I unknowingly purchased a stolen iPhone through Craigslist. Can I be in further troubles?

That is not true. The police can't do jack. This happened to me and the first thing I did after finding out it was stolen was try to contact the seller but he was gone for good he even blocked my number so I went directly to the police department and told them I was sold a phone that turns out to have been lost or stolen and the person who sold it to me will not answer my calls, I'm down 300 dollars and the carrier told me I won't be able to use the phone as anything but an ipod touch. He seemed like this kind of thing happens a lot but no one ever does anything about it because no one cares to help. Anyway, I even asked my carrier to find out the original owner of the phone and they said "unfortunately our system does not have that ability". So they can look up the serial of the phone and check that it was reported lost or stolen, but they can't even check who reported it and who owned it?? I tried giving them the seller's # but they said they can't do anything about it because there's no proof it was him and I even tried to show them the text messages and call logs between us and they wouldn't even look at it. They said that it was a "civil agreement between seller and buyer and it's a contract between the two" so if i bought it and received something for it that turns out to be faulty or "unclean" then it's my problem. Sure the metropolitan PD in Nevada isn't going around chasing criminals but they don't even have time for helping out someone who has just been basically robbed not to mention that seller could be doing the same thing to other people too. They told me there was "nothing to file or report" and the only thing I can do is "leave the phone here for evidence". Gee thanks for your help. Now I lost my money, I have someone's lost/stolen iphone and I can't even use it and I do not want to resell it knowing all the facts. It was a horrible experience and i do not wish it on anyone!

Hi..can i sk a question also? Someone tried to sell us an iphone6..we don't know that it was been stolen only we think that thr owner of that phone was really the one who sold it to us..so because we cannot open and we want to check if really it is working we ask the technician and told us to reformat the phone..the phone been reformat and it is now better than before..days later someone approach us saying that she is the owner of that phone..and so we contacted the one sold us the phone to return our money so that the phone will be back to the owner also..we let the owner saw their phone and it is ok..then we settled a date when the one sold the one gave back the our money..but the owner was maybe in hurry to get her phone then suddenly went to police station that day..and the problem the screen of the phone get blurred and the owner said that she will not accept unless it will be repaired..the point there is that it seems we are in a situation that we are the one stolen it because we will be the one to repaired it shouldering all expenses and we will be negotiating to the one sold us for half of the expenses.. the one that stole the phone is at minor age,and the one that sold it to us is another person too..the phone was been kept for a while from one stole it before it was been sold to us..

My point there is that why the police said to us that we are also liable and can be part of the case wherein we are also a victim and we really don't know it was stolen and it really pressured us...

I need some advice please.. It reallymakes my night miserable thinking about it..

... I think he intentially sold a stolen phone to me

So do I. Go to your local police and report it. It's better to report a crime than to be accused of one, and you don't want to be placed in the position of having to defend yourself if you are found to be in possession of a stolen iPhone.

Your report will be more credible if you supply a copy of the bill of sale - did you and the seller execute one? Most people overlook this important detail, but that is the reason for having one.

I'd suggest you remove you sim card from the phone, then totally erase it using Settings>General>Reset>Erase All Content and Settings, then take it to your closest police station and report what happened and how you came to possess it. Ask them to return it to it's rightful owner and if they can help track down the scumbag that sold it to you great (but I wouldn't hold my breath on that bit). Do anything else and you risk being viewed as an accessory in the theft, receiver of stolen property, etc.

If you go to the police with your story I HIGHLY doubt they would arrest you. Or we wouldn't here if you came into the station. Better that then getting caught with it. You'll be fine, just go.

Just want to add: I don't know you or the story if its true or not. All I will say is turn it in at the police station. It looks far better to do that. They probably will have a few questions, but you dont need a good memory to tell the truth. If its the truth then everything will me okay and you have nothing to worry about.

You can only be charged with receiving stolen property if you knew that it was stolen. Now that you know it is stolen, using it or trying to sell it could lead to a criminal charge. Since you do not know if the car was stolen from a car or taken by force, you do not want to be associated with the stolen device.

As stated earlier, go to the police department and tell them exactly what happened. Bringing a copy of the email messages will help the police if there is an open investigation. You can also provide a description of the seller to the police, which may help stop this thief. Since you have already accepted that you lost your money on this transaction, do the right thing and maybe help stop a criminal.

It's not as though your concerns are unwarranted, but reporting a crime is the only right thing to do in your situation. Your local police just might have a report on file from the phone's rightful owner, who would appreciate its return.

As suggested, take copies of emails between you and the seller, hand the phone over and say "take it, do not want it, learned my lesson about second-hand phones". Trying to resell it would be a serious error, though.

By the way a brand new iPhone 4s is free, with contract.