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i think i may have bought a stolen phone, please help

hi, i have recently purchased a touch pro 2 off ebay and i stuck my SIM card in it to find out i cant get a signal or make calls etc..
i really dont know what i should do.
please help. any advice is helpful.

Was it used or new?

used, he was selling as 'it no longer makes calls or sends texts'
if it was listed as barred theres no way i would have bought it. but with what he wrote it sounded fixable.

earni said:
used, he was selling as 'it no longer makes calls or sends texts
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So you were suprised when you got it that it doesn't make calls? Call you provider they might be able to unlock it if the phone isn't broken to begin with. Next time i suggest understand what you are buying because this is a pretty ridiculous post. I am questioning my own judgment for even answering to this post.

i wasnt surprised it didnt make calls, i thought he may just have a bad radio or something but i checked the imei on checkmend and it shows up as blocked..

You bought a phone that the seller told you didn't work. You assumed the reason it didn't work was one thing, but it turned out to be another. Whether he lied to you as to why it didn't work or not, you still took a chance on buying a phone you knew was not working. Take your loss, learn from it and move on.

If the phones blocked then he has found/stolen it. Or put in an insurance claim saying it’s been lost/stolen.
If you paid by PayPal put in a claim giving reason that you were not told the phone was blocked. You will then get your money back.

earni said:
i wasnt surprised it didnt make calls, i thought he may just have a bad radio or something but i checked the imei on checkmend and it shows up as blocked..
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bwaaaaahahahahahaha...that's what you get...!!!

earni said:
hi, i have recently purchased a touch pro 2 off ebay and i stuck my SIM card in it to find out i cant get a signal or make calls etc..
i really dont know what i should do.
please help. any advice is helpful.
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Click to collapse
I've had this situation before and although it turned out that the phone I had purchased wasnt stolen, the process will be the same:
Contact your Phone Network and give them the IMEI number and explain the situation. Don't worry - they are used to dealing with this type of call. They will use a database shared between all the network providers to find out the original and current owner of the handset and tell you whether it has been registered stolen or just blocked by the previous owner (this is what happened to me only I found this out a lot later).
If they tell you it is stolen, take the handset and everything that came with it to your local police station, including print-outs of any correspondence you have had with the seller - via the website market place or direct.
The police will give you a crime number and most probably take the device and the print outs from you to investgate further. You will need the crime number to get your money back later on.
Contact the market place and your bank (credit card company) and explain the situation and give them the crime number.
In most situations, the market place will give you your money back (withdraw it from the sellers account). If they dont, your credit card company will do the chasing for you but you'll need to try yourself first.
The market place may ask you for more documents from the police and the police will be very understanding. The police woman assigned to my crime number was very helpful and was in regular contact with me about how the investigation was proceeding.
The whole process may take 6-8 weeks. It can be drawn out but persevere and you will get your money back - and deservedly so.
Good luck and PM me if you need any further advice.

I thought gsm phones cannot be blocked?

DJ_MiX said:
I thought gsm phones cannot be blocked?
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I am no expert but they can certainly be blacklisted by the owner and that was what I was suggesting.
http://www.unlockme.co.uk/blacklist.html was a site I read up on when I was faced with the same situation.

My phone was blocked. I rang up Orange and told them the situation and they unblocked it - to my surprise. At the same time, I had opened a case in eBay which went in my favour, but I decided to keep the TP2 as it's now working. In my case, I could get a signal (four bars), but it always came up with no connection.

[Q] Reactivating phone

I just got my phone back today after it was stolen. During the time i didnt have it i deactivated the service on it. Would it be possible to activate it even though its on a whole other ROM?
Specifically Its on Mik-G RC1
EDIT: I decided to call *2 on my Evo and talked to the customer service rep and I got service back on it. Thanks jesuspgt for suggesting it!

Should be possible to activate it. If not, there's no reason that you couldn't just flash it back to stock, activate it, and then flash back to whatever you prefer.
The more important thing to worry about would be to make sure that you get the Lost/Stolen flag taken off that phone if you called and reported it stolen. To get it taken off you'll have to call customer care and ask them to remove it.

you should be able to without any problems. It's still the same phone with all the same S/N's and what ever other numbers they need to activate.

