Posted on 02/13/2018 10:18:03 PM PST by Swordmaker
Maybe your phone is scratched up, the battery won’t hold a charge anymore, or you’re just plain sick of it. Whatever the reason, you start to shop around for a new phone, but all your budget will allow is a bland, mid-range device. So you hop online to see what kind of bargain you can pick up second hand. Someone is selling last year’s flagship iPhone or Samsung Galaxy, barely used, at a drastically lower price. You pounce and secure yourself a shiny new smartphone at a steal.
The phone arrives in a couple of days, as described, and you pat yourself on the back for your bargain-hunting skills. But you can’t activate it. Or maybe you use it for a month or so, and then it gets blocked. Upon further investigation, you realize your new phone has been reported lost or stolen. The seller won’t respond to your messages. To make matters worse, no one wants to help you – not your carrier, not the website you bought on, not even the police.
The used phone scam is frighteningly simple.
We’re sorry to say, you’ve fallen victim to a horrifyingly common used phone scam. A quick Google search reveals countless threads on forums across the world going back years, where victims appeal for help because they bought a phone that turned out to be blacklisted and unusable. Read through them and you’ll see the vast majority don’t have a happy ending. The victim typically has to eat the loss, with no prospect of getting their money back.
The used phone scam is particularly pernicious, because it doesn’t rely on a victim’s gullibility, and it’s not as well-known as something like the white van speaker scam. Everything appears to be perfectly legitimate right up to the point your new phone gets blocked. If it has happened to you, sadly there’s nothing we can do to help you, but read on if you want to learn more about the scam and how to avoid it in future.
This is an excerpt, read more here.
If the buyer gets a really good deal on the stolen phone, they may be guilty of theft by receiving stolen property.
I sell phones on Ebay. They are all legitimately obtained, but some have bad ESN/IMEI, and others are Google Locked or Icloud locked.
They should be listed in condition “FOR PARTS NOT WORKING”, and disclose the problem. I sold a Samsung the other day, had the words “GOOGLE LOCKED” in title, thumbnail, and description. Guy messages me the next day wanting the password!!! If I knew that, I would have gotten more money!
Read the Ebay listings carefully. If you get it, and it is not-as-described, you can send it back. Most of my listings end up sold out-of-country, I think they have workarounds there.
Buyer should insist on being provided with the ESN...Electronic Serial Number. An easy phone call to buyer's carrier of choice will allow them to verify the status of that serial number. Still, caveat emptor.
I don’t see the need for a used phone when you can buy a great unlocked phone new for $200 or less.
Ask your friends. Chances are they have a phone or they know someone with one. My son put an appeal on Facebook and got a phone within a day.
I gave him my Sprint S6 and got a $20 phone from Cricket($35 a month)
I have bought several used phones. I buy them from Craigs list. I always have the seller meet me at the carrier store and have it transferred and checked right there. So far I have never gotten a scammer.
This year my wife and I got a BOGO deal on Note 8’s. So half price not bad. We absolutely love the phones.
Gotta be careful buying used stuff.
Sounds like a commercial for new phones.
Sounds like a commercial for new phones.
If you sleep with dogs you get fleas, I know it is just a saying and my two dogs were welcome in my bed, no wife any more so they kept me warm :)
Don’t buy stuff from people you don’t even have an address for, most likely they are about to rip you off.
The specs on that new $200 phone are unlikely to be any better than many used phone in “excellent” condition for less than half the price. The last used phone I purchased for my wife was directly from Freedompop, a Sprint MVNO. It was a “groupon special” for $59 with shipping for a previous Samsung “flagship” and does not have a contract. It does not have a mark on it and no problems that we have found, and better specs than most new $200 "unlocked" phones.
Personally, I trust many of the sellers on eBay more than I trust Freedompop. People who have used Freedompop probably understand what I am talking about; they do have some pitfalls. But for a spare phone that spends most of its time in a glove box... the basic plan doesn't cost anything per month as long as you stay within your free minutes, free texts, and free data. You just have to be careful when signing up not to jump at any of their “free limited time” offers. They do have occasional “special offers” that are hard to pass up. So I have to admit that I am paying a couple dollars a month for “data rollover” on a couple of accounts and unlimited text and voice on one of them for $5 a month. They build up data for cheap and I use them for listening to Pandora on the car radio. I use another MVNO for our primary cell accounts.
Thank you for displaying your full blown ignorance on both eBay and Craigslist. My wife and I have been buying and selling collectable items on eBay since 1999. We have maintained our 100% positive feedback by treating every sale as a sacred contract and treating every customer like they are our best friends. And in fact we have formed many long term relationships through eBay. When someone has common interests and purchases thousands of dollars of merchandise from you that tends to happen.
Are there scam artists on eBay??? Obviously but using a little common sense can keep you out of trouble. Reputable sellers actually are the ones who are at the most risk. We do not have much control over who purchases our items. And if you purchase from a seller without actually taking a look at the length and quality of their feedback reputation you are putting yourself at some risk.
Craigslist is a different type of animal and the potential for getting into difficulty is greater. But we have been using them for many years as well and have had hundreds of successful transactions. By being careful we have never been scammed even once. And we have also made many friends and customers that we met through craigslist.
It is amusing to me the number of people here who make fun of things that they have no experience or understanding of. If you don't have the courage to use eBay or Craigslist and are only comfortable buying merchandise from a large retailer that says more about you and your level of confidence in your own judgement than it does about those of us who do use them.
I’m trying to buy a decent used way-back, landline, plug-into-the-wall phone with a speaker. With frequent long-lasting power outages where we live, it’s a good thing to have for backup. Also, when we need tech support for our cell phones, the landline is handy for speaking with Verizon while making changes to the cell.
I have an Android now and would give it up in a heartbeat and go back to a basic device if it weren’t for Google Maps GPS.
Most of the items I have bought on eBay recently offer no questions asked returns, even shipping is paid.
Ask to return an item and they will email you a label which you print out. Box the item up and attach the label, in a few days you are notified of the money being returned to your account.
Lately I have had faster delivery from eBay than Amazon Prime.
We have never refused to take back an item we have sold on eBay. When we put an ad up; we already have the item in a box waiting for a shipping label, and if someone buys something before the post office closes... it gets taken down that day.
Thanks Swordmaker.
Kudo’s to you. I have been using eBay for years and never had a bad experience although I have had a couple things arrive that were bused. Got an iPad that already had a user, don’t recall the seller but they replaced it quickly. I have bought many thousands worth of computers and parts with no problems, of course I am strictly a Mac person so that may make a difference.
This is true - just depends on the mood and attitude of law enforcement and the prosecutor.
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