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Sold a new 3gs on Ebay before opending and now a problem

R

Raphy

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 22, 2008
35
0
I need help with this, I bought a 3gs from apple.com as an upgrade to the 2nd line on my account and sold it on ebay. They guy paid and received the phone and now he's saying he can't activate because its already programmed for the phone number on my account and its asking for the last four of my SSN. I removed the SIM card before i shipped it.

Is this legit? or a some kind of scam to get part of my social. He called me and left a VM for me and my g/f. Her phone is the 2nd line and he said it showed when he tried to activate it so he called thinkin it was me.

Is this a real situation?? Should i give him the last four of my social? or is an elaborate scam...he's already paid me the $755 for the phone.
 
Raphy said:
I need help with this, I bought a 3gs on ebay as an upgrade to the 2nd line on my account and sold it on ebay. They guy paid and received the phone and now he's saying he can't activate because its already programmed for the phone number on my account and its asking for the last four of my SSN. I removed the SIM card before i shipped it.

Is this legit? or a some kind of scam to get part of my social. He called me and left a VM for me and my g/f. Her phone is the 2nd line and he said it showed when he tried to activate it so he called thinkin it was me.

Is this a real situation?? Should i give him the last four of my social? or is an elaborate scam...he's already paid me the $755 for the phone.
Click to expand...

I say scam. Becide you should never give ANYBODY your social regardless. Your information is no needed for HIS activation.
 
Raphy said:
I need help with this, I bought a 3gs on ebay as an upgrade to the 2nd line on my account and sold it on ebay. They guy paid and received the phone and now he's saying he can't activate because its already programmed for the phone number on my account and its asking for the last four of my SSN. I removed the SIM card before i shipped it.

Is this legit? or a some kind of scam to get part of my social. He called me and left a VM for me and my g/f. Her phone is the 2nd line and he said it showed when he tried to activate it so he called thinkin it was me.

Is this a real situation?? Should i give him the last four of my social? or is an elaborate scam...he's already paid me the $755 for the phone.
Click to expand...

This sounds fishy. He knows your name, where you live, and if he had the last 4 digits of you SS#, any random number app can figure out the rest of your info. Did you buy this through ATT or Apple? Regardless of where it was purchased, I don't see what your SS# has anything to do with it. All he has to do is restore the phone, insert his SIM card, and iTunes takes care of the rest.

edit: I'm not sure if the new iPhones require new SIM cards. Have him go to the local AT&T if that's the case. You can also call ATT to be sure.
 
I think is a scam. Dont even give him the last four of your social. Thats all he need to access your account. Since he already has your name, address, and phone number. You never know what some scammers are capable of.
 
Nope. Not a scam. I did the same thing. I ordered an upgrade on an eligible line and when the iPhone came in I went to sync it with my iTunes and it had that eligible number already programmed with the new SIM card. I had to activate it under that number then swap SIMS, then reactivate.
 
Lakerfan210 said:
I think is a scam. Dont even give him the last four of your social. Thats all he need to access your account. Since he already has your name, address, and phone number. You never know what some scammers are capable of.
Click to expand...

You might wake up tomm. and hes on your family plan.

Sleepyyet said:
Nope. Not a scam. I did the same thing. I ordered an upgrade on an eligible line and when the iPhone came in I went to sync it with my iTunes and it had that eligible number already programmed with the new SIM card. I had to activate it under that number then swap SIMS, then reactivate.
Click to expand...

Thats cause your the ebay guy!
 
Raphy said:
I need help with this, I bought a 3gs from apple.com as an upgrade to the 2nd line on my account and sold it on ebay. They guy paid and received the phone and now he's saying he can't activate because its already programmed for the phone number on my account and its asking for the last four of my SSN. I removed the SIM card before i shipped it.

Is this legit? or a some kind of scam to get part of my social. He called me and left a VM for me and my g/f. Her phone is the 2nd line and he said it showed when he tried to activate it so he called thinkin it was me.

Is this a real situation?? Should i give him the last four of my social? or is an elaborate scam...he's already paid me the $755 for the phone.
Click to expand...

