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I think I just bought a STOLEN MBA? Help?? Ebay...

B

bk123

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 4, 2011
71
0
I just bought a mba 2 days back via ebay.. arrived today and was searching how to clean off the mba since there is a password on it.

The seller claims he doesn't know password.
the seller has sold bad ESN phones?

sent jus mba nothing else.....

What do I do? obviously report to paypal will be one thing but is there a sure way to find out if its stolen?

Thanks
 
To find out, if it is stolen, you could contact Apple and ask for the serial number confirmation, if they have it reported as stolen, but as you only got the MBA and no box, and don't seem to be able to start the MBA, it might be hard to find the serial.
 
hcho3 said:
Report it to Paypal. The product is stolen.
Click to expand...

any easy way to confirm first?
I mean it maybe possible he forgot password but looking on forums it seems it maybe easy to get in the OS.....

so idk

If I'm not mistaken paypal will require documentation too right?
 
simsaladimbamba said:
To find out, if it is stolen, you could contact Apple and ask for the serial number confirmation, if they have it reported as stolen, but as you only got the MBA and no box, and don't seem to be able to start the MBA, it might be hard to find the serial.
Click to expand...
Serial is at bottom of case lol...
 
Eek, Did you get a power pack with the machine as well?


Ring Apple with the Serial and they should be able to tell you if t has been reported stolen.

If it is stolen, hopefully you won't have lost your money too or there will be two victims from the thief.

On the slim chance, When he says there is no password, have you tried just pressing enter?
 
MacRumorUser said:
Eek, Did you get a power pack with the machine as well?


Ring Apple with the Serial and they should be able to tell you if t has been reported stolen.

If it is stolen, hopefully you won't have lost your money too or there will be two victims from the thief.

On the slim chance, When he says there is no password, have you tried just pressing enter?
Click to expand...


nope there is a password... i guess il give apple a call but I'm seeing that paypal requires documentation.. is there anyway to get that documentation to prove its stolen
 
Doesn't necessarily mean it's stolen, could just belonged to an ex who never got it back, found it somewhere, belonged to a family member who died, etc. If he's passing it off as his own, and doesn't know the password, that is a bit suspect, but otherwise, you never really know.
 
bk123 said:
nope there is a password... i guess il give apple a call but I'm seeing that paypal requires documentation.. is there anyway to get that documentation to prove its stolen
Click to expand...

Well iif Apple confirm it has been reported stolen, I'm sure they could fax you or email you a case ID which correlates to this fact. That should be enough proof of stolen goods for Paypal.


camhabib said:
Doesn't necessarily mean it's stolen, could just belonged to an ex who never got it back, found it somewhere, belonged to a family member who died, etc. If he's passing it off as his own, and doesn't know the password, that is a bit suspect, but otherwise, you never really know.
Click to expand...

If it belongs to an ex and he sold rather than giving it back, it it is still stealing.
As for a dead relative, bit inconceivable given the new machines have only been out 10 days or so.




The only strange thing is if he was a thief - how come he didn't just take your money from EBay and send you sweet nothing like most eBay scammers. He actually went to the effort of dispatching you an item that you paid for. It's kind of the opposite behaviour of a thief really ? So maybe it is just miscommunication?
 
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Have you tried doing the Command + R and going through the recovery procedure ?

It may be a way to get past the password screen by re-installing the operating system ?
 
MacRumorUser said:
Have you tried doing the Command + R and going through the recovery procedure ?

It may be a way to get past the password screen by re-installing the operating system ?
Click to expand...

i know I can do that but whats the point?
i don't want to go through there stuff just somehow send back as is for full refund
 
bk123 said:
i know I can do that but whats the point?
i don't want to go through there stuff just somehow send back as is for full refund
Click to expand...

Whats the point?

Ok, the point you want to know is if its stolen or not. If you can reinstall os....and get access to the serial number....call apple with it and check it. If its not stolen.....then you have access and should be a happy camper......
 
My experience

So I bought a brand new MBP 2010 15 inch i5 one from CL about a year ago. It was not that much discounted, maybe a few hundred off of retail. Anyway, it was sealed and everything. I called Apple with the serial and asked if it was stolen. They had said no. I called twice to make sure. I got the same answer both times. 8 months later I received a call from the university police department that it was stolen from. They had found my information because i had registered the computer and they called Apple to find out who did. Ultiamtely i had to return the computer but Apple STILL does not have it reported it as stolen. In fact when I went to buy a new MBP from the store they asked me if I wanted to extend Applecare on the computer. The only proof I had that it was stolen was the serial listed on some stolen items database. And yes this was from a University so I didn't get conned in giving my computer back.

Point is that Apple doesn't always know.
 
apatel87 said:
So I bought a brand new MBP 2010 15 inch i5 one from CL about a year ago. It was not that much discounted, maybe a few hundred off of retail. Anyway, it was sealed and everything. I called Apple with the serial and asked if it was stolen. They had said no. I called twice to make sure. I got the same answer both times. 8 months later I received a call from the university police department that it was stolen from. They had found my information because i had registered the computer and they called Apple to find out who did. Ultiamtely i had to return the computer but Apple STILL does not have it reported it as stolen. In fact when I went to buy a new MBP from the store they asked me if I wanted to extend Applecare on the computer. The only proof I had that it was stolen was the serial listed on some stolen items database. And yes this was from a University so I didn't get conned in giving my computer back.

Point is that Apple doesn't always know.
Click to expand...

