phone reported stolen now found??

big_d_4

ok so heres the deal,

my friends girlfriend is as dizzy as anyone i have ever met, but this time takes the biscuit. a few months ago she was at her sisters birthday party and thought her phone had been taken when she had left her bag unattended.

anyways she phoned vodafone and reported it stolen, they blocked the sim card and she got a new phone a couple of days later.

well 2 months passed and her original phone turned up when she had her car cleaned by her boyfriend.

she has charged it up and put an o2 sim card in it and used it for the last month and its not been blocked or anything, although the original vodafone sim has.

now i need a new phone as my screen has broken and she says i can have this one, however i am on vodafone, apart from being illegal and immoral, can vodafone detect that the phone is back on their network as such and get my friends OH in trouble??

i always thought that now the phone companies block the whole phone straight away?? but its been about 3 months now.

C_Ronaldo

could they not unblock it, if you asked the girl to phone vodafone ask if it can be done,

misscutiepie1984

hi as far as the company is concerned the phone is stolen end of story..... so unless the gf has since told them otherwise then i dont see why its a problem although they can tend to block that phone from that particular network all together so its debatable as to wether or not your sim would work in it!!

Fedz

This happened to me - very similar situation - about 8-9 months ago.

I just used the phone again and didn't tell them as I got a new one in replacement.

I wouldn't worry if anything comes of it just play thick

rogerramjet

There is a high probability that the phones imei number will have been blocked so the phone will not work.

The imei number is unique to the phone so yes they could tell if its used on their network again (if it hasn't been blocked) however; the chance of them doing anything about it is slim, people have had phones stolen and used to run up thousands of pounds worth of calls before being reported lost and even though they have the numbers rang so could easily trace who stole the phone they don't bother.

Phone company's in the uk also share the blocked imei numbers so even if unlocked it may not work on another network.

big_d_4

the phone has not been blocked as it has been used on o2 for the last 2 months, however i am vodafone which the phone was originally on, if it logs back on to the vodafone network will they know??

SenorGroucho

The original phones owner should ring Vodaphone...explain the situation and ask them what to do with the phone. Chances are that they couldn't care less and you will then be able to use the phone with a clear concience.

Note that anytime you use a phone, the network logs the IMEI number and phone number...so if the phone number has your details registered to then they will know that who is using the "missing" phone.