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marty1990

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 25, 2011
413
20
England
My friend bought an iPhone 4S from eBay about two weeks ago, locked to T-Mobile (UK) for about £250. Never used it because he's got an SIII, I dunno why he bought it to be honest... so since it was going to waste he sold it to me for £175.

I use O2, so need to get it unlocked... and I didn't even think at the time - seemed like a bargain - but after reading into people selling stolen iPhones, I've used various IMEI sites (free) to check if anything is flagged with the iPhone I bought. Nothing does, but I've not used a 'proper' one, such as Check Mend etc., because am a bit wary in case it DOES comes up as being 'dodgy', and what would happen, since I'll have to use my email address and card details etc. to pay for the check, and don't want that linked with a phone that could be stolen.

I'm a bit stuck on what to do. Any ideas?
 

abz1981

macrumors 65816
Jan 3, 2011
1,013
4
Best answer to this is to get your friend to insert his t mobile sim into the iPhone and see if he/she can make a call. If he/she can then the iphone is okay

If the t mobile sim is inserted in the iPhone and you get 3 dots next to the signal bar or a couple of dots but not the signal strength that means handset is reported lost or stolen.

The only option for you then is to get your friend to report it to eBay and PayPal etc and raise a dispute.
 

marty1990

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 25, 2011
413
20
England
What would happen if I do the Check Mend report? If it comes up as being blacklisted, would they do something or leave it to me?
 

Jamesesesesess

macrumors 6502a
Nov 26, 2011
595
66
250 pounds isn't that low. They only fetch around $300 USD these days.

You could call Apple/visit a store and just tell them that you bought an iPhone and are curious to see if it was reported stolen, but you're probably fine. As someone else said, put in a T-Mobile UK SIM card and see if it works.
 

marty1990

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 25, 2011
413
20
England
My mate doesn't live near me, lives down south. Probably won't see him for a couple of weeks now, so I might just order a free PAYG T-Mobile SIM. I won't need money on it to check signal strength would I? And if I do, do that, and it turns out it is dodgy, nothing's gonna happen because there's an active SIM in it, would there?

Would have been easier to

a) stick to my Android
b) bought an iPhone 5 from the Apple Store
 

lordofthereef

macrumors G5
Nov 29, 2011
13,161
3,720
Boston, MA
I can't speak for UK laws, but here in the states, checking a phone out and having it come back stolen isn't going to cause the swat team to come storming through your doors and take you off to Guantanamo Bay to never be heard from again. I would suspect that you are perfectly safe to have the numbers checked. If it comes back stolen, you know it's stolen and perhaps you have both learned a lesson from this purchase.
 

toondw

macrumors 6502
Jun 28, 2009
335
1
Northumberland, UK
Superman is correct! I sold a iPhone to a friend and he had to get me to unlock it as only the original owner can authorise this......must be a new thing as I used to be able to unlock phones easy?
 
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