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I bought a sealed iPhone 5 on craigslist and worried.

I

Iphoniaaaaa

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 28, 2013
6
0
I bought a sealed iPhone 5 for tmobile on craigslist. This guy said the phone is fully paid and it has a clean imei; i couldn't check if it was really fully paid but it had a clean imei. But when i tried to take the seal off after I had paid, he took this silver bad off of it saying I don't need it (i think it was a little bag that has a nano sim card and other instructions) and just put it in his pocket. I thought it was suspicious because he could be using information in it to report it as stolen or lost but I just passed it and left. But just to make sure, I got his license plate number on his car.
Is there anyway for him to report the phone as stolen or lost, and if he does, can I report him back since i have his license plate number?
Thank you for the help!
 
Iphoniaaaaa said:
I bought a sealed iPhone 5 for tmobile on craigslist. This guy said the phone is fully paid and it has a clean imei; i couldn't check if it was really fully paid but it had a clean imei. But when i tried to take the seal off after I had paid, he took this silver bad off of it saying I don't need it (i think it was a little bag that has a nano sim card and other instructions) and just put it in his pocket. I thought it was suspicious because he could be using information in it to report it as stolen or lost but I just passed it and left. But just to make sure, I got his license plate number on his car.
Is there anyway for him to report the phone as stolen or lost, and if he does, can I report him back since i have his license plate number?
Thank you for the help!
Click to expand...

no.
 
What silver bag?

Not sure how it is in other configurations, but my Verizon 5s did not have any silver bags inside the box at all. (The SIM card was already installed).
 
Iphoniaaaaa said:
Silver bag i meant haha

----------



So they can't report the phone lost or stolen?
I've already registered this iphone under my icloud account.
Click to expand...

you can report him. Just call the police and say he is selling stolen products, then just give them his plate number.
 
Iphoniaaaaa said:
Silver bag i meant haha

----------



So they can't report the phone lost or stolen?
I've already registered this iphone under my icloud account.
Click to expand...

Yes, he can. You just have to trust that he won't.

I'm not sure if it's all carriers (or if any of them still require it), but, many years ago, I had to provide a police report before my carrier would do anything about it.

If that's still the case, you'd be able to go to the station, show any emails/ texts you have from him about the sale, and he could be in far more trouble than it's worth risking.
 
If the phone is reported lost then your phone will be locked and you can't use it. But since you already registered you icloud account then nothing to worry :) Good think you save the plate number. dont lose it.
 
yea i dont know what silver bag wouldve been in the box, there wasnt one in my wifes 5S. and the SIM comes preinstalled, unless it doesnt on unlocked tmobile versions. even so, if he did take a sim card, it was tied to his account, not yours, so yea you couldnt use it anyways.

does the phone work ok? if so, i wouldnt worry about it for now. if something happens, you can file your police report which will have his info in it, then take him to small claims court.
 
You guys are the best! Yeah it was kinda suspicious so good thing I saved the plate number down. I was gonna voice record the transaction too but i thought that was too much haha.

The silver bag everyone wonders about was attached on the bottom of the box. He had said he already sold another sealed iphone before he sold one to me and he had the silver bag from the other iphone he sold to, and it was just suspicious because he removed that silver bag off the box saying i don't need it, but why would he keep both of them in his pocket?

Well anyways, I texted him saying that I have his plate number and kindly asked him to not report the phone lost or stolen since it isnt beneficial to him in any way.

Thank you all for the replies! I appreciate it!
 
Iphoniaaaaa said:
You guys are the best! Yeah it was kinda suspicious so good thing I saved the plate number down. I was gonna voice record the transaction too but i thought that was too much haha.

The silver bag everyone wonders about was attached on the bottom of the box. He had said he already sold another sealed iphone before he sold one to me and he had the silver bag from the other iphone he sold to, and it was just suspicious because he removed that silver bag off the box saying i don't need it, but why would he keep both of them in his pocket?

Well anyways, I texted him saying that I have his plate number and kindly asked him to not report the phone lost or stolen since it isnt beneficial to him in any way.

Thank you all for the replies! I appreciate it!
Click to expand...

i think alot of people really think there are no honest people out there. i mean, you already had his plate, no need to shove it in his face. i mean if someone said that to me after i sold them something, i would be insulted. and the silver bag may have just been the silver apple bag the phones come with or something. i personally think youre overthinking this and are getting worried over nothing. you have your backup plan in case things turn sour, so relax.
 
Iphoniaaaaa said:
You guys are the best! Yeah it was kinda suspicious so good thing I saved the plate number down. I was gonna voice record the transaction too but i thought that was too much haha.

