Hi, I recentely sold an AT&T iPhone 5c, and the buyer wants my billing zip code and the last four digits of my social secuirty number to supposedly unlock the phone. Can the buyer do anything with this information? Should I give them this info.?
Thanks
Be very careful!!
Those questions are asked when trying to link your mobile telephone number to the iPhone. In other words, say you have some mobile phone number that you are using on a competitor's phone, and you now wish to purchase an iPhone and transfer that same phone number to the iPhone. You would supply the last four digits of your social security number and your zip code, which would allow two things:
1. The cellular carrier would determine whether you're ready for a new phone (U.S.).
2. The cellular carrier would authenticate a transfer of your phone number to your new device.
To me, it sounds like you failed to do a Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings and somehow set the phone up as a new device before selling it (not to mention the fact you're selling a device that is "locked" to a carrier).
This is not something you should be giving out. Less of all your social securtiy number.
Ask the Buyer why he want it?
If wants to unlock the phone for use with another company he would need to ask you to do so through your carrier. He has no business wanting that information. And you are under no obligation to unlock the phone.
If he simply wants to unlock it from the Apple Id, then he absoilutely does not need that informatin. Merely your Apple Id and Password. This is something you should ahve done before selling the phone so he can use it.
What i'm geting from this is im basically done for? I didn't do any of that. I simply took my sim card out. I never used the phone other than to do that. And i alread shipped the phone. All he told me was that he needs that to give to his guy to unlock the phone. Im not really sure what to do now, and definitely feel like i screwed up. Please respond
How can we respond?
Yes, you screwed up.
If you have the buyer's contact informatiion, you might want to let the police know what