the previous guys belonging, he exchanged some reduction in his credit score for the phone, of course he could sell it to someone else. many people buy blacklisted devices and use on other carriers. Many big stores on ebay sell them everyday. Blacklisted are still of values and you sound like they should just be wasted threw away or something. t-mobile s5 has unpaid bill and I'm using it on straight talk with no issues. It was cheaper than a normal one but I wasn't gonna use it on tmobile so everything worked out perfect for me
---------- Post added at 06:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:11 PM ----------
Changing imei is illegal
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But is it really worth all the trouble, What would happen if they started to exchange blacklist info with all carriers, Then you are S.O.L. Sometimes you get lucky, but sooner or later that luck will run out. I am not saying they dont have any worth, but as long as it works then they can be used for parts to fix a broken one. That is one reason the big stores on ebay sell them. Its like buying a stolen item getting caught and then telling the judge you knew or didnt know it was stolen, but it was cheap and i should be able to use it and keep it since you didnt steal it.
galaxyuser88 said:
But is it really worth all the trouble, What would happen if they started to exchange blacklist info with all carriers, Then you are S.O.L. Sometimes you get lucky, but sooner or later that luck will run out. I am not saying they dont have any worth, but as long as it works then they can be used for parts to fix a broken one. That is one reason the big stores on ebay sell them. Its like buying a stolen item getting caught and then telling the judge you knew or didnt know it was stolen, but it was cheap and i should be able to use it and keep it since you didnt steal it.
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If it's blocked from a carrier for unpaid bills, it's not like a stolen item at all and won't be blocked on other carriers. The previous owners BOUGHT it NOT STOLE IT with their credit history and it can't be used on original carrier.
CPN706 said:
Hi i purchased a phone for my girlfriend on craigslist and it seems that it is black listed. What can I do? Can i unlock it and than use it with straight talk?
BTW I found out it was blacklisted because of unpaid account
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same problem, but I wanted to use that T-Mobile phone with metro pcs. I decided to change the IMEI number, look it up, there are some cheap services where they change the imei and, baamm! I had signal again, however, before purchasing the service ask them if it would would with the carrier you want, if not, get tmobile, they have affordable plans, and pre paid plans and works like a charm.
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 ?