found lost cingular phone

i recently found a phone that i claimed lost threw insurance... i have since broke the new phone they sent and now im out of a phone... no insurance cause they dropped me.... my guestion is can i use the phone i found with out having to worrie about insurance fraud or can the tell what kind of phone im using

Since the insurance company has paid you for your loss, the recovered phone belongs to them. The carrier can determine the IMEI of the phone you are using and identify it from that number. It is insurance fraud to use the device for which you have been paid for the the loss. You might be able to purchase it for the salvage value. That might be more than the cost of a phone on eBay or Craig's List.

yeah thats what i thought thanks

The phone does belong to the insurance company and you should send it to them, but it will work with no problems. I know people that have done this intentionally and their old phones worked and they never got a call or had any problems using the old phone on the ATT network. And since insurance and ATT are seperate companies, I dont even think they monitor stolen phone usage and tell each other.