Craiglist flooded with iCloud locked iPhones

[Prof.]

Just took a look at the Chicago Craigslist - $150 for a "3 day old" iPhone 5? Yeah, stolen with activation lock.

 

[SanjeevRana]

My question to those of you who say it is not possible to reset iDevices with Find My iPhone turned on: then how does it happen so often? And not just to thieves. Used devices that are sold, corporate devices, it's happening yet you say it can't. And with used devices it seems to happen because of ignorance. Someone sells their iPhone or iPad and doesn't realize the buyer is locked out. Since at least in some cases they're willing and able to remove it, then the devices aren't stolen. And these seem to be people who wouldn't know about DFU resets and things like that. The fact that Apple has instructions for how buyers and sellers can resolve the issue is telling. It can and does happen that somehow devices get reset with activation lock still active.

Very simple ... just do a DFU on a locked device ... on setup screen you get the locked message and requires same ID

Thats the only way for now with which to get a clean OS/setup screen but still have an activation lock

 

[regkilla]

I don't want to test this, but I remember in the past trying to sign out of iCloud completely, and getting a message that I had to deactivate Find my iPhone first.

I can't remember when, or if it was a mac not a phone, but I have a clear memory of that happening.

Sellers also need to remove the device from their Apple Support Profile if the new owner is going to be able to register it on theirs. This is separate from iCloud. Only really important if there is warranty remaining. I have fallen foul of this with a second hand Mac I bought.

EDIT reading this Apple article about Activation Lock I see Activation Lock only applies to phones not macs, so my comment above may not be relevant.

How could you not tell the difference between a Mac and an iPhone?

 

[andyx3x]

I just talked to a guy who got burned buying a 5S off Craigslist that is iCloud locked. I tried to talk to T-Mobile to see if there is anything I can do to activate it but they said no. I figured as much but felt like it was worth a try.

I got the guy's phone number who sold him the stolen phone and texted him trying to scare him but he won't respond after his initial response.

 

[Xenomorph]

Activation Lock has been a thing since 2013.

Why are people still buying stolen devices?

Pro tip: If you have any doubts, check the IMEI first:
https://www.icloud.com/activationlock/

 

[Newtons Apple]

Activation lock has made buying used iPhones even more annoying. A lot of people aren't even aware of it so they'll reset their phones thinking it's all good and sell it and the buyer finds out later that they can't get through to activate it without the old owner's Apple ID. It's pretty annoying.

Simply not so. It will not allow a reset until you remove the lock.

eBay has way more than CL.

I like the feature!

 

[IpadSC400]

Thread is pretty old.

Most of the time iPhones are iCloud locked due to the ignorance of the owner. They press "reset all settings" instead of "erase all contents and settings" which requires them to log out of their iCloud.

 

[Applejuiced]

Thread is pretty old.

Most of the time iPhones are iCloud locked due to the ignorance of the owner. They press "reset all settings" instead of "erase all contents and settings" which requires them to log out of their iCloud.

Doubt that.
Most of the icloud locked iphones sold are stolen or lost.

 

[ET iPhone Home]

Activation lock has made buying used iPhones even more annoying. A lot of people aren't even aware of it so they'll reset their phones thinking it's all good and sell it and the buyer finds out later that they can't get through to activate it without the old owner's Apple ID. It's pretty annoying.

This is great information. How does one clean/clear/unlock activation lock? I have a 4S and will be giving it to an aunt who lives abroad. I cleared all settings and reset as new and deleted my apple id associated to it. I've not using iCloud now so I assume I don't need to deactivate this, or am I wrong?

On my 5S and 6+, iCloud displays INACTIVE, therefore, I'm assuming I didn't need to do anything else, but what was already mentioned, on my 4S.

 

[malochico1]

can you just not sell your iphone and then report it lost/stolen.

Carrier will blacklist the imei and your phone will turn off automatically.
Way too many scams on Craigslist.

Specially when people buy phone on payment plan, sell it and then not make the payment. Your new purchased phone works for month or two more and bam, you now own a bricked phone..

Always go/meet at carrier store to buy/sell phones.

 

[techiegirl]

Always go/meet at carrier store to buy/sell phones.

That's no guarantee either. I met the buyer at carrier's retail store and had the phone activated on my account with no problem. A few months later, I requested an unlock and was told the phone was reported stolen.

