bought 2nd hand iphone 4s and worried

Fifer

I've never been in the OPs situation, but if the original seller reports the phone as lost or stolen (presumably in order to fraudulently claim a new one from their insurance), the police with the cooperation of the insurance company and mobile provider, should have a good chance of identifying the fraudster given that the OP has good documentary evidence that the phone was sold rather than being lost or stolen?

Buzby

The police will seldom be interested in a one-off complaint. Fraud of this type is invariably investigated by the insurer, not the police. Since the new purchaser still has what he paid for (a phone, albeit useless) there is no theft for them to investigate.

If the number of complaints becomes more prevalent, they might look into it but it would be a long shot at best.

The fact there is no appeal process consumers can use to challenge any blocking is the biggest scandal. It is this that needs to be addressed.

grumbler

Buzby wrote: »

.... there is no theft for them to investigate. ...

It's always either theft or fraud. Both are within the police jurisdiction. This doesn't mean that they are eager to investigate every theft/fraud.

stesilc

i would say never buy of facebook my wife did and the laptop she bought was not working when she complained the seller blocked her and there was not a lot my wife could do . so never buy from facebook

z.n

The other possibility concerns the type of phone-PAYG or contract. If it was bought on contract and the original owner does not keep up payments then it can be blocked at any time. This happened to me 15 months after purchase of what I thought was a PAYG phone. It is then entirely the network's discretion whether to lift the block or not-in my case they chose not to. There is no one obvious to complain to or appeal to once the decision is made. I would never buy a second hand mobile unless from a very close family member or with written clearance from the locked network- no matter how good the deal you are risking 100% loss without easy recourse. You are right to be worried now, but there may be little you can do about it.

grumbler

z.n wrote: »

The other possibility concerns the type of phone-PAYG or contract. If it was bought on contract and the original owner does not keep up payments then it can be blocked at any time.

I think this is incorrect. Normally networks suspend an account, but don't block the handset.

This happened to me 15 months after purchase of what I thought was a PAYG phone.

How do you know the genuine reason of blocking?

It is then entirely the network's discretion whether to lift the block or not-in my case they chose not to. There is no one obvious to complain to or appeal to once the decision is made. I would never buy a second hand mobile unless from a very close family member or with written clearance from the locked network

I don't think that they ever give such 'clearance'.

d123

grumbler wrote: »

I think this is incorrect. Normally networks suspend an account, but don't block the handset.
How do you know the genuine reason of blocking?
I don't think that they ever give such 'clearance'.

Grumbler is quite right (I used to work with fraud on one of the networks). A phone should never be blacklisted just for outstanding debt (unless the procedure has changed recently, which I doubt, it was based on legal advice).

The only time a phone was blacklisted was loss, theft or if fraud was suspected on a connection (false details, bulk connections, fraudulent CC usage).