Did you activate it on your computer or just took out the sim out of the box
 
Sleepyyet said:
Nope. Not a scam. I did the same thing. I ordered an upgrade on an eligible line and when the iPhone came in I went to sync it with my iTunes and it had that eligible number already programmed with the new SIM card. I had to activate it under that number then swap SIMS, then reactivate.
Click to expand...

But I took the SIM out. Why would it still need my personal info to activate? Shouldn't he be able to pop in a new sim and be good to go?
 
Raphy said:
But I took the SIM out. Why would it still need my personal info to activate? Shouldn't he be able to pop in a new sim and be good to go?
Click to expand...

Yes, thats is what this guy should be doing. Dont ever give your SS out to anyone once again!
 
It is not a scam, I dealt with this same situation on Friday. When you order an upgrade through Apple.com, the phone already comes partially activated (so I was told). At that point, the phone HAS TO BE activated on the line it was purchased on. Changing the sim cards doesn't change anything (I tried that). He is right, no matter what sim card he puts in that phone it is going to want to activate on the line that you purchased it for and it will need your billing details. If the sim card in the phone is for a different line even putting in all the details will cause an error (sim not matching the account). You have to use a sim for the number you are upgrading or a blank sim.
So in essence, it is not a scam. You should have him send back the phone, you activate it, and send it back out to him. If you give him all of your details he will have the number that you upgraded and can make calls on your account, and I'm sure you don't want that.
 
Not a scam!!

When I bought mine for early upgrade option and plugged it to itunes it knew my number and i did not even switch my sim card it was already programmed to my number. I also had to put in the last 4 digits of my social security number.
 
Tell him to return the phone to you, once you receive it and verify it was yours with no damage return his $ and simply walk away.


There was a scam like this on eBay with the original Motorola Q smartphones, I called Verizon before I sold mine to make sure it was ok, but the guy who bought it said he couldn't activate it, so I said have Verizon call me, but when I checked the number and called the store he was supposed to be at, there was no tech or phone number in that store for the person he claimed to be. I contacted eBay, offered him a full refund after receiving the item, once I verified it was indeed mine and it worked, I simply refunded his money without calling him a liar.

Cut your loss, it could get really bad:rolleyes:
 
Yes I can confirm that he needs your last 4 digits to make this happen without him returning it to you for activation.

I did an upgrade swap with my sister's phone line, and I tried to just put my original 3G SIM in before I activated. When I tried to activate, iTunes said that my SIM didn't match the number on record for that phone. So I had to activate it under her number, then switch out the SIMs.

Now, with that said, I also agree with everyone else that you don't want to give out the last 4 digits of your social. I don't believe this guy is a scammer, but its just not a good thing to give out your social.

Here's my solution. You got $755 for this phone. Thats a huge amount of profit. Offer to pay the guy to ship the phone back to you, activate it with the correct SIM that came with the phone, take that SIM out, and then ship it back to him.

Edit: You should refund the $755 to him first, so he knows YOU'RE not trying to scam HIM. That way he has peace of mind that you're going to follow through
 
i'd have to say have the guy mail the phone back to you so you can get it strait and mail it back to him...he paid a butt load of money for that phone and if I were him not only would i be pissed and would expect the seller to fix the situation asap.
 
Raphy said:
I just took the SIM out. I never plugged it into my laptop or did anything with activation.
Click to expand...

first off

DO NOT GIVE PART OR ALL OF YOUR SSN TO ANYONE, EVER

I cannot stress this enough
I am not telling you to give it to him, even though what I am about to say may seem that way

In order to work, the phone must first be activated under the number you ordered it for. Only then can the sim be popped out and swapped

So yes, in order for it to work, you'd need to activate it for your line. That's the way the setup process is designed.

The only real safe option is for him to ship it back (the responsible thing IMO is for you to cover shipping here), then have you activate and then remove your SIM and deactivate, and then send it back so he can use his own SIM
 
Iron Chef said:
Yes I can confirm that he needs your last 4 digits to make this happen without him returning it to you for activation.

I did an upgrade swap with my sister's phone line, and I tried to just put my original 3G SIM in before I activated. When I tried to activate, iTunes said that my SIM didn't match the number on record for that phone. So I had to activate it under her number, then switch out the SIMs.

