How to prevent yourself from buying a blacklisted phone
I recently started this guide below due to the recent experience I've had. I found out a phone was blacklisted from an individual, but yet, he's still selling the phone on Kijiji.
My conscious was bugging me as many people may not know this information below. Everything that I've written so far was done through my own research and experiences. I want to edit this guide here with your help of knowledge/comments. I'm planning and hoping everyone else will post this to Kijiji/Craigslist once it's completed. Buying a blacklisted phone benefits everyone except the poor individual who purchased the phone, at a loss evidently.
Guide to prevent yourself from buying a blacklisted phone
1. Do your research.
As the old saying goes, “If its too good to be true…”. If a brand new unlocked Samsung Galaxy S5 costs $675 retail at amazon/ebay/etc and someone’s selling a locked Samsung Galaxy S5 for $550 and below, there's something fishy going on there. Look at used prices through forums as you'll find a good median what's reasonable compared to checking on kijiji/craigslist.
2. Ask the seller questions.
If the phone is brand new – ask for the carrier details, ownership, receipt, when it was bought, is it sealed.
If the phone is used - Ask who's currently the owner, where and when was the phone bought, carrier details, check imei through PYD.
If the individual is changing their story every time you ask them a question, DO NOT BUY. A seller should know when, where and who bought the phone, is it registered under a carrier, etc.
3. Rules of thumb
- Just because someone has excellent grammer and is proficient in writing doesn't mean they are a stand up and honest person. Even after checking facebook/linkedin/twitter/etc, you may feel comfortable as their profiles checks out.
- If a phone is a store demo from a carrier, DO NOT BUY. In most cases, store demo's are not to be sold under any circumstances, even if it's bought from a store employee.
- Be cautious of ads where a person says "Used this phone for a week, then switched to an iPhone". This rings alarms and in most cases the seller claimed the phone was lost/stolen through insurance right after purchase to claim the full value.
- Only buy a phone that's under a active account. By purchasing a phone that's not registered under a account, you'll be taking risks which might come with unpleasant rewards.
- If a seller is not willing to meet at the store or carrier where it was purchased from, DO NOT BUY. A seller should be 100% comfortable to walk into a carrier store and say "This is my phone, I'm selling it to Mr/Mrs.X, please transfer the IMEI to him/her". If a seller is not willing to send you the IMEI through email, DO NOT BUY.
Steps when buying a USED phone.
1. Initially ask the seller for the IMEI, check it through http://www.protectyourdata.ca/check-the ... in-canada/ . If the IMEI is blacklisted, DO NOT BUY. If nothing, comes up, PROCEED. Even though a phone is blacklisted, it might take up to 6 months to register on PYD. Follow step 2 to further confirm the IMEI.
2. Tell the seller you want to meet at the carrier store in which it's locked to. Notify the seller you will be performing a factory reset, comparing the IMEI and serial numbers with the box. IMEI's can be faked and a factory reset will remove the fake IMEI. If the seller says no, they don't want to do a factory reset, meet at the carrier store and compare the IMEI and serial numbers, DO NOT BUY. If the seller says yes to all of this, the IMEI and serial number matches the box AFTER performing the factory reset, PROCEED.
3. Ask the carrier sales/csr rep to verify if the seller is the legitimate owner by checking if the IMEI is registered under his/her account. Also ask if the phone has blacklisted for unpaid bills or reported stolen. If something comes up as fradulent, DO NOT BUY. If everything is clean, PROCEED.
4. Ask the carrier rep with the sellers approval to deactivate the IMEI under his/her account. This will further prevent you from being blacklisted in the future as the seller can call in the serial number and IMEI if it's still registered under his/her account by reporting it as stolen. Why would they do this? To claim it on insurance.
5. Once step 5 is completed, insert your SIM, verify the phone is in good working order and proceed with closing the transaction.
ALTERNATIVELY, you can avoid all of this by buying directly from the carrier/manufacturer/store. It's your call.
My conscious was bugging me as many people may not know this information below. Everything that I've written so far was done through my own research and experiences. I want to edit this guide here with your help of knowledge/comments. I'm planning and hoping everyone else will post this to Kijiji/Craigslist once it's completed. Buying a blacklisted phone benefits everyone except the poor individual who purchased the phone, at a loss evidently.
Guide to prevent yourself from buying a blacklisted phone
1. Do your research.
As the old saying goes, “If its too good to be true…”. If a brand new unlocked Samsung Galaxy S5 costs $675 retail at amazon/ebay/etc and someone’s selling a locked Samsung Galaxy S5 for $550 and below, there's something fishy going on there. Look at used prices through forums as you'll find a good median what's reasonable compared to checking on kijiji/craigslist.
2. Ask the seller questions.
If the phone is brand new – ask for the carrier details, ownership, receipt, when it was bought, is it sealed.
If the phone is used - Ask who's currently the owner, where and when was the phone bought, carrier details, check imei through PYD.
If the individual is changing their story every time you ask them a question, DO NOT BUY. A seller should know when, where and who bought the phone, is it registered under a carrier, etc.
3. Rules of thumb
- Just because someone has excellent grammer and is proficient in writing doesn't mean they are a stand up and honest person. Even after checking facebook/linkedin/twitter/etc, you may feel comfortable as their profiles checks out.
- If a phone is a store demo from a carrier, DO NOT BUY. In most cases, store demo's are not to be sold under any circumstances, even if it's bought from a store employee.
- Be cautious of ads where a person says "Used this phone for a week, then switched to an iPhone". This rings alarms and in most cases the seller claimed the phone was lost/stolen through insurance right after purchase to claim the full value.
- Only buy a phone that's under a active account. By purchasing a phone that's not registered under a account, you'll be taking risks which might come with unpleasant rewards.
- If a seller is not willing to meet at the store or carrier where it was purchased from, DO NOT BUY. A seller should be 100% comfortable to walk into a carrier store and say "This is my phone, I'm selling it to Mr/Mrs.X, please transfer the IMEI to him/her". If a seller is not willing to send you the IMEI through email, DO NOT BUY.
Steps when buying a USED phone.
1. Initially ask the seller for the IMEI, check it through http://www.protectyourdata.ca/check-the ... in-canada/ . If the IMEI is blacklisted, DO NOT BUY. If nothing, comes up, PROCEED. Even though a phone is blacklisted, it might take up to 6 months to register on PYD. Follow step 2 to further confirm the IMEI.
2. Tell the seller you want to meet at the carrier store in which it's locked to. Notify the seller you will be performing a factory reset, comparing the IMEI and serial numbers with the box. IMEI's can be faked and a factory reset will remove the fake IMEI. If the seller says no, they don't want to do a factory reset, meet at the carrier store and compare the IMEI and serial numbers, DO NOT BUY. If the seller says yes to all of this, the IMEI and serial number matches the box AFTER performing the factory reset, PROCEED.
3. Ask the carrier sales/csr rep to verify if the seller is the legitimate owner by checking if the IMEI is registered under his/her account. Also ask if the phone has blacklisted for unpaid bills or reported stolen. If something comes up as fradulent, DO NOT BUY. If everything is clean, PROCEED.
4. Ask the carrier rep with the sellers approval to deactivate the IMEI under his/her account. This will further prevent you from being blacklisted in the future as the seller can call in the serial number and IMEI if it's still registered under his/her account by reporting it as stolen. Why would they do this? To claim it on insurance.
5. Once step 5 is completed, insert your SIM, verify the phone is in good working order and proceed with closing the transaction.
ALTERNATIVELY, you can avoid all of this by buying directly from the carrier/manufacturer/store. It's your call.