How to make sure that I don't scammed when buying a used iPhone 5S?

[Alundra]

Hey guys I'm going to need your help here,

I am going to buy a used iPhone 5s with around 6 months left of warranty, and i want to know about what else i have to make sure of, besides checking that find my iPhone is off and that my sim card works and make calls?

Should i bring my laptop and do a restore through iTunes in front of the seller?

Thanks in advance!


Edit: Hey mods, can you edit my title please? I meant "im not scammed"

 

[forcetactic]

There's always a risk of the seller reporting it as stolen which blacklists your iPhone making it useless. Unless the seller bought the phone full price unlocked, there's no way around this afaik (swapping for another phone with apple might work)

Make sure he turns off icloud find my iphone before you give him the money and restore the phone just to be sure it's not icloud locked to his account

 

[Alundra]

There's always a risk of the seller reporting it as stolen which blacklists your iPhone making it useless. Unless the seller bought the phone full price unlocked, there's no way around this afaik (swapping for another phone with apple might work)

Make sure he turns off icloud find my iphone before you give him the money and restore the phone just to be sure it's not icloud locked to his account

The phone in question is factory unlocked.

 

[forcetactic]

The phone in question is factory unlocked.

Phones can be factory unlocked by carrier so that doesn't really mean anything. In order to prevent getting it reported as stolen, seller needs of receipt buying it full price ($649) from the apple store.

I've never bought an iphone off craigslist myself but I'd bet chances aren't too high your seller is dishonest

 

[Señor]

Save yourself the hassle, and pay a little bit more to buy from Apple.

You have no idea what you're getting into when you buy from these shady sellers, on ANY website.

 

[Alundra]

Is there a way for me to check if the iphone 5s is European or American?

 

[gaanee]

May be a naive question, but - what does someone gain by reporting their iphone stolen after they have sold it and got the money, is it to claim from insurance? and if so, this can happen with any phone (android, windows..)

 

[Sulten]

People are now selling phones getting money for them. then 1 or 2 weeks later reporting them stolen. in return getting money for a phone and then getting a new phone.

if your buying a phone prob best to have them meet you at the store and let them know your buying the phone so it can be black listed. or like what was said save more money and pay the extra for the new phone.