That was before the iPhone cloud lock.

 

[C DM]

can you just not sell your iphone and then report it lost/stolen.

Carrier will blacklist the imei and your phone will turn off automatically.
Way too many scams on Craigslist.

Specially when people buy phone on payment plan, sell it and then not make the payment. Your new purchased phone works for month or two more and bam, you now own a bricked phone..

Always go/meet at carrier store to buy/sell phones.

The phone won't turn off, and blacklisting is somewhat different than Activation Lock. That said, people can certainly do all of that. Even meeting at a store doesn't prevent that kind of thing from happening.

 

[malochico1]

The phone won't turn off, and blacklisting is somewhat different than Activation Lock. That said, people can certainly do all of that. Even meeting at a store doesn't prevent that kind of thing from happening.

Oh wow. sorry to hear

 

[Ries]

Send the device activation locked, once payment is cleared, remove the device from your account and activation lock is cleared.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201441

If the previous owner is not present
Contact the previous owner and ask them to follow these steps to remove the device from their account:
Sign in to their iCloud account at www.icloud.com/find.
Click All Devices to open a list of devices linked to their account, then select the device to be removed. It should show a gray dot or the word “Offline” next to the device name.
Click "Remove from Account" to remove the device from their account.

 

[Ludatyk]

There's iCloud locked issues then there is blacklisted issues of iPhones... I remember the days when it was easy to swap iPhone off Craigslist. Yet, those days I guess people were stealing iPhones.. hence the level of firm circumstances now.

No more of easily exchanging iPhones.. cause there's so many shysters out here. I've done plenty of selling and trading among smartphones. And I got burnt... I told myself never again.

 

[cymolia]

chronic unlock does icloud unlocks for 149. 15-30 turnaround time. so if any of you bought a icloud locked device those are the guys to check out

 

[C DM]

chronic unlock does icloud unlocks for 149. 15-30 turnaround time. so if any of you bought a icloud locked device those are the guys to check out

And how exactly could they do that given that it has to be done on Apple's servers with appropriate credentials? Seems "scammy" at best.

 

[mtneer]

Well how about changing/ cloning to a good IMEI to get around Apple's activation servers.

 

[C DM]

Well how about changing/ cloning to a good IMEI to get around Apple's activation servers.

As in doing something actually illegal?

And even then, hard to say if that would do it when it comes to Activation Lock (if you are even technically able to do it to begin with).

 

[mtneer]

As in doing something actually illegal?

And even then, hard to say if that would do it when it comes to Activation Lock (if you are even technically able to do it to begin with).

If someone is willing to steal a phone to begin with - I doubt illegality of flashing IMEI will stop them. Is it possible - I don't know.

 

[cymolia]

And how exactly could they do that given that it has to be done on Apple's servers with appropriate credentials? Seems "scammy" at best.

they seem to have found a way to do it, although the wait time is pretty lenghty

https://chronicunlocks.com/r/icloud_removal_tool

 

[26139]

Good!

Great, now my old phones I sell will go for more because I'm not longer competing with mostly stolen property.

 

[C DM]

they seem to have found a way to do it, although the wait time is pretty lenghty

https://chronicunlocks.com/r/icloud_removal_tool

Somehow I doubt that it really works for actual Activation Locked devices.

 

[cymolia]

Somehow I doubt that it really works for actual Activation Locked devices.

it works, i follow them on twitter and a lot of satisfied customers using the service. prob has someone working on the inside to actually unlock these icloud locked devices.

 

[MMMoore1981]

Nope, you're wrong.
Removing the device from iCloud has nothing to do with activation lock.
Activation lock follows "Find my iPhone" which has to be turned off in order to perform either a reset or a restore.
There's just no way around it.
I guess it's possible that someone would forget to erase their phone before selling it but that's got to be a teeny tiny minority.
Even eBay is now reminding sellers to erase their devices and remove all passwords before shipping.

Wrong. Actually you can reset AND restore an iPhone without all of those things. When you do it through iTunes it will wipe your phone clean BUT it looks like a new phone until you pass wifi settings and then the activation lock is still there.
Plus there are some interesting hacking software that will remove the activation lock as well. Mind you a solution to get you past the activation lock so there are ways for every damn thing. You just have to super glue your devices to your hand.