Hyphothetical question on phone baring

I've just had a bit of a nightmare on ebay bought a blackberry phone
unlocked on ebay for £290 delivered. Got the phone turns out its noyt
unlocked and has been barred or something and had a some kinda contact sim
in it.

The guy I bought it from no longer sound leggit and more like a con artist.
Basically it was advertised as an unwanted upgrade etc.

He lives about 45 minutes from me so I decided to go round to him with my
hubby off course!

So hes says he bought it from phones 4u and was still on contract but he
bought phone insurance and claimed it was stolen so he could sell it and get
another phone. He said he thought it would work ok and would be quids in his
words. Other than being disgutsted at this confession I wanted a refund
which I got in cash. Have reported him to ebay and police aswell.

So basically I was wondering so this guy buys a contract phone, has it
unlocked, reports it stolen to police and tells the phone provider who
somehow ban the sim or block the phone ? My query is if you removed the sim
and put in for example a pay as you go one would this phone have worked
happily ? or would it have been barred or blacklisted somehow ?

Just got me thinking as I've seen so many of these unwanted upgrades on ebay
and thought they can't all be barred or something. Maybe people on ebay
remove the sim first then call it in as lost or stolen so they can be a
fruaster and sell it on for a profit and get a new one or something ?
Bloomin criminal! Glad I got a refund and it worked out ok but what a load
of hassle it turned out to be in honesty.

Thanks

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› See More: Hyphothetical question on phone baring

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
> I've just had a bit of a nightmare on ebay bought a blackberry phone
> unlocked on ebay for £290 delivered. Got the phone turns out its noyt
> unlocked and has been barred or something and had a some kinda contact sim
> in it.
>
> The guy I bought it from no longer sound leggit and more like a con artist.
> Basically it was advertised as an unwanted upgrade etc.
>
> He lives about 45 minutes from me so I decided to go round to him with my
> hubby off course!
>
> So hes says he bought it from phones 4u and was still on contract but he
> bought phone insurance and claimed it was stolen so he could sell it and get
> another phone. He said he thought it would work ok and would be quids in his
> words. Other than being disgutsted at this confession I wanted a refund
> which I got in cash. Have reported him to ebay and police aswell.

Good job! Now report it to Vodafone and your work here is done :-)
Obtaining goods by deception would be the charge I think.

> So basically I was wondering so this guy buys a contract phone, has it
> unlocked, reports it stolen to police and tells the phone provider who
> somehow ban the sim or block the phone ? My query is if you removed the sim
> and put in for example a pay as you go one would this phone have worked
> happily ? or would it have been barred or blacklisted somehow ?

No, it would not have worked, the serial number of the phone is added to
a list of stolen phones which are effectively turned off regardless of
what SIM you insert. This is properly called "blacklisting".

> Just got me thinking as I've seen so many of these unwanted upgrades on ebay
> and thought they can't all be barred or something.

Think again!
--
Regards
Jon

"Jon" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
> I've just had a bit of a nightmare on ebay bought a blackberry phone
> unlocked on ebay for £290 delivered. Got the phone turns out its noyt
> unlocked and has been barred or something and had a some kinda contact sim
> in it.
>
> The guy I bought it from no longer sound leggit and more like a con
> artist.
> Basically it was advertised as an unwanted upgrade etc.
>
> He lives about 45 minutes from me so I decided to go round to him with my
> hubby off course!
>
> So hes says he bought it from phones 4u and was still on contract but he
> bought phone insurance and claimed it was stolen so he could sell it and
> get
> another phone. He said he thought it would work ok and would be quids in
> his
> words. Other than being disgutsted at this confession I wanted a refund
> which I got in cash. Have reported him to ebay and police aswell.

Good job! Now report it to Vodafone and your work here is done :-)
Obtaining goods by deception would be the charge I think.

Pats meself on back


> So basically I was wondering so this guy buys a contract phone, has it
> unlocked, reports it stolen to police and tells the phone provider who
> somehow ban the sim or block the phone ? My query is if you removed the
> sim
> and put in for example a pay as you go one would this phone have worked
> happily ? or would it have been barred or blacklisted somehow ?

No, it would not have worked, the serial number of the phone is added to
a list of stolen phones which are effectively turned off regardless of
what SIM you insert. This is properly called "blacklisting".

Did a little googling and found out that that the imei\serial number is
added to a database in the uk only. SO I bet these scum bags sell em abroad
aswell.

> Just got me thinking as I've seen so many of these unwanted upgrades on
> ebay
> and thought they can't all be barred or something.

Think again!

Yep I did just that last night and went out this morning to a proper shop
with four walls and a till that prints receipts and have no prechased one
that works and am happy with.

Thanks for the post

--
Regards
Jon

In news:[email protected],
Jon <[email protected]> typed, for some strange, unexplained reason:
: In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...

[snip]

: > Just got me thinking as I've seen so many of these unwanted
: > upgrades on ebay and thought they can't all be barred or something.
:
: Think again!

I've bought plenty of phones on eBay and never had a problem yet. Do some
research on the seller first, try and contact other customers of that
seller to ask their opinions and *always* buy from someone in travelling
distance. Yes I know this didn't help the OP but it's a useful guideline.

Ivor

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
> Did a little googling and found out that that the imei\serial number is
> added to a database in the uk only. SO I bet these scum bags sell em abroad
> aswell.

Orgasnised gangs certainly do this, opportunist theives and scammers
like your seller generally don't have the mental capacity to think about
such devious ends. The database is shared abroad, just not really in the
places it needs to be shared. i.e. places where the governments and
mobile networks really *do* turn a blind eye to stolen phones because
they account for so much revenue.

> Thanks for the post

The pleasure was mine.
--
Regards
Jon

In article <[email protected]>, occassionally-
[email protected] says...
> I told them I had this phone for YEARS etc and eventually they cleared
> it... looks like somebody called them with a duff IMEI. Seems really
> easy to p1ss off somebody who you don't like, just by calling their
> phone company and reporting the phone lost.

Mobile networks use their electronic records to select an IMEI for
blacklisting, not word of mouth of a caller, even if the caller is
geniune.

There are a couple of ways this could have happened but I don't have the
time.
--
Regards
Jon

In message [email protected],
Jon <[email protected]> Proclaimed from the tallest tower:

> In article <[email protected]>,
> occassionally- [email protected] says...
>> I told them I had this phone for YEARS etc and eventually they
>> cleared it... looks like somebody called them with a duff IMEI.
>> Seems really easy to p1ss off somebody who you don't like, just by
>> calling their phone company and reporting the phone lost.
>
> Mobile networks use their electronic records to select an IMEI for
> blacklisting, not word of mouth of a caller, even if the caller is
> geniune.
>
> There are a couple of ways this could have happened but I don't have
> the time.

....or maybe you don't know... )

--
Regards,
Chris.
(Remove Elvis's shoes to email me)