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iPhone 5 - How can I know if Imei will be clean forever?
- Thread starter itzmemike
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As I very clearly stated in my post, I had no idea how these things work, and considering how expensive an iPhone 5 is back in my home country, I simply thought that craigslist was a good place to find good deals while in the US. Yes, I have learned my lesson, and I'd now appreciate some clarification rather than blame. Thank you.
I need help with this fraud CL case. Please help guys.
Last Sunday, I found this guy on CL selling "Factory Unlocked ATT iPhone 5" for $550, but he accepted the price $500 I offered.
I met him in front of a gas station, he was wearing Sprint uniform, so I assumed I could trust this guy. He took out his ATT sim (according to him, I didn't really see what was the sim carrier), gave me the phone with box, accessories, and a cover case. The phone was factory reset, not activated. There was no wifi anyway.
What I regret the most is that I did NOT know the meaning of IMEI number on the back of the phone.
When I got home, I put my TMobile sim card in, could not activate the phone. I contacted him, he said that it's just unlocked for ATT to go oversea, that I needed to factory unlock it.
I purchased factory unlocking online, but the seller refunded the money and said it was Sprint phone, according to the phone IMEI 99xxxxxxxxx. The IMEI number on the box was ATT though 0133xxxxxxxxxxx
I contacted that guy again, he just blocked my number or something.
Being pretty mad for getting a useless piece of metal for $500, I decided to find him. I went to several Sprint stores, and finally some people were nice enough to help me find out his name, which Sprint store he worked at.
I went there, found him, told him the phone was not ATT. He was shaking at first, but then he said it was not the phone he gave me.
After awhile argueing, he said the Sprint iphone 5 doesn't have sim slot bla bla bla, he claimed that he would not return money because he's losing money (?) Finally I gotta call the police. And the police told me to file for a court. WHATTTTTTT !!! Ok, I'm willing to go to court, but what do you guys think would be the best evidence to prove that guy is guilty?
Thank you so much for helping me out and for reading this 13837587 pages essay.
Last Sunday, I found this guy on CL selling "Factory Unlocked ATT iPhone 5" for $550, but he accepted the price $500 I offered.
I met him in front of a gas station, he was wearing Sprint uniform, so I assumed I could trust this guy. He took out his ATT sim (according to him, I didn't really see what was the sim carrier), gave me the phone with box, accessories, and a cover case. The phone was factory reset, not activated. There was no wifi anyway.
What I regret the most is that I did NOT know the meaning of IMEI number on the back of the phone.
When I got home, I put my TMobile sim card in, could not activate the phone. I contacted him, he said that it's just unlocked for ATT to go oversea, that I needed to factory unlock it.
I purchased factory unlocking online, but the seller refunded the money and said it was Sprint phone, according to the phone IMEI 99xxxxxxxxx. The IMEI number on the box was ATT though 0133xxxxxxxxxxx
I contacted that guy again, he just blocked my number or something.
Being pretty mad for getting a useless piece of metal for $500, I decided to find him. I went to several Sprint stores, and finally some people were nice enough to help me find out his name, which Sprint store he worked at.
I went there, found him, told him the phone was not ATT. He was shaking at first, but then he said it was not the phone he gave me.
After awhile argueing, he said the Sprint iphone 5 doesn't have sim slot bla bla bla, he claimed that he would not return money because he's losing money (?) Finally I gotta call the police. And the police told me to file for a court. WHATTTTTTT !!! Ok, I'm willing to go to court, but what do you guys think would be the best evidence to prove that guy is guilty?
Thank you so much for helping me out and for reading this 13837587 pages essay.
Yep, pretty much all you can do is file a lawsuit in civil court and explain the judge your side of the story and show what evidence you have against him like emails, text messages, his CL ad and everything else you have about the situation.
But you could have avoided all that by testing out the phone before you gave him the money. Trusting any random stranger like that will get you scammed. Hope you get your money back though and best of luck.
I'd try going back to the sprint store he works and talk to his manager and try to put some pressure on him to return your money and take the phone back. Ask to speak to the district manager also and hope instead of risking losing his job he will do the right thing and give you back your money.
OMG, so sorry for you :-(
I am selling an iphone 5 and going out of my way to make sure everything works out well for any buyer that gets it. I dont know why some people do these things
Iphone 5s
Hello to everyone.
Please help me to resolve this problem.
I got iphone 5s from ebay - sealed
Sim is unlocked but iphone under Verizon contract.
seller doesnt answer me, im realy afraid to find myself in blacklist (stolen unpaid etc)
If ill buy permanent unlock for my device (im from europe not USA - use gsm networks)
My device still will be in carriers database and they can blacklist it ??
this unlock service can protect me ??
Hello to everyone.
