Friend bought phone with a "lost/stolen" ESN from someone

[iwearnosox]

A friend of mine bought a Treo with a "lost/stolen" ESN the other day. Kinda screwed up because he called Verizon at the time he picked it up and they said it was clear. Well, he went to activate it and they declined. They also don't provide details if it's lost or stolen, they just say it cannot be activated. I have no insight, I'm on Sprint.

I doubt it's stolen since it's in the original box with accessories, etc. Who knows, though.

Questions:

Would the act of selling a phone in this condition be a criminal act? Can it be turned over to police?

Could the phone be unlocked and simply activated on a network other than verizon, to try to recover his purchase price?

 

[MrBond]

I don't think CDMA phones can be unlocked for other CDMA companies - pretty sure they're hardlocked to the providor.

Where'd he buy it?

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: MrBond
I don't think CDMA phones can be unlocked for other CDMA companies - pretty sure they're hardlocked to the providor.

Where'd he buy it?

you can unlock it so it works with different CDMA providers.
it's just more work tho.

Even if it's unlocked. If the ESN is blacklisted, it will not work.

 

[iwearnosox]

Originally posted by: MrBond
I don't think CDMA phones can be unlocked for other CDMA companies - pretty sure they're hardlocked to the providor.

Where'd he buy it?

He bought it from craigslist. Sounds like it could be shady, but he's got the guy's phone number and picked it up at his house. I doubt if it were stolen the guy would sell it from his home...

Anyhoo we found a local verizon store that is willing to look at it for us, maybe they can help.

 

[imported_Mike]

I :heart: the treos. Unfortunetly I have to send mine back to Palm for a replacement.

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: iwearnosox

Originally posted by: MrBond
I don't think CDMA phones can be unlocked for other CDMA companies - pretty sure they're hardlocked to the providor.

Where'd he buy it?

He bought it from craigslist. Sounds like it could be shady, but he's got the guy's phone number and picked it up at his house. I doubt if it were stolen the guy would sell it from his home...

Anyhoo we found a local verizon store that is willing to look at it for us, maybe they can help.

Most likely, the person who sold it thought it was lost/stolen. filed a claim, phoen got replaced.... phone was found and decided to sell the old phone.

 

[iwearnosox]

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: iwearnosox

Originally posted by: MrBond
I don't think CDMA phones can be unlocked for other CDMA companies - pretty sure they're hardlocked to the providor.

Where'd he buy it?

He bought it from craigslist. Sounds like it could be shady, but he's got the guy's phone number and picked it up at his house. I doubt if it were stolen the guy would sell it from his home...

Anyhoo we found a local verizon store that is willing to look at it for us, maybe they can help.

Most likely, the person who sold it thought it was lost/stolen. filed a claim, phoen got replaced.... phone was found and decided to sell the old phone.

That's insurance fraud, isn't it?

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: iwearnosox

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: iwearnosox

Originally posted by: MrBond
I don't think CDMA phones can be unlocked for other CDMA companies - pretty sure they're hardlocked to the providor.

Where'd he buy it?

He bought it from craigslist. Sounds like it could be shady, but he's got the guy's phone number and picked it up at his house. I doubt if it were stolen the guy would sell it from his home...

Anyhoo we found a local verizon store that is willing to look at it for us, maybe they can help.

Most likely, the person who sold it thought it was lost/stolen. filed a claim, phoen got replaced.... phone was found and decided to sell the old phone.

That's insurance fraud, isn't it?

Not if it was truly lost, but found somewhere.
Lets say he lost it around the house and had no clue where it was.
Found it after claim was made and phone was replaced.
The person making the claim has to pay the deductible anyhow so it exactly isn't free.

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: iwearnosox

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: iwearnosox

Originally posted by: MrBond
I don't think CDMA phones can be unlocked for other CDMA companies - pretty sure they're hardlocked to the providor.

Where'd he buy it?

He bought it from craigslist. Sounds like it could be shady, but he's got the guy's phone number and picked it up at his house. I doubt if it were stolen the guy would sell it from his home...

Anyhoo we found a local verizon store that is willing to look at it for us, maybe they can help.

Most likely, the person who sold it thought it was lost/stolen. filed a claim, phoen got replaced.... phone was found and decided to sell the old phone.

That's insurance fraud, isn't it?

Not if it was truly lost, but found somewhere.
Lets say he lost it around the house and had no clue where it was.
Found it after claim was made and phone was replaced.
The person making the claim has to pay the deductible anyhow so it exactly isn't free.

Technically then they should have sent back to the replacement and gotten a refund on the detuct. Paying just the deduct for a treo is pretty damn close to free.

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: CheapArse

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: iwearnosox

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: iwearnosox

Originally posted by: MrBond
I don't think CDMA phones can be unlocked for other CDMA companies - pretty sure they're hardlocked to the providor.

Where'd he buy it?

He bought it from craigslist. Sounds like it could be shady, but he's got the guy's phone number and picked it up at his house. I doubt if it were stolen the guy would sell it from his home...

Anyhoo we found a local verizon store that is willing to look at it for us, maybe they can help.

Most likely, the person who sold it thought it was lost/stolen. filed a claim, phoen got replaced.... phone was found and decided to sell the old phone.

That's insurance fraud, isn't it?

Not if it was truly lost, but found somewhere.
Lets say he lost it around the house and had no clue where it was.
Found it after claim was made and phone was replaced.
The person making the claim has to pay the deductible anyhow so it exactly isn't free.

Technically then they should have sent back to the replacement and gotten a refund on the detuct. Paying just the deduct for a treo is pretty damn close to free.

I don't condone the sale of the replacement, but I think once the unit gets blacklisted.
It's probably much easier to just use the replacement than to have the other unit unblacklisted.

 

[MrBond]

Originally posted by: isekii
you can unlock it so it works with different CDMA providers.
it's just more work tho.

Even if it's unlocked. If the ESN is blacklisted, it will not work.

Wow, I didn't know that. Is it a software thing, or is there something you need to physically change in the phone?

I've been holding onto my old cell phone, I was going to give it to a co-worker who's son lost their phone, but it wouldn't work on Verizon's network.

 

[iwearnosox]

Well we just got back from the Verizon store, to make things more ambiguous they said it doesn't come up as lost/stolen, just flat out "cannot activate." WTF does that mean?

Anyone here work for Cingular that can check the ESN to see if it's blacklisted there?

This really sucks, the phone is practically brand new.