The silver bag everyone wonders about was attached on the bottom of the box. He had said he already sold another sealed iphone before he sold one to me and he had the silver bag from the other iphone he sold to, and it was just suspicious because he removed that silver bag off the box saying i don't need it, but why would he keep both of them in his pocket?

Well anyways, I texted him saying that I have his plate number and kindly asked him to not report the phone lost or stolen since it isnt beneficial to him in any way.

Thank you all for the replies! I appreciate it!
Click to expand...

Uh yeah you shouldn't have texted that. Bordering on paranoid, are we? Plus you pretty much just said to his face that you don't trust him, when he's most likely an honest seller. Good job blowing it.
 
Texting the seller seems unnecessary what was the point of you doing that exactly?
 
You did too much with texting him and telling him that you have his plate number. No need to do all that extra stuff. He probably is an honest seller and if you ever wanted to buy something from him again he'll probably be reluctant to sell you anything again because of what you just did.
 
Why would you txt him back and tell him you had his license plate and what not? Totally uncalled for and very immature. Stop over thinking it. Enjoy your phone. Simple as that. There's still honest people in this world.
 
Iphoniaaaaa said:
I bought a sealed iPhone 5 for tmobile on craigslist. This guy said the phone is fully paid and it has a clean imei; i couldn't check if it was really fully paid but it had a clean imei. But when i tried to take the seal off after I had paid, he took this silver bad off of it saying I don't need it (i think it was a little bag that has a nano sim card and other instructions) and just put it in his pocket. I thought it was suspicious because he could be using information in it to report it as stolen or lost but I just passed it and left. But just to make sure, I got his license plate number on his car.
Is there anyway for him to report the phone as stolen or lost, and if he does, can I report him back since i have his license plate number?
Thank you for the help!
Click to expand...

Very simple. I sold my T mobile phone and they guy whom i was selling that, he called t mobile and gave then imei number of my iPhone and verify with them if the imei is clean, which they verified...

so don't waste your time next time, its better to call carrier directly.
 
Iphoniaaaaa said:
You guys are the best! Yeah it was kinda suspicious so good thing I saved the plate number down. I was gonna voice record the transaction too but i thought that was too much haha.

The silver bag everyone wonders about was attached on the bottom of the box. He had said he already sold another sealed iphone before he sold one to me and he had the silver bag from the other iphone he sold to, and it was just suspicious because he removed that silver bag off the box saying i don't need it, but why would he keep both of them in his pocket?

Well anyways, I texted him saying that I have his plate number and kindly asked him to not report the phone lost or stolen since it isnt beneficial to him in any way.

Thank you all for the replies! I appreciate it!
Click to expand...

Don't be surprised if you get a knock on the door from him and a few mates:)
 
So you think you've knowingly bought a stolen item, and now you want to report the person who sold it to you. But have decided to seek advice first by admitting on a public forum that you've bought a possibly stolen item.....

Brilliant.

If anything its probably been bought with stolen credit card details. Unless they take the phone IMEI down at the shop (anyone using stolen card details that is worth their salt won't have been to a shop that does this) then its probably ok.
 
If you were concerned it was stolen, and it is, you are guilty of receiving stolen goods.

are you sure you want to call the police now?

Is this what we have come to? Using the local police as referee in every arms length private transaction?
 
DanTSX said:
If you were concerned it was stolen, and it is, you are guilty of receiving stolen goods.

are you sure you want to call the police now?

Is this what we have come to? Using the local police as referee in every arms length private transaction?
Click to expand...

You guys watch too much tv. He's not guilty of receiving stolen goods if he innocently bought them unknowingly. They wouldn't charge him over that lol. They would simply request he forfeit the property in order to return it to the rightful owner or seize it as evidence. And he doesn't think he has a stolen phone, he's just being paranoid over nothing. OP JUST USE THE PHONE. If something happens down the road, you have his info. And I doubt he can report it stolen now since it's activated on your account.
 
sim667 said:
So you think you've knowingly bought a stolen item, and now you want to report the person who sold it to you. But have decided to seek advice first by admitting on a public forum that you've bought a possibly stolen item.....
Click to expand...

DanTSX said:
If you were concerned it was stolen, and it is, you are guilty of receiving stolen goods.

are you sure you want to call the police now?

Is this what we have come to? Using the local police as referee in every arms length private transaction?
Click to expand...

There's no indication even in the OP that it's stolen good. If the "silver bag" has his nano SIM, it's perfectly understandable that seller would want to keep it if he bought it on his own. When you sell iPhones, you always take your sim out and keep it.
 
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