I'm still pissed after all these years Apple has yet to verified when you swap a phone at their stores, if they would validate whether or not the phone you are swapping has a bad ESN/IMEI block given that the phones received that status due to it being lost/stolen.
It kind of defeats the purpose of keeping the phone block. I feel bad for the people that lose their phone or worst stolen. I've been in that position before, that's why I never go without phone insurance. The extra $7 a month at least gives me a piece of mind if I lose the phone or get robbed.
It quite ridiculous how my local Craigslist looks, you got people buying iPhones all day long, regardless of the phone status. Because for iPhone, they're gonna swap or use an esn cleaner.
I honestly don't even buy any phones on Craigslist no more. 3 years ago, for me at least, use to be hell of bargains. Crazy deals, like getting phones for less than half price and like new condition. Now I see is people trying to sell for ex. a used iPhone 5 16gb for $600. Seriously? I might well pony up the extra 50 and buy it new. Where is the bargain in that. Ones that kill me are, ex. used S III . In it excellent condition with a cracked screen, for...$350. I really can't say much after that.
Word of advice as well, be safe buying phones on Craigslist as well. In my area, this situation is happening more than often lately. To me this is much worse than getting robbed. Buy a phone, everything working well for a few days, maybe even more. All of sudden, bam phone is blocked. Why, because whoever you bought it from made a sleazy insurance scam. Equivalent to rear ending somebody, 99.9% your screwed. Even having a CYA folder documenting everything, doesn't help much at all. It’s sad how people destroy the integrity of sites like Craigslist for such illicit activities.