I would do that but the problem is that my SD card was stolen. I'm going to buy a new one in a while and i have a backup of the card on my PC, but I just want to activate it as soon as possible.

Scrub Life said:
I just got my phone back today after it was stolen. During the time i didnt have it i deactivated the service on it. Would it be possible to activate it even though its on a whole other ROM?
Specifically Its on Mik-G RC1
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You most likely will need to flash a Sence based rom. I think if you did it over the phone you would have to enter a few things throgh the dailer app.
And most definitely if you took it to a Sprint store.
Few questions though, when you say "deactivate" do you mean you had your account put on hold or canceled?
Did you report it to Sprint as stolen? I ask this cause if you reported it stolen Sprint would/should have flashed the ESN on the phone. If they did it wont work.
Sent From The Tree House Out Back!

How to track phone owner?

Does anyone know how to track the original owner of the phone by the serial or imei? or any other information I can get off the phone.

pr0cl1v1ty said:
Does anyone know how to track the original owner of the phone by the serial or imei? or any other information I can get off the phone.
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Google mostly or call tmobile saying you found a device that you are willingly wanting to send back to owner for it is "his property" im sure theyll get you connected somehow.
Or get the police involved if you have the text messages still of him stating that he will meet up (make sure it was a public place cause they have cameras so they can see the trade and show his face that it was he who sold it)
And then you can get your money or you could even get him jailtime...
I'm a consultant... ask me anything... I'll run away.

It's best to call the telco. and report it found -- or go to the nearest police station and do the same. They'll keep it in holding until it's claimed.
Any phone in possession can be tracked without having apps installed (police backdoor). The original owner, on the other hand, can track it if they have remote apps installed or properly configured the apps to do so. Don't hold onto a hot item, as you can be held liable, even if some other guy gave you the phone.

The easiest way I have found is calling the contacts on the phone hopefully finding one that outright says "mom brother, father, etc"
Ive returned two phones this way. If its locked do what the others have said and turn into police
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

I'm Confused Here
Did you buy a stolen phone, or find one that someone has lost?

He probably bought a phone that worked fine and then got blacklisted and is now trying to bring vengeance upon the owner.
Sent from my SGH-T889

[Q] network wont connect

I have my galaxy s3 through tmobile, and I used to be on my boyfriend's account. Well after we broke up, he reported my phone as stolen. Now I cant use my phone with any carrier, because apparently the IMEI number has been blacklisted. I have called tmobile to explain the situation, but they are not hearing it because I wasn't the account holder. Is there any way to go around this situation? They will not listen to me or believe me, even though I take my phone to them and show all of my data and proof that I have had it forever! Please help, because if I cant fix this then I will be out a lot of money that I do not have!!!

jessf said:
I have my galaxy s3 through tmobile, and I used to be on my boyfriend's account. Well after we broke up, he reported my phone as stolen. Now I cant use my phone with any carrier, because apparently the IMEI number has been blacklisted. I have called tmobile to explain the situation, but they are not hearing it because I wasn't the account holder. Is there any way to go around this situation? They will not listen to me or believe me, even though I take my phone to them and show all of my data and proof that I have had it forever! Please help, because if I cant fix this then I will be out a lot of money that I do not have!!!
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Well, I'll bite the bullet on this one. It looks like you are screwed as your phone is blacklisted and most of the carriers are sharing lists, so you probably never be able to get service in the U.S. Your only real options, other than pursue legal action against BF/TMo, are to sell the phone to a non-U.S. party for them to use or part it out.
Good Luck with it.

Thread Cleaned. Do not spam the boards to get 10 posts.

