Buy phones from CL at your own risk

[snails]

ive bought lots of phones off CL without issue and sold them until a couple years ago when i decided buying phones sucked and just re signing contracts was usually cheaper and lasted the duration of a phone for myself..

that being said i just picked up a s4 and now have a s3 for sale.. on craigslist hope douchbags dont make it harder for me to get rid of this expensive calculator thats gathering dust..

[mr_chin]

Originally Posted by tiger_handheld

Can you not meet up at the carrier (say bell) and have them run an IMEI check?

Yes, carriers are able to run the IMEI check. But you can also go to the link provided in this thread to check the IMEI yourself. You can run 2 checks per 24 hour.

Originally Posted by reamemiya

If the phone you bought was locked at the time of purchase (ie. Fido iPhone), and you unlock the phone through Fido after 3 months (pay $50 to get the phone unlocked), is that risk gone, or is it still there?

It would remove the risk of being locked by the carrier, but doesn't remove the risk that the seller can still report it as stolen right?

You're talking about factory lock. IMEI lock (blacklist) is totally different. IMEI has to do with the serial number of the phone. If it is blacklisted, that IMEI number (serial number) will not register with any of the network participating in the blacklist program. Take for example, like Mr.Happyslip said, it's like reporting the VIN number of your car stolen, I don't think it will be possible to register with ICBC or any insurance company again. It will have absolutely nothing to do with the Honda dealer you bought it from.

Originally Posted by SoNaRWaVe

not sure how this works, but what if the buyer gets the seller to call the carrier on speaker and get the seller to tell the carrier to transfer the IMEI to a new owner. or is that not possible?

This is what I will try to find out during a discussion I will have with a Rogers advisor on Wednesday. Hopefully, this will be the only legitimate way of selling your used phones. If this is the only way, it will be the same as selling a car, transferring ownership at a bank or whatever, before you make a payment. But I foresee the risk in this is that, at the retail store you will have to give information to the customer representative. I never give out my information verbally at a store. Anyone have access to your phone number, birthday, and postal code, they can access your account.

Originally Posted by reamemiya

^So if it's a contract-phone, owner sells it, and buyer unlocks it (whatever method they used), and owner can't pay for the bills, the carrier that the owner bought the phone from can still lock the phone right?

If that did happen, would contacting the carrier and offering to pay the remaining balance of the phone a viable option? (couldn't be worse than a bricked phone?)

This is what most likely happened in my case. I suspect that the lady I bought it from, signed a 2 year contract, got the S4 for $100, sold it to me for $400. During the 5 months that I had it, she breached the contract, flew out to China, or whatever, and her account is suspended and any device linked to the account is reported on her behalf or Bell themselves. This is only what I suspect as I don't know the full procedure and conditions required to report an IMEI, can carriers do it on customers behalf? do carriers have authorization since contract device are still considered the owner of the carrier until the remainder is paid off, etc.

You would not be able to contact the carrier to pay the remaining balance because you don't know the phone's owner contact information, her number, birthday, and postal code, which I think is the 3 information you need to unblacklist in the first place.

Originally Posted by clowe

Doesn't Rogers and Fido have a stolen phone protection plan that you can add for a monthly fee? The seller can just subscribe to that plan then report the phone stolen a few months later and get a brand new replacement one at whatever deductible cost they might have to pay?

Yes, Rogers have that plan. I think it's $7 a month or whatever, protects damages, even water or dropped damages, theft, etc. You must get the plan within 15 days of purchasing your device. Once you make a claim, all they do is send you a refurbished version of your lost device. If they don't have one in stock, they send you another device (better one I would assume), but you still have to pay like $100 - $250 deductible for the new device. Totally different subject.