Depending on the laws of your state, a receipt signed by the seller listing the model number and price would prove that you were a good faith purchaser of the Mac. The fact that you called apple twice to verify would (at least here) show that you made a good faith effort to verify the legitimacy of the item you bought.

If the seller's legit, he or she won't mind signing a receipt, or technically, a bill of sale.

What stinks is that here, making a false declaration to a pawnbroker is a felony offense. If the pawnbroker has a scumbag sign a statement showing that they owned the item they're pawning or selling for six months, and they only bought it two weeks ago under suspicious circumstances, the pawnbroker is covered financially, and the scumbag is looking at prison. If a private citizen has the scumbag sign the exact same forms and buys the item in good faith, the scumbag will likely go free and the citizen may be looking at civil or criminal liability.

If the cops were that interested in catching thieves, they'd be prowling craigslist.

Cops have a database of stolen items, but as a general rule it's only available to pawnbrokers. What would be nice is a website for thievery victims to post information about big ticket items that have been stolen from them that anyone can check on. Thieveslist, if you will.
 
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clyde2801 said:
Depending on the laws of your state, a receipt signed by the seller listing the model number and price would prove that you were a good faith purchaser of the Mac. The fact that you called apple twice to verify would (at least here) show that you made a good faith effort to verify the legitimacy of the item you bought.

If the seller's legit, he or she won't mind signing a receipt, or technically, a bill of sale.
Click to expand...

So the OP has to prove that he is a bona fide purchase of value without notice ;)

A bona fide purchaser (BFP) – referred to more completely as a bona fide purchaser for value without notice – is a term used in the law of real property and personal property to refer to an innocent party who purchases property without notice of any other party's claim to the title of that property. A BFP must purchase for value, meaning that he or she must pay for the property rather than simply be the beneficiary of a gift. Even when a party fraudulently conveys property to a BFP (for example, by selling to the BFP property that has already been conveyed to someone else), that BFP will, depending on the laws of the relevant jurisdiction, take good (valid) title to the property despite the competing claims of the other party, so long as the BFP properly records the transaction pursuant to local property law. However, parties with claim to ownership in the property will retain a cause of action (a right to sue) against the party who made the fraudulent conveyance.
 
Have you thought about simply contacting the seller, telling them that you are concerned that the computer may indeed be stolen and are planing on going to the police to report him after contacting both eBay and apple to notify them.

His response either way should be telling......

bk123 said:
i know I can do that but whats the point?
i don't want to go through there stuff just somehow send back as is for full refund
Click to expand...

As I say - in the small chance there is just a misunderstanding and that the laptop was his to sell, you could use the recovery procedure to at least get you up and running.

Plus if you could gain access to some of the information on the computer - it may give you details of the person it belonged to if it was stolen.

You wanted pro-active responses from us here - so don't snub us when we suggest something.
 
MacRumorUser said:
Have you thought about simply contacting the seller, telling them that you are concerned that the computer may indeed be stolen and are planing on going to the police to report him after contacting both eBay and apple to notify them.
Click to expand...

^This

Worst case scenario, he does not respond. I think that would tell you that it's stolen, would it? :confused:
 
haruhiko said:
So the OP has to prove that he is a bona fide purchase of value without notice ;)

A bona fide purchaser (BFP) – referred to more completely as a bona fide purchaser for value without notice – is a term used in the law of real property and personal property to refer to an innocent party who purchases property without notice of any other party's claim to the title of that property. A BFP must purchase for value, meaning that he or she must pay for the property rather than simply be the beneficiary of a gift. Even when a party fraudulently conveys property to a BFP (for example, by selling to the BFP property that has already been conveyed to someone else), that BFP will, depending on the laws of the relevant jurisdiction, take good (valid) title to the property despite the competing claims of the other party, so long as the BFP properly records the transaction pursuant to local property law. However, parties with claim to ownership in the property will retain a cause of action (a right to sue) against the party who made the fraudulent conveyance.
Click to expand...

I am not a lawyer, but if I recall from my business law classes way back when, the BFP rule usually only applies when a merchant sells a product of which it had legal possession, but invalid title. The classic example is a car dealer who sells a vehicle that someone brought in for repairs. Because the dealer had valid possession of the vehicle, the conveyance results in a valid transfer of title (though the first person can still sue the dealer for damages). However, a dealer cannot legally convey title to a stolen vehicle, even if the dealer was unaware the vehicle was stolen at the time of conveyance.
 
bk123 said:
https://www.paypal-community.com/t5...oesn-t-care-if-the-item-is-stolen/td-p/180528

:(

I think I will lose my money on this one too :(
Click to expand...

Since this was an eBay sale, you may have eBay recourse, as well. I know PayPal is owned by eBay, but I think their protection programs may differ.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/protection-programs.html

This would appear to qualify as receiving an item that didn't match the description. Firstly, it came with a password that renders it unusable to anyone without that password. Secondly, if it is stolen, it doesn't match the description since it was sold with invalid title.
 
Apple does NOT track stolen SNs

Unfortunately, Apple does NOT nor did they ever track stolen SNs. Calling Apple with the SN will not yield any answers re: stolen or not.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2526

If you have lost or found an Apple product, please contact your local law enforcement agency to report it. Although Apple does not have a process to track or flag lost or stolen product, you can use My Support Profile to find a list of serial numbers that have been purchased or registered with your Apple ID.
 
Its a used machine on ebay.
You paid for an Air, he sent it quickly, clear the SSD and reinstall the OS.
If he did not send the reinstall stick then that should have been mentioned
if its the new model just press CMD R.

Post the listing so we can see?

But I dont see why does he has to prove its history or give you a password?
 
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