Seriously, several of you continuously saying "this is true, this is true, this is true" does not make it true. How come not a SINGLE one of you has been able to find any evidence (anywhere) that actually proves it? Until then, no one will buy it.
By even if it WERE true, unless the original poster KNEW that it had been blacklisted for non-payment, he should have still given it to the police to return it to the original owner because it was stolen. The T Mobile system posted above would TELL him it had been reported as stolen. And I would be willing to bet a large sum that if the original poster gives us the IMEI it will show up as a reported stolen device.
Trying to ascribe bad motives to whoever had the device blacklisted is just sick, and it's wrong, and it's a pathetic whiny excuse to avoid doing the right thing and turning it in to the police.
I know for sure tmobile blocks imei for non payment. In the past their imei check system used to say stolen for all blocked imeis. Now it seems they have 2 versions: blocked or stolen to distinguish between blocked for nonpayment vs reported stolen.
here are different responses when you run IMEIs through their check system
http://www.t-mobile.com/verifyIMEI.aspx
Your device is blocked and will not work on T-Mobile’s network. If you think this is an error, please call Customer Care at 1-877-453-1304.
This device is being financed and has an outstanding balance that must be paid or it may not be able to be used on the T-Mobile network.
For more information or assistance, please call Customer Care at 1-877-453-1304.
WARNING! Our records show that this device has been reported stolen. Unless the status changes, this device will not work on our network or on most other networks around the world.
No, even T Mobile does not blacklist IMEI's for nonpayment. You're talking about a carrier block, which is where the carrier blocks the device from being used solely on its own network. I am talking about the IMEI blacklist, which blocks the IMEI from being used on ALL 4 major networks in the US.
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I would report it to the police and let them look up the previous owner through the phone service provider and Craigslist. The phone service providers insurance can tell if and when it was reported lost and craigslist can show the "for sale" posts. They could be looking at multiple charges like insurance fraud, theft, etc.
Amen to that!
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No, that's not how it works, at least in peer-reviewed research journals. If you make a counter statement, you must back it up.
In the other thread, a forum member was adamant that Apple-refurbished iPhones do not receive a new case, screen and battery, based on the fact there's no official statement from Apple confirming this. We know this is untrue.
If you actually did read peer-reviewed and well researched journal articles, you would know that they NEVER try to "prove" a negative. They generally try to gather as much
evidence as they can that something isn't happening. But if you assert that something NEVER happens anywhere at any time, it's not possible to prove that because it is a negative, and would require the omniscience of a divine deity.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell's_teapot
So no, it's not possible to prove a negative.
The person who is asserting the positive (ie. that carriers blacklist IMEI's for non-payment) has the burden of proof, because they are actually positively asserting that something is occurring.
In this situation, the people claiming that carriers block IMEI's for non-payment have posted NOTHING that proves their case. You'd think it would be easy to do if it were true. Gizmodo, engadget, etc. would definitely mention the practice SOMEWHERE in their exhaustive coverage of the wireless industry, but they don't.