[chince]

i had this happen to me a few weeks ago. a month into using an s4 i bought off craigslist that even came with a receipt it was later reported stolen. apparently people are now renewing the owner's contracts without them knowing somehow. in my case it was at best buy. the guy probably had a friend who worked there to help him with the fraud. anyways a month later the real owner finds out and the phone i bought gets black listed. i called the provider saying i had the receipt but even with this nothing could be done. its just too risky to buy phones off craigslist these days. i was able to sell the s4 on ebay to someone overseas as the phone is only blocked in canada. i'd advise you to do this to at least get some money back or if you're lucky the full amount

[Gucci Mane]

Originally Posted by meme405

It is not the seller who reports the phone to get it blocked, it is the original owner who reports it after the phone is stolen.

You bought a stolen phone from a thief and the owner finally called in the IMEI and it got blocked.

The way you are describing it you make it seem like the legitimate owner sold the phone then reported it stolen, which is clearly either a retarded thing to do or a complete asshole move...

i bought the phone from the person with box and accessories. in my specific case, yeah it was the original owner who pulled the bitch move. im not stupid enough to buy just a phone with no box from someone. i match up IMEI on phone and box before handing over the cash.

[Puck Luck]

I was so close to buying a used phone from cl until i came across this thread. I know there's alot of scamming happening on cl but, has anyone had problems buying used phones from anyone off Revscene? I know its still online dealings but i figure within this community, there would be a little more honesty, or is that me being wishful?

There is a seller on RS that has a phone i am interested in but with all this going on, i'm really not sure. Looking at his posting history, he seems to sell phones often here.

[mr_chin]

^ No one can really tell you if you should or not, it's all up to you. All I can say is, the risk is there, but not as high as someone on CL selling BNIB, which are the ones with highest risk.

I spoke to an advisor at Rogers today and he said there is no way of transferring IMEI to another account and they do not carry out any sort of tasks like this at the retail stores. I didn't ask, but I would imagine the only way is if you transfer your whole account to another person. Your account consists of all the phone that you bought from the carrier, your eligible promotions, contract, etc. I don't think anyone's gonna do that to make a couple hundred bucks.

The safest way he suggests is buying the phone from retail/carrier.

My advice is, save the headache and buy new instead of used.

[Mr.HappySilp]

Originally Posted by Knight_KB

i bought the phone from the person with box and accessories. in my specific case, yeah it was the original owner who pulled the bitch move. im not stupid enough to buy just a phone with no box from someone. i match up IMEI on phone and box before handing over the cash.

Most likely they got the phone on contract and then sell it then just don't pay the carrier so it got reported. Or they claim identy thief and someone sigh up for a contract using their info but to do that they most likely need someone who works in the store to activate the phone.

Either way I would think buying phone on RS is safer and you can search the user raitings. I tend to only buy new phones from a legit source, never used phones. Is just too risky.

[dangonay]

Originally Posted by mr_chin

The safest way he suggests is buying the phone from retail/carrier.

No shit. Imagine a carrier telling you to only buy new.

As I stated before, the whole blacklist thing is pure bullshit. It does NOTHING to help consumers, and really only seems to benefit carriers who can remove phones from the market, which means they sell more new phones.

I bet the majority of blacklisted devices don't get recovered and are simply bricked. I wonder if they even have statistics on that?

[dangonay]

So can anyone confirm that a carrier can indeed blacklist a phone for an unpaid bill or contract? Or is this something that's "assumed".

I only ask this because at "protectyoyrdata.ca" they keep mentioning "lost or stolen", but I found no reference to carriers being able to blacklist over unpaid accounts.

[PiuYi]

i recently had my S4 stolen and thank God for this imei lock list because i was able to call and have it locked.... don't know why people still steal phones these days, it essentially becomes trash once it's stolen, a glorified MP3 player


something else not mentioned in this thread is that people often buy insurance for their phone, sell it on craigslist, then report it stolen and have the imei locked... so buy your phones from reputable RS members or friends only!

