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No, this is a good thing for consumers. I am curious why it took so long to implement, and I think it is also interesting that it seems carriers do not prevent these devices on their networks.

in Australia carriers do. I worked at one. If you report your phone stolen they Can place an IMEI block rendering your phone completely useless.
 
in Australia carriers do. I worked at one. If you report your phone stolen they Can place an IMEI block rendering your phone completely useless.
I believe only in that country. Ship the device overseas and I believe it’ll work fine. There needs to be a global device black list if there isn’t already.
 
What, so this means carriers, for instance, let phones reported as missing operate on their networks?
No, it doesn't mean at all, since there's no such thing written anywhere...
Phones reported have IMEI blocked. But it have nothing to do with Apple, at least not until now
Anyway i think this thread it's becoming confusing as "missing" can mean 2 different things:
1) Missing as missing/stolen mode activated by user
2) Missing as reported missing to police
The article refers to the 2nd one
 
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They legally can't. There are all sorts of missing and stolen devices that actually aren't. Relationship conflicts is one example.
Well, usually everyone have it's own apple id. If i gift an iphone to my GF i'll not put in my apple id in order to lock it everytime i want...
 
hope they also alert the original owner it's been located vs. giving it back to the person who brought it in. otherwise...what's the point. the phone is still not in the original owners hands, fixed or not. police should prob be notified too, I'd think.
That might be a good option, but I suspect the stores won't want to go that path as it could possibly put employees in a dangerous position. If the store tech says this a "missing device" and I can't give it back to you it lead to a fight and injuries.....liabilities. They could notify law enforcement while they are looking at it.
 
Nope. Since the person who sold it did not legally own it, no one down the line can have purchased it legitimately.
Buying stolen goods is never legitimate. Who raised you?

In Switzerland, you can become the legal owner of stolen property if you buy it in good faith (Swiss courts will usually assume good faith it you bought it from a business and paid around fair market value) and bought it "at a public auction, or on the market, or from a merchant dealing in goods of the same kind", although the original owner (theoretically) has the option to reclaim ownership, but "only against reimbursement of the price paid" (meaning the price paid by the new owner).
 
Buying stolen goods is never legitimate. Who raised you?
LOL, who raised YOU??? Stolen goods are purchased every hour of every day by other people who have no idea the item has been stolen. To these Buyers at that moment, it's a legitimate purchase!
 
Refusing to repair phones marked as lost is different to refusing to repair stolen phones.
Marked as lost can equal stolen. The legitimate owner of the phone can unmark it but a thief could not. Sorry if someone buys a stolen phone but that's something they should have checked on. If I buy a stolen car it's not like I can say oops my bad now can I get it fixed because it's my stolen car now?
 
I assume that your meaning is that knowingly buying stolen goods is never legitimate, which I think any reasonable person will agree with.
I'm not sure what he meant but I'll say it "buying stolen goods is never legitimate"... It doesn't matter if you knew or not. It's stolen and not yours!
 
Marked as lost can equal stolen. The legitimate owner of the phone can unmark it but a thief could not. Sorry if someone buys a stolen phone but that's something they should have checked on. If I buy a stolen car it's not like I can say oops my bad now can I get it fixed because it's my stolen car now?
^ your words, but the emphasis mine. A scumbag could sell their phone for cash and then report it as lost/stolen/whatever for insurance. Apple would then be denying a legitimate owner service.
 
hope they also alert the original owner it's been located vs. giving it back to the person who brought it in. otherwise...what's the point. the phone is still not in the original owners hands, fixed or not. police should prob be notified too, I'd think.
If an owner misplaces his or her phone, reports it as lost, and then finds it later on, said owner (with valid government ID and proof of original purchase matching ID) should be able to have it repaired, in my opinion.
 
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^ your words, but the emphasis mine. A scumbag could sell their phone for cash and then report it as lost/stolen/whatever for insurance. Apple would then be denying a legitimate owner service.
This is true. A scum bag could also steal someone’s phone and sell it for cash while the original owner reported it stolen. It seems the problem here is not the fact that Apple won’t fix a stolen phone but false reports.

Exactly what motivation would someone have to make this false report? I guess they could just be a rotten person but I suspect the majority of phones reported stolen or lost are legitimately stolen or lost. Often people just find their phone missing because they don’t realize someone stole it so they just report it lost.

Also I think they’re talking about reporting it as lost is on iCloud Find My so if you’re buying an iPhone that means to make sure they take it off their iCloud account. Once it’s removed from their account they won’t have the option to click this.

Apple refusing to repair stolen iPhones isn’t about that one person who got a stolen iPhone can’t get it repaired but it’s more about deterring people from buying and selling stolen iPhones. This in turn will deter people from stealing iPhones.
 
If an owner misplaces his or her phone, reports it as lost, and then finds it later on, said owner (with valid government ID and proof of original purchase matching ID) should be able to have it repaired, in my opinion.
Totally agree and since it’s likely linked to their iCloud account this will probably be very easy. If there’s some rare case of that person having an older second iCloud account I’m sure with proof of purchase Apple will reset the phone. It’s the same with if you have a locked iPhone and take it to the Apple store. If you can prove it’s yours they will restore it for you. It would be silly for Apple to refuse repair if you can prove ownership. I don’t think they would do this
 
Apple needs to spread the word around to cut down on iPhone theft. Social media would be a good place to start. This new policy should cut down on theft
 
-Edit- Never mind. So many other people have already explained about how stolen property cannot legally change hands. I don’t need to also pile-on to that specific comment, lol.
 
So you watch a youtube video and fix it yourself. Bad guys are getting away .... no help from apple.
 
There are a few people here that seem unaware of what their rights and responsibilities are w/ stolen goods. If you buy something off someone and it turns out its stolen , then no matter how much you believe its yours, you are in posession of stolen goods, and not only are you not entitled to keep it, you could be charged for a serious crime. Felony even, in some US states. Which means if its in your posession and you become aware its stolen you have to hand it over to the police.
I'm sort of surprised apple dont have a confiscation policy. Pawn shops often have laws applying to them (This will vary heavily between states and countries) that if someone brings in something they believe is stolen goods, they cant return it to the customer they have to sieze it and hand it to the cops. If it turns out it wasnt stolen, then the cops will return it. I guess that law doesnt necessarily apply to Apple. Which is unfortunate.

And no it doesnt matter if you didn't know it was stolen. If you purchased a stolen phone, that phone does not belong to you, and you need to take that matter up the person who sold it to you. Your beef is with then, not the phones owner, or any shop or police officer that mediated the return of that item.
 
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