T-MOBILE Samsung Galaxy Note 3 BAD IMEI

Hi, I recently bought a new samsung galaxy note 3 t-mobile on craigslist. everything worked perfectly fine and a few days later, my sim card didn't not work anymore, i couldn't make any calls or connect with my data plan. i asked t-mobile and basically the person who sold the phone to me called in t-mobile and reported it as stolen and not my phone is blocked from ever making calls and now it has a blocked imei.
I read on a lot of articles, is there a possible possible way to clean the imei or replace the imei or repair it? Please help. I'm really sad and I'm so lost. I want to be able to use my samsung galaxy note 3 t-mobile with my own simcard however, it's imei block. can someone be kind enough and helped me? I tried everything even the 1) Insert the desired SIM card you want to use unlocked into your device, and restart the phone.
2) Enter the code *#197328640# into the keypad and press send. 3) Go to Main Menu -> [1] UMTS -> [1] Debug Screen -> [8] Phone Control -> [6] Network Lock -> Options [3] Perso SHA256 OFF (after choosing this option, wait for at least 30 seconds)
overall nothing works? is there a place or show that can unblock my imei or someone repair it so i can use it on t-mobile. please help. thanks so much again.

Get your money back from the seller.
Other than using the phone on a different carrier than T-Mobile, there is no legal way to fix your problem.

elisecohenn1 said:
Hi, I recently bought a new samsung galaxy note 3 t-mobile on craigslist. everything worked perfectly fine and a few days later, my sim card didn't not work anymore, i couldn't make any calls or connect with my data plan. i asked t-mobile and basically the person who sold the phone to me called in t-mobile and reported it as stolen and not my phone is blocked from ever making calls and now it has a blocked imei.
I read on a lot of articles, is there a possible possible way to clean the imei or replace the imei or repair it? Please help. I'm really sad and I'm so lost. I want to be able to use my samsung galaxy note 3 t-mobile with my own simcard however, it's imei block. can someone be kind enough and helped me? I tried everything even the 1) Insert the desired SIM card you want to use unlocked into your device, and restart the phone.
2) Enter the code *#197328640# into the keypad and press send. 3) Go to Main Menu -> [1] UMTS -> [1] Debug Screen -> [8] Phone Control -> [6] Network Lock -> Options [3] Perso SHA256 OFF (after choosing this option, wait for at least 30 seconds)
overall nothing works? is there a place or show that can unblock my imei or someone repair it so i can use it on t-mobile. please help. thanks so much again.
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Never ever go on Craigslist for a phone.
TWEAKED 1.0 NOTE 3

Like someone said, theres no legal way to unblock that phone but PM me for my solution to when I had the same problem as you. Yours actually should be easier to fix lol
Sent from my SM-N900T using xda app-developers app

krelvinaz said:
Get your money back from the seller.
Other than using the phone on a different carrier than T-Mobile, there is no legal way to fix your problem.
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"I can't get my money back from the seller. I tried emailing them and calling them yet they refuse to pick up. I have never done any harm or done anything to inflict pain or evil upon the seller. I have done my part of the bargain by giving them the money, a fair exchange, yet in the end, these types of individuals use deceit and trickery.

BACARDILIMON said:
Never ever go on Craigslist for a phone.
TWEAKED 1.0 NOTE 3
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"Thanks, now I know. I went to T-MOBILE and the only solution is through the other person's end. The owner would have to call T-MOBILE up and tell them that it's not stolen in order to make the "block imei" to "unblock." I wish there was a solution because there are so many incidences of these occurring to innocent individuals who just wants a simple and happy life with their newly bought phone. Sigh, I wish T-MOBILE had a way where they can offer ways for those in these sticky situations ? ):

Aaaaaaand do not mention anything regarding changing imei around here. Its very illegal and devs will mad and take actions
Sent from my hot tub time machine

elisecohenn1 said:
"Thanks, now I know. I went to T-MOBILE and the only solution is through the other person's end. The owner would have to call T-MOBILE up and tell them that it's not stolen in order to make the "block imei" to "unblock." I wish there was a solution similar to jailbreak or something because there are so many incidences of these occurring to innocent individuals who just wants a simple and happy life with their newly bought phone. Sigh, I wish T-MOBILE had a way where they can offer ways to unblock the imei. Or there was a special application for the google play store or something to issue us a new imei ? ):
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Well u can go to cops with emails that you bought it off this guy and then he reported it stolen. U will have legal action and win.
TWEAKED 1.0 NOTE 3