[MASTER_J]

I also got screwed a few months ago, bought a HTC one off CL, few months after it was blacklisted... so angry....

i guess one way to more securely make a CL transaction is to take down all info of the seller and let him know that if the phone gets blacklisted, i will be contacting you and kicking down your door, scare tactic..... hahaha but can lead to a huge mess, lol

i would have contacted and gone after the seller when my HTC one got blacklisted, but stupid me lost his contact lol

[wingies]

almost everytime ive asked for the DL when buying a phone and vice versa and Ive had no problems. Sellers that generally have nothing to hide dont mind, and I as a seller dont mind giving that extra bit of confidence to the buyer if they request it

[snails]

successfully sold my s3 on craigslist last night. they buyer of my phone has someone try to sell them a stolen iphone 5, they checked the imei when they guy showed up and it was on the black list.. guess this shit happens often..

as goes for some of the comments about selling within the forum, i dont do it with electronics. i could have all the confidence in the world in what im selling but you never know what could go wrong and i rather it not happen to someone in the community

car parts are fine, what you see is what you get but something like a phone can be wrecked far to easily then its just pointing fingers and name slander on the forum, i offered the phone to a few friends at a discount but decided against it incase the phone shit the bed a week from now.

[FerrariEnzo]

cant you check the IMEI database online?

Like meet up with the seller, take the IMEI and check online and confirm its not reported before handing over the cash?

[twitchyzero]

Originally Posted by FerrariEnzo

cant you check the IMEI database online?

Like meet up with the seller, take the IMEI and check online and confirm its not reported before handing over the cash?

did you even read the first post?

IMEI can easily be reported after the transaction.

[FerrariEnzo]

Originally Posted by twitchyzero

did you even read the first post?

IMEI can easily be reported after the transaction.

well.. at least you can know right away at time of purchase if its good or not...

like with buying stuff online from ebay or whatever.. it is normally Buyer beware?
theres all kinds of people in this world... even the ones who sell fake ipads...

[entrax]

lots of misinformation on this thread. IMEIs cannot be transferred or changed.

99% of the time it "seems" like the previous owner/seller called/reported the device as blacklisted is not because they called it in after the transaction. the phone works for a bit because bell/telus/rogers/whichever company usually give you a few months (iirc it's 3 months) to catch up to your bill to keep your contract valid. once they deem that the person has ditched the contract after x amount of months is when they blacklist the phone.

the only way to avoid any problems is to check two things: IMEI is not blacklisted at time of txn, AND also checking the IMEI with the original carrier if there are any pending payments/unfinished contract attached to that IMEI.

also, if it's an iPhone, if it's blacklisted, it also cannot be unlocked, so you cannot sell it abroad for use. if it's any other phone that uses a code to unlock it, it is still usable outside of north america

i find this page to be better than the protectyourdata site as it lets you do unlimited searches:

Check Device Compatibility | Phones & Devices | Support | TELUS Mobility

even though it is from a telus site, it uses the national blacklist.

[trd2343]

^So to sum it up, 2 things can get your phone locked by IMEI:

1) reported stolen/lost (by owner)
2) pending/overdue bills (by carrier)

Is that correct?

You've mentioned that you can't unlocked an iPhone after it's blacklisted. Say you unlock the iPhone (through carrier, legit), and the phone gets blacklisted. Since you've unlock it before your phone was blacklisted, would it still work abroad?

[mr_chin]

Originally Posted by entrax

lots of misinformation on this thread. IMEIs cannot be transferred or changed.

99% of the time it "seems" like the previous owner/seller called/reported the device as blacklisted is not because they called it in after the transaction. the phone works for a bit because bell/telus/rogers/whichever company usually give you a few months (iirc it's 3 months) to catch up to your bill to keep your contract valid. once they deem that the person has ditched the contract after x amount of months is when they blacklist the phone.

the only way to avoid any problems is to check two things: IMEI is not blacklisted at time of txn, AND also checking the IMEI with the original carrier if there are any pending payments/unfinished contract attached to that IMEI.

also, if it's an iPhone, if it's blacklisted, it also cannot be unlocked, so you cannot sell it abroad for use. if it's any other phone that uses a code to unlock it, it is still usable outside of north america

i find this page to be better than the protectyourdata site as it lets you do unlimited searches:

Check Device Compatibility$|$ Phones & Devices$|$ Support$|$ TELUS Mobility

even though it is from a telus site, it uses the national blacklist.

