Not sure if this is the right place to post, but I’m looking for a little advice. About 2 weeks ago I bought an iPhone that I was told was iCloud locked already but I was just planning on using it for parts anyways so that wasn’t my concern. It was dead when I bought it which wasn’t a huge deal since I just needed parts. When I got home and finally got it on I saw it had the lost iPhone message on the home screen so I figured I would message the number and tell them I bought the phone and if they wanted it they could pay me what I bought it for because I’m not trying to just be out here buying phones to give back to people. I’m in college so I just do some side work to make enough money to finish school. I’ve waited 2 weeks for them to decide if they wanted to buy it from me but they didn’t want to pay anything. I originally messaged them off a texting app for my safety but checked it again today and had a message from the local police department a king me to call them. I figure they can get the IP address for my phone since I downloaded the texting app on it. My question is, is it worth it to call the police back on my real phone and tell them everything and risk losing my money I paid for it originally, or is this something they won’t pursue anymore. I understand the more ethical thing to do but as stated before I’m in college low on funds so I would benefit financially more from just using the parts. On the same hand, by no means am I trying to get in trouble with the law, and I do have some proof of previous Facebook messages with the person I bought the phone from in the first place. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
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iPhone 7/Plus Legal advice
- Thread starter officialcsmith
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You knowingly bought a phone that was either lost or stolen and now you know you're in possession of a phone you know you don't legally have rights to. The police can certainly come after you, and they should. You're now attempting to extort money from the rightful owner of the iPhone, which is a crime in itself. Being in possession of stolen property is a crime too, so you're looking at some potentially serious charges.
Giving the phone to its rightful owner isn't "the more ethical thing", it's the only ethical thing, and the only legal option.
Giving the phone to its rightful owner isn't "the more ethical thing", it's the only ethical thing, and the only legal option.
Whether you were aware of the status of the phone when you bought it, you’re now knowingly in possession of a stolen phone. I would recommend at this point to get the phone back to its original owner. Take the financial loss as it’s not worth any legal issues that could come from this.
Yeah i can definitely see that. I just see post all the time for iCloud locked phones so it seems weird for the cops to be more interested in me for buying one compared to the hundreds on the marketplace. More than likely I’ll give them a call when I get off work and turn it in. Just wanted to get some inputs. Appreciate it!
Let's review…
• Purchase of stolen property
• Possession of stolen property
• Extortion
• Fencing (selling the device for parts)
All things @chrfr and @timeconsumer have pointed out (I am just summarizing and adding one).
So. Your lack of finances justify these crimes?
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What it means is that the owner of the phone called the cops.
Wouldn't you if your phone was stolen and someone was telling you that you could have it back if you only pay "X" dollars?
Thanks for the reply and yes I definitely see that it wasn’t a good idea to do any of it now. I’ll call the police back and tell them the story and hope nothing bad happens.
Hopefully they can get the people that messaged you about it on Facebook. You can maybe get your cash back. Or atleast they will go to jail
The police probably got a lot more interested when you attempted extortion.
Quick disclaimer: nothing in this post (or thread) is legal advice. If you want actual legal advice, you'll need to retain a lawyer.
To add to your list of possible crimes, though, you could be looking at federal mail fraud and conspiracy charges if you are in the U.S. and your transaction crossed state lines. If I were you, I would immediately send the phone back to the owners and keep a receipt of having done so. Forget what you spent -- you aren't getting that back.
Beyond that, consider whether you really want to be tied up in this type of racket. The phone's owner might also be a person of limited means, and buying iCloud-locked devices rewards and encourages phone theft. There is a real victim here, and it isn't you. I say that with all respect, because you seem to get that.
To add to your list of possible crimes, though, you could be looking at federal mail fraud and conspiracy charges if you are in the U.S. and your transaction crossed state lines. If I were you, I would immediately send the phone back to the owners and keep a receipt of having done so. Forget what you spent -- you aren't getting that back.
Beyond that, consider whether you really want to be tied up in this type of racket. The phone's owner might also be a person of limited means, and buying iCloud-locked devices rewards and encourages phone theft. There is a real victim here, and it isn't you. I say that with all respect, because you seem to get that.
Just saying if my phone was somehow stolen and someone purchased it from said thief then tried to charge me to get it back, you can bet your ass I would call the police, and I would end up pressing charges if the police didn't. That's a bit messed up to try to pull over someone imo. Good luck though, hope all ends well.
I once ended up speaking with a police detective from the Scottsdale Police Department back in 2004/2005.
It seemed that one of our computers at work had sent out an email that the recipient (a resident of Scottsdale, AZ) believed was spam. That person reported the email along with the IP address in the email header (our IP address) to the Scottsdale Police department - where this detective called me.
I was new in the job so I had absolutely no idea this had happened and apparently I convinced the officer that our business was not engaged in email spam.
But I bring that up to say that you just never know what someone who is a victim of a crime will pursue or not. Therefore it's best not to engage in crime at all.
Thank you guys for all of your replies. I’ll for sure be in contact with the investigator after work. I should have been way more understand of the law before going about any of this. Hopefully they see where I’m coming from but I do know they have to follow through with the law so we will see what happens.