Now, with that said, I also agree with everyone else that you don't want to give out the last 4 digits of your social. I don't believe this guy is a scammer, but its just not a good thing to give out your social.

Here's my solution. You got $755 for this phone. Thats a huge amount of profit. Offer to pay the guy to ship the phone back to you, activate it with the correct SIM that came with the phone, take that SIM out, and then ship it back to him.

Edit: You should refund the $755 to him first, so he knows YOU'RE not trying to scam HIM. That way he has peace of mind that you're going to follow through
Click to expand...


I just offered this option to him via email. minus the full refund option because i don't have that money in my checking account anymore and i don't want to be shuffling money between accounts. If he ships it back i'll reimburse him for the shipping. But i still find it weird that the phone itself requires my info....I'd understand if it was my sim card that was causing conflict.
 
The IMEI is likely tied to your account, which has nothing to do with the SIM card. Either way, you don't want to be giving out parts of your SS though.
 
i pre-ordered my 3gs through att.com and i was using the upgrade for my dad's account and when i received the phone just popped out the sim card and put in my from my 3g and had no problem at all just plugged it into itunes and it said iphone activated. easiest process ever..... no ssn needed.
 
MBHockey said:
The IMEI is likely tied to your account, which has nothing to do with the SIM card. Either way, you don't want to be giving out parts of your SS though.
Click to expand...

Glad I read to the end, I believe this is actually the case. There's nothing on the box to scan to attach the sim card to your account. They attach the iPhone's unique IMEI to your account. The actual hardware is expecting you to register it, it has nothing to do with the sim card.

Additionally, don't give him your information. Not only should you not give anyone any part of your SSN, as soon as you do it will transfer your phone number over to that phone. If I remember from setting up mine, you don't have a choice. It just does it.

You're going to have to figure something out, because AT&T expects you to activate that iPhone. Even people that use another family plan members upgrade have to upgrade normally then call in to have the phone removed. That's really what you should have done before you shipped it off.
 
MBHockey said:
The IMEI is likely tied to your account, which has nothing to do with the SIM card. Either way, you don't want to be giving out parts of your SS though.
Click to expand...

This is the case, I upgraded a 2g iPhone my wife uses, got the 3GS and I wasn't able to upgrade it until I put her sim card in the new 3GS and registered it. The new iPhone you just sold/shipped is only going to activate by you putting in the correct sim and you entering the information. End of story.

There is a reason they did it... to stop exactly what your doing and keep the iPhone's with AT&T service.
 
skwoytek said:
Glad I read to the end, I believe this is actually the case. There's nothing on the box to scan to attach the sim card to your account. They attach the iPhone's unique IMEI to your account. The actual hardware is expecting you to register it, it has nothing to do with the sim card.

Additionally, don't give him your information. Not only should you not give anyone any part of your SSN, as soon as you do it will transfer your phone number over to that phone. If I remember from setting up mine, you don't have a choice. It just does it.

You're going to have to figure something out, because AT&T expects you to activate that iPhone. Even people that use another family plan members upgrade have to upgrade normally then call in to have the phone removed. That's really what you should have done before you shipped it off.
Click to expand...
Not exactly correct here. The box contains all of the key information to tie both the IMEI of the phone and the ICCID of the SIM. Yep both are right there on the box ready to scanned before shipment.

The Activation information was / is not on the phone or even the SIM, it is in the iTunes Servers. When you connect to complete the "Activation", iTunes displays the registered phone number (either your upgrade number or new number if it was a Port). You are prompted to validate the account by providing the Account Owners ZIPCODE and last 4 digits of the Account Owners SSN.

If you don't try the iTunes Activation process and just call AT&T Customer Care you can have a manual Activation processed by providing the Care rep the IMEI / ICCID numbers and the rep can provision the iPhone and activate the SIM.

There were several ugly situations over the weekend where customers received phones that had someone else's phone number their phone and managed to lock the SIMs and Apple Support and AT&T went round and round trying to get the phones activated. Apple / AT&T stated invaildating the swapped SIM pairs and sending notes to many of the customers concerning a SIM error and shipped them a new SIM "Overnight".

There is a sticky at the top of the forum that discusses the topic among the other activation issues. It was a long weekend.

Dave
 
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