I'm not sure if you will get information on payments history/pending payments by providing an IMEI. Let us know if you find out or have tried.

Originally Posted by reamemiya

^So to sum it up, 2 things can get your phone locked by IMEI:

1) reported stolen/lost (by owner)
2) pending/overdue bills (by carrier)

Is that correct?

You've mentioned that you can't unlocked an iPhone after it's blacklisted. Say you unlock the iPhone (through carrier, legit), and the phone gets blacklisted. Since you've unlock it before your phone was blacklisted, would it still work abroad?

Copy and paste from protectyourdata.ca disclaimer.

In certain circumstances, a wireless service provider may block a particular wireless device because of billing issues with the owner. In such cases, the wireless device would not appear on the Blacklist, however the wireless device would remain blocked with that carrier. Other Canadian wireless carriers may or may not allow such a wireless device to be used on their wireless networks. The fact that a wireless device does not appear on the Blacklist does not guarantee it will not be blocked.

Regarding the unlocking iphone, I assume it will still work abroad since you unlock it before it was reported.

[sekin67835]

Same thing happened to my cousin. The thing is the phone was still usable for the first two - three months, so everything seemed legit. But after that, the phone was deemed stolen (probably the bills weren't paid as i tried calling the phone number that the contract was under).

[FerrariEnzo]

Originally Posted by entrax

Check Device Compatibility$|$ Phones & Devices$|$ Support$|$ TELUS Mobility

LOL this search is not right.. I put in my Nexus 5 IMEI and it said

Nexus 5 D820

Your device will not work on our Network.
Your device has not been reported as lost or stolen.

Im using Koodo which is telus.. LMAO


BTW, if its unlocked phone and the buyer wasnt the original, how do you know which carrier it was from to check to see if its cleared?

[godwin]

You can find the original carrier via the IMEI, but you have to do it manually.

The search result just shows the IMEI is not from Telus.. BTW Koodo is operationally seperate from Telus.

When a sim card is first activated, the provider will provision the card with phone's IMEI. If the phone is not from the network eg I use my AT&T 5s on Rogers; When I first put in the Rogers LTE SIM card, I needed to call them so they put in a generic american IMEI to go with the 20digit LTE SIM.

The fact is the IMEI anti theft database is not perfect, it is not international.. but it is a work in progress and better than nothing.

IF the phone is unlocked and the buyer is not original, it really depends on which phone you are talking about. Usually the packaging will tell you which provider it is from, without that, you just have to go to each provider's booth to look it up. IMEI are usually given in batches to each carrier. Of course Apple is the sole exception to this.

Originally Posted by FerrariEnzo

LOL this search is not right.. I put in my Nexus 5 IMEI and it said

Nexus 5 D820

Your device will not work on our Network.
Your device has not been reported as lost or stolen.

Im using Koodo which is telus.. LMAO


BTW, if its unlocked phone and the buyer wasnt the original, how do you know which carrier it was from to check to see if its cleared?

[mr_chin]

Originally Posted by FerrariEnzo

LOL this search is not right.. I put in my Nexus 5 IMEI and it said

Nexus 5 D820

Your device will not work on our Network.
Your device has not been reported as lost or stolen.

Im using Koodo which is telus.. LMAO


BTW, if its unlocked phone and the buyer wasnt the original, how do you know which carrier it was from to check to see if its cleared?

did you try the IMEI check at protectyourdata.ca?

[FerrariEnzo]

yea.. it said not reported lost/stolen...

Iam the original owner.. haha if its on there.. Im talking to Google!

[mr_chin]

Originally Posted by FerrariEnzo

yea.. it said not reported lost/stolen...

Iam the original owner.. haha if its on there.. Im talking to Google!

Your device is probably not register with telus. Protectyourdata.ca is a nationwide blacklist so it's probably more reliable than a carrier's website.

When I bought a BB on CL and searched the device eligibility on telus site, it says not eligible. After buying a $10 voucher and activating the device with telus, it worked regardless.