Using an iphone thats been reported stolen?

Legally speaking the phone belongs to Amex now.
At this point you are in possession of stolen property.

You need to notify them that it has been "found" and let them determine what needs to be done with it.

If they let you keep it, you will still be required to have a data plan if you use it on AT&T.
Standing policy for all smart phones now.

What rjohnstone said. If you don't tell them and they find out you have it it's either possession of stolen property or they will go after you for insurance fraud.

They wont find out and they dont care just put your AT&T simcard and it will work fine.
US carriers dont blacklist phones so even stolen or lost phones will still work.
Update to 4.0 and turn off data in the settings so you can use it just for calls, texts and wifi for internet.
If AT&T does its periodic scans and notices theres an iphone with no data on your account they might automaticly add the $15 data plan on it.

I can most certainly guarantee you that Amex cares.
AT&T may not since they aren't out any money.

rjohnstone said:

I can most certainly guarantee you that Amex cares.
AT&T may not since they aren't out any money.

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I can certainly guarantee that the OP doesnt though
But seriously whats Amex going to do with the found used iphone now? Request you to mail to them?
Either way is it 100% moral? No
Would most people just keep it and not say anything? You bet.

Yes... Amex will ask you to send it to them for disposal.
They do this with most damaged item claims as well.


But I fully agree... most people would keep it and not say a thing.

As for the OP's question about AT&T... I'm pretty sure they will hit them with a data plan charge even if it's deactivated on the phone.

Elle928 said:

my sister lost her iphone about a month ago. We reported it stolen

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Why report it stolen if you just lost it?

You are committing insurance fraud and asking us to be accessories to it.

Make no mistake, you are committing a crime. You should contact Amex and ask them what they want you to do with the newly found iPhone.

Do the right thing.

The fact that you are asking us if you could get away with it tells me that you KNOW you are doing something wrong.

Everyone needs to calm down a little.

My wife is an attorney and I asked her.

Here is the answer:

If your sister reported that the phone was stolen and AMEX reimbursed her, technically the phone belongs to AMEX. However, the most that can happen to you is that AMEX request the phone be returned to them. In order for AMEX to sue you for "fraud" they would have to prove that you knew where the phone was the entire time and reported it "lost/stolen" in order to get another one.

In actuality, you have plausible deniability in that you didn't know you needed to turn the phone over, but certainly will do so when asked.

Elle928 said:

also, is there any way for att or amex to find out that its been found if i begin using it?

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Nope... not unless Amex has some agreement with AT&T to look for items like this, which I know they don't.

Gregintosh said:

You are committing insurance fraud and asking us to be accessories to it.

Make no mistake, you are committing a crime. You should contact Amex and ask them what they want you to do with the newly found iPhone.

Do the right thing.

The fact that you are asking us if you could get away with it tells me that you KNOW you are doing something wrong.

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Hahaha. Thts t most funniest thing I've heard. Do the right thing? Against insurance companies?

Dude just jailbreak n use it merrily

ceep5588 said:

Everyone needs to calm down a little.

My wife is an attorney and I asked her.

Here is the answer:

If your sister reported that the phone was stolen and AMEX reimbursed her, technically the phone belongs to AMEX. However, the most that can happen to you is that AMEX request the phone be returned to them. In order for AMEX to sue you for "fraud" they would have to prove that you knew where the phone was the entire time and reported it "lost/stolen" in order to get another one.

In actuality, you have plausible deniability in that you didn't know you needed to turn the phone over, but certainly will do so when asked.

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False.

Your wife doesn't seem to know what she's talking about.

What if I gave the phone to a friend, and the friend did whatever they want with it for a month, then gave it back?

I didn't know where the phone was for the whole time, but I still got it back in the end. That's still fraud.

And, there is evidence. Right here. If it is the case that I got your IP, I could easily report you to AMEX, and they would demand the phone back.

This thread serves as evidence that the OP knew exactly what the legal thing was. That's not debatable. The choice is whether or not the OP makes the correct decision.

Elle928 said:

so all i need to do is jailbreak it? how do i do that? and someone told my sister to change the imei number to the phone i have now so that they wont charge the data plan. Do i need to do that and how would i do it?

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It's possible, but not practical.

dvdhsu said:

False.

Your wife doesn't seem to know what she's talking about.

What if I gave the phone to a friend, and the friend did whatever they want with it for a month, then gave it back?

I didn't know where the phone was for the whole time, but I still got it back in the end. That's still fraud.

And, there is evidence. Right here. If it is the case that I got your IP, I could easily report you to AMEX, and they would demand the phone back.

This thread serves as evidence that the OP knew exactly what the legal thing was. That's not debatable. The choice is whether or not the OP makes the correct decision.

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1. My wife was responding to the OP's question, not your hypothetical. His post indicated that the phone was ACTUALLY lost. Not that he pretended it was.

2. This thread doesn't prove anything at all. None of these comments qualify as actual legal assistance. For all he knows, we are all lying.

It is very difficult to actually prove, in cases such as this, intent. In order to prove fraud, the insurance company would be required to prove that the person who filed the claim actually INTENDED to commit fraud against AMEX. Company's are almost never able to prove this (it's very difficult) which is why they rarely sue for it (lawsuits for insurance fraud are common--but limited to cases involving large sums that are easily proven). Further, if an insurance company sues for fraud and loses, they not only have to pay the accused court costs, they are then open to a civil lawsuit from the accused for a host of punitive measures. In England these suits are even more rare, as the potential monetary consequences for wrongfully suing are far higher.

Elle928 said:

so all i need to do is jailbreak it? how do i do that?

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Wht model is it? 2G,3G,3GS?
N wht version software it was on before getting deactivated? 3.1.2? 3.1.3?

Need to chk this info fr jailbreak as each scenario is different!

If it was reported stolen to AT&T, it will not work on their network. I'm not sure if they share IMEI numbers for phones that were reported stolen with other networks, but if they don't you could potentially use it on T-Mobile.

As for insurance fraud, it is possible, but highly unlikely. It is the property of American Express, though, so you are in possession of stolen property because a) it was reported stolen, and b) it does not belong to you. I will not give you advice on this situation, because I'm no lawyer, but if the fact that you're in possession of stolen property does make its way back to Amex they could potentially get the police involved.

Good luck.

Moreover I feel Amex or any company In this case fr tht matter will care about the fone once they hav offered replacement. AMEX is an insurance company not a detective agency to go on checking fr a 300$ device. They hav already made money through t insurance. Everythin shud b fine Unless t phone was a yet to b released model tht was lost in a bar

Daiden said:

If it was reported stolen to AT&T, it will not work on their network.

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I'm not sure if that's true. Though it's been years since this happened, on two occasions in the pre-iPhone era I filed replacement claims on AT&T phones that I had misplaced and then re-discovered, and used them with AT&T service.

ceep5588 said:

I'm not sure if that's true. Though it's been years since this happened, on two occasions in the pre-iPhone era I filed replacement claims on AT&T phones that I had misplaced and then re-discovered, and used them with AT&T service.

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If AMEX has logged the IMEI number then the phone won't work at all on any carrier. Coz all carriers in the country use the same blacklist of IMEI numbers. This is IF the IMEI has been logged. No harm in using to check. If it works fine. Else it can be used as an itouch!