Yea I tried the whole cops ordeal on multiple occasions and it goes nowhere. Out of everything going on in life, I think cell phone theft will be at the bottom of their IDGAF files next to eating steaks for breakfast and cereal for dinner
Sent from my hot tub time machine

Keep googling their number and searching craigslist for stuff they sell. They might pop up some time. Then I'd thump them.
Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

Should have met dude @ tmobile store and make sure everything was legit before paying for the phone, i bought mine off craigslist this way and have no problems. This is how you can tell if your dealing with a shady person or not is when there not willing to meet you in store,huge red flag right there!
Sent from my SM-N900T using xda premium

elisecohenn1 said:
Hi, I recently bought a new samsung galaxy note 3 t-mobile on craigslist...
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Click to collapse
You are SOL, my friend. Never buy from Craigslist. Resell on eBay for parts. That's all you can do.
Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

Or switch to att network
---------- Post added at 06:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:33 AM ----------
Dattack said:
Or switch to att network
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You said you have his number? Do a reverse ID check and sometimess you can get the full name for free

You can't switch to any network anymore. One it's black flagged on one network, the rest are SOl too.
Sent from my your mom's bedroom. Knock before you enter

BACARDILIMON said:
Never ever go on Craigslist for a phone.
TWEAKED 1.0 NOTE 3
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I normally agree with most of what you say but not with the above comment. So long as the buyer calls the network and gives them the IMEI number and has it associated with your existing account then on "their" system the phone is now yours regardless of what the seller does at a later date. The network will not block it.

Limeybastard said:
I normally agree with most of what you say but not with the above comment. So long as the buyer calls the network and gives them the IMEI number and has it associated with your existing account then on "their" system the phone is now yours regardless of what the seller does at a later date. The network will not block it.
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If you think about it though. Why pay some guy let's say 300. And then have T-Mobile charge me for the phone so they can get they money. It not gonna happen. I say about 70% of the phones on Craigslist are stolen or a smuck is trying to make some money and scam you then report it stolen so he get fast cash. It is a dirty thing to do but it does happen unfortunately. The seller would have to satisfy TMOBILE first.
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BACARDILIMON said:
If you think about it though. Why pay some guy let's say 300. And then have T-Mobile charge me for the phone so they can get they money. It not gonna happen. I say about 70% of the phones on Craigslist are stolen or a smuck is trying to make some money and scam you then report it stolen so he get fast cash. It is a dirty thing to do but it does happen unfortunately. The seller would have to satisfy TMOBILE first.
TWEAKED 1.0 NOTE 3
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When I sold my S4 on CL, the potential buyer called ATT and gave them the IMEI number and requested that this be put on his account prior to giving me the cash. He the buyer informed me that this way once the phone is registered to him then there will be no negative repercussions at a later date.

Limeybastard said:
When I sold my S4 on CL, the potential buyer called ATT and gave them the IMEI number and requested that this be put on his account prior to giving me the cash. He the buyer informed me that this way once the phone is registered to him then there will be no negative repercussions at a later date.
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Yes but with jump program it no money down. TMOBILE will not transfer to a different owner. So it be like him getting the phone himself from them.
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BACARDILIMON said:
Yes but with jump program it no money down. TMOBILE will not transfer to a different owner. So it be like him getting the phone himself from them.
TWEAKED 1.0 NOTE 3
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Agreed, this was ATT so Jump was not in the equation. I am thinking if Jump was in the equation then T mobile would not allow the phone to be transferred until outstanding balance is paid off.

Limeybastard said:
Agreed, this was ATT so Jump was not in the equation. I am thinking if Jump was in the equation then T mobile would not allow the phone to be transferred until outstanding balance is paid off.
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It all about money. It sucks but hey they love the money and we hate to give it to them lol
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