Please help me to resolve this problem.
I got iphone 5s from ebay - sealed
Sim is unlocked but iphone under Verizon contract.
seller doesnt answer me, im realy afraid to find myself in blacklist (stolen unpaid etc)
If ill buy permanent unlock for my device (im from europe not USA - use gsm networks)
My device still will be in carriers database and they can blacklist it ??
this unlock service can protect me ??
If its a Verizon 5S then you're good.
You don't need to buy an unlock since its already unlocked for any international and domestic GSM network.
Even if it gets blacklisted it will be blacklisted only on Verizon.
You can still use it anywhere else in the world with any GSM sim.
Again, you don't need to pay for an unlock service.
Phone is already unlocked.
So I could get a Verizon iPhone 5 and use it on AT&T prepaid without fear of it being blacklisted/bad IMEI?
Are you sure about ~Even if it gets blacklisted it will be blacklisted only on Verizon~
Because i have read on some forum, if iphone gets blacklisted - doesnt matter its gsm network, im not be able to update my OIS anymore, the phone turns locked - something like that.
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I think its a bad idea....both carriers uses cdma or lte (is USA) not gsm (EU)
Just buy it brand new from the Apple store or a local store.
But always check out the seller before buying. Read their reviews and everything. I bought my iPhone 5 from ebay last week, but i made sure the seller was trustworthy and i didn't have a single issue.
But always check out the seller before buying. Read their reviews and everything. I bought my iPhone 5 from ebay last week, but i made sure the seller was trustworthy and i didn't have a single issue.
i am not live in USA
so i cannot just buy it from Apple StoreDoes someone wanna help me)) buy an iphone from ApStore and send it to me)
Don't think a carrier can do anything with the phone itself really as far as it's OS, updates, etc. If there's activation lock (which is separate from the carrier) that would be different.
The carriers are supposedly unifying the blacklists so that once a device is blacklisted with one it essentially gets listed with all of them, but I'm not really sure how many carriers are really participating in that, when that's actually going into effect, and how well it actually works, or will work.
As for CDMA/GSM, out of the big/national carriers in US, Verizon and Sprint use CDMA, while AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM.
I've traded many phones on craigslist (tmobile) and i have yet to run into this issue. Although i have been well aware of it happening.
One thing i do (not even sure if it helps) is once i trade someone i tell them if they report it lost or stolen ill do the same... I don't usually buy one cash for that reason...
If i happen to trade for an iphone, i make sure its still under warranty and i try and find one that has some kind of minor issue, that way i can go to the apple store to do a warranty exchange. Not sure if that will stop insurance from blocking the replacement but it has worked so far...
One thing i do (not even sure if it helps) is once i trade someone i tell them if they report it lost or stolen ill do the same... I don't usually buy one cash for that reason...
If i happen to trade for an iphone, i make sure its still under warranty and i try and find one that has some kind of minor issue, that way i can go to the apple store to do a warranty exchange. Not sure if that will stop insurance from blocking the replacement but it has worked so far...
I'm 100%
The bad esn has nothing to do with outside the US or anything to do with updating the iPhone firmware.
Something I read in this thread previously and wanted to verify: I just bought an ATT 5s off Craigslist. I have it on GoPhone and works no problem. It was slightly weird as when I called gophone they said the IMEI was clean, but they couldn't activate it. I plugged in my gophone sim and it worked perfectly so I didn't really worry about it.
Anyhow my question is if I get the phone unlocked thru a 3rd party site does that mean AT&T can't blacklist it. Or does having it unlocked not affect that?
Anyhow my question is if I get the phone unlocked thru a 3rd party site does that mean AT&T can't blacklist it. Or does having it unlocked not affect that?
so blacklist will not affect the operation of the phone and the software update outside of America if its sim unlocked to gsm
Since it was originally at&t, yes they can still blacklist it. But only for at&t or any service that uses its network (i believe gophone is att)... You could take it to another gsm network and it should work
Thanks. Can I unlock it after they backlist it? looking around it seems there isn't a iphone 5s unlock yet.
That is incorrect. If your GSM phone (AT&T or T-Mobile) is blacklisted you cannot use it on any GSM network in the USA. Same goes for CDMA phones (Verizon or Sprint) that are blacklisted.
See these news stories for more detail:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story...e-database-combat-smartphone-theft/2012-11-01
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/31/tech/mobile/stolen-cell-phones-gahran/index.html
In any case you should use these IMEI checker websites which are free and very good:
http://checkesnfree.com/
http://imeicheckcarrier.info/
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We'll have to see how well that actually works. For now it seems that they are still in the process of implementing parts of it and everyone should do this or that, but we know in many cases people don't really do what they should, so it's hard to say how well this is or will be working.