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Are we being scammed?
- Thread starter Twimfy
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If you didn't keep a record of the phone ID then there is no way to know if she's giving you the old phone back. Based on what's said here there is a chance see's trying to scam you by giving you an blocked phone back although it seems a bit elaborate/unusual giving you cash fist then trying to recover it.
You should tell her it's a completed sale and you had no problems with the phone so no refund. If she doesn't want it she should sell it.
Fingers crossed you don't suffer any vandalism. This is one reason why sellers often don't meet or give buyers at their home address
You should tell her it's a completed sale and you had no problems with the phone so no refund. If she doesn't want it she should sell it.
Fingers crossed you don't suffer any vandalism. This is one reason why sellers often don't meet or give buyers at their home address
Meet at the police station and don't let people come to your house for items that are easily transported, such as an iPhone.
iTunes may have a backup of the iPhone somewhere on your hard drive but I don't know if the serial is in there somewhere. Also, did you register the iPhone with Apple? If so, there is likely a record of the serial # there.
iTunes may have a backup of the iPhone somewhere on your hard drive but I don't know if the serial is in there somewhere. Also, did you register the iPhone with Apple? If so, there is likely a record of the serial # there.
I say have her meet you at the Apple Store since all the police can do is give you a report. Have the Apple rep tell you himself what the situation is...
If the girl refuses, then offer the police meeting option, if she refuses that, she's lying....
If the girl refuses, then offer the police meeting option, if she refuses that, she's lying....
All of that sounds good (on paper, so to say), but it seems to sort of overlook a fairly important part of the OP:
I don't think it matters what part of the world you're at, there is stupid/crazy people everywhere that might take a situation far.
That's the reason you don't meet at your house or workplace and pick a random public place instead.
But also doesn't mean you should give in to a strangers threats and get scammed.
A look around on giffgaff website brought me this page: http://giffgaff.com/boiler-plate/contact
Where you can log on and ask the information of proof of usage, which will confirm your imei number was used against your moms mobile number. So therefor this is your evidence that the imei of the handset that was sold, which belonged to yourself. You may have to pay £10 to request this. but this information is easily available if you need it from giffgaff. Also if your concerned that this person and her family may damage your house etc, then you need to log these concerns with the police.
So to summarise:
1. Get in touch with giffgaff to provide you with the proof of usage information that your moms number was used against the relevant imei number of the iPhone, its available as mentioned above.
2. Once you have this information, meet up in a Police station and they can let the girl know that the imei is clean, and you will have the imei proof of the one your mom had via the document of proof of usage.
3. If the girl refuses to meet up as mentioned in step 2 when you have that information then you know its a scam.
4. Mention your concerns to the Police that you may think she may end up doing. However you have to have evidence and a strong reason to believe she may damage your house, otherwise if you accuse her of false information she may tell the Police about that.
Follow the above steps and simple issue is resolved.
I definitely agree in general, but in certain situations there can be something more to it all--at least to be vigilant about--beyond simply "ignore" and move on.
Well today everything has been quiet, no messages, no phone calls and nothing new has been said, we've just ignored her to see what her next move is.
As for people talking about "you should never let people come to your home" well I agree but we run a family laptop repair business from home. We let people come here and try before they buy, offer free repairs etc within 30 days, and we have built good community connections and better business as a result.
Although the iPhone wasn't a business sale (mum was upgrading to an iP5 and just listed her phone on a Facebook for sale group), once again we let the girl come along and see it/pick it up. We live in a quiet part of rural Dorset, nothing bad really happens here...well unless the gypsies get involved (I had my fuel pipe on my car cut once, just at random and the police caught them).
It clear is a case of her damaging it or the hardware failing, it has to be, we know that flat out from the reports and it was working flawlessly for us for 18 months. I just wanted to be sure, I asked here because I thought maybe there was some other form of call barring beyond the carrier and IMEI.
Hopefully she backs off but I will let you all know the outcome, thanks for the help so far.
As for people talking about "you should never let people come to your home" well I agree but we run a family laptop repair business from home. We let people come here and try before they buy, offer free repairs etc within 30 days, and we have built good community connections and better business as a result.
Although the iPhone wasn't a business sale (mum was upgrading to an iP5 and just listed her phone on a Facebook for sale group), once again we let the girl come along and see it/pick it up. We live in a quiet part of rural Dorset, nothing bad really happens here...well unless the gypsies get involved (I had my fuel pipe on my car cut once, just at random and the police caught them).
It clear is a case of her damaging it or the hardware failing, it has to be, we know that flat out from the reports and it was working flawlessly for us for 18 months. I just wanted to be sure, I asked here because I thought maybe there was some other form of call barring beyond the carrier and IMEI.
Hopefully she backs off but I will let you all know the outcome, thanks for the help so far.
Considering that you're more likely to be scammed with an iPhone, I'd separate it from your home laptop repair business and treat it like a true CL transaction moving forward.
Apple probably has the serial number by logging into your mom's icloud. Or the serial number can be seen in itunes.
Even if its the right serial number I'd look for water damage. I'd also borrow an O2 SIM from somewhere and test the phone. If it gets a signal and makes a call then all good.
The only thing about your story that doesn't make sense is if you don't have the serial number how the hell did you have the cops verify the phone is not on the stolen list?
Even if its the right serial number I'd look for water damage. I'd also borrow an O2 SIM from somewhere and test the phone. If it gets a signal and makes a call then all good.
The only thing about your story that doesn't make sense is if you don't have the serial number how the hell did you have the cops verify the phone is not on the stolen list?
We asked her for the serial and IMEI so we could contact the police, which she was more than happy to provide, still doesn't prove it's the phone we sold to her. She seemed to go on the defensive once we showed her a copy of the reports though.
She thankfully seems to have disappeared and my house is still intact. Hopefully that's the end of it.