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Please help - new iPhone 4 been restricted tonight!

S

superdudeo

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 7, 2010
221
0
hey guys,

can anyone offer me some advice. I am from the UK and purchased an iPhone 4 privately about 2 weeks ago. The phones IMEI was restricted tonight which my current operator confirmed.

I spoke with 02 who have restricted it. They say only the buyer can unrestrict it.
I know where the seller lives but don't have their tel number.

Any advice? Can't imagine the police will waste their time on something so trivial.
 
Yeah I got that, but specifically what method of payment was used? Because you are running close to a scr**ing.
 
they have obviously reported it as lost or stolen. 02 don't give a hoot. I really have no options I can see unless I try for a genius bar replacement
 
superdudeo said:
they have obviously reported it as lost or stolen. 02 don't give a hoot. I really have no options I can see unless I try for a genius bar replacement
Click to expand...

I could be wrong, but I don't think your original seller was the original buyer (stolen phone), and unless the seller agrees to a refund (considering you paid cash), you may be out of luck.
 
I duno, try a restore? Someone else will be along shortly with better advice.
 
restore will not work. The IMEI itself has been tagged so not calls can be made.
 
Oh cool I didn't know you could do that, seems most carriers don't care. Hope you can get money back.
 
Do you know the person you bought it from or was it a stranger? My advice is to ask for your money back but be careful if you don't know this person!

Good luck!!
 
yeah complete stranger otherwise I'd be knocking on their door. Last resort will be to do that I think.
 
IMEI blocking means it was almost certainly stolen. I don't know what the laws are where you live but where I am, I believe it is a criminal offence to bypass a IMEI block on a phone.

Since you know where the guy lives, I'd take it to the police and explain the situation. I'd be assuming that the guy doesn't care much for the law so wouldn't really be keen to confront him. The police may or may not do anything about it but it might be worth a shot. As it stands the phone is just a glorified ipod touch unless you jailbreak it [see above] or move to another country.
 
I don't believe even jailbreaking can unblock an iPhone when in this state. Can anyone clarify this for me?
 
Learn to make contracts - your out of luck if it is stolen. You cant prove the guy ever sold you the phone.
 
superdudeo said:
I don't believe even jailbreaking can unblock an iPhone when in this state. Can anyone clarify this for me?
Click to expand...

Nope.

There is an international list of IMEIs that have been reported lost/stolen that many carriers around the world subscribe to.

ALL of the UK carriers subscribe to it.

The only way to get it unblocked is if the person that requested the lock in the first place calls their mobile operator.

The IMEI block is implemented at the carrier's end - they simply don't allow the phone to be used on their network.

I think you only have two options really:

1) Just use it as an iPod touch.

2) Tell the Police what has happened. They may be interested to know if the seller is selling stolen property.
 
Honestly, what is so hard about this situation?

contact O2 and tell them: Look, i just paid $500 for this phone and you are telling me I can't use this phone on the network. I know in the US they are not allowed to give previous users information out, so tell them, At least contact the previous owner of the phone, or the person who called to block the IMEI and tell the you have the phone. At least the person has a chance of getting there phone back.

And if you still have the guys contact information who sold it to you, you can go to the police and explain to them the situation and I am sure they will do something, to get you your money back. it's the same as someone staling $500 from you...
Good luck, keep us posted!

Don't try and contact the guy yourself, because then he will deny it. Get the facts first by contacting O2, then go to the police.

You have nothing to lose, but you have a chance of getting someone there phone back, and getting your money back to get a new one.
 
I think you should be honest. Call your carrier and call the police. ASK them how to proceed. You most certainly are not the only person in the UK who bought a stolen phone so they should have some experience. Let them do their job right and provide any information possible to them. I assume you were not aware of buying a stolen phone so show them you are a honest guy.

Maybe you even get rewarded by the police for helping to arrest a fence, maybe the OWNER of the phone gives you a little reward for returning the phone.

Everything is better than to keep the brick and in that case - to cover the fence (even if you not want to).
 
iPhysicist said:
I think you should be honest. Call your carrier and call the police. ASK them how to proceed. You most certainly are not the only person in the UK who bought a stolen phone so they should have some experience. Let them do their job right and provide any information possible to them. I assume you were not aware of buying a stolen phone so show them you are a honest guy.

Maybe you even get rewarded by the police for helping to arrest a fence, maybe the OWNER of the phone gives you a little reward for returning the phone.

Everything is better than to keep the brick and in that case - to cover the fence (even if you not want to).
Click to expand...

+1

You already are screwed cause the phone is unusable and that guy effectively stole your money. So why protect him? You aren't going to have a usable phone doing so. So do the right thing and report the phone to the police and what happened. You probably will have to give the phone back to the *rightful* owner (not the thief who sold it to you), but you'll have done the right thing and at least made it harder for the guy who pretty much stole money from you.

Otherwise, you don't do the right thing and you have a brick on your hand and that really helps no one but the thief.
 
The seller may have had insurance on the phone and then claimed it was stolen to get a new one. If you know where he lives then I would go to his house and ask for a refund. If not then I think the only thing left to do is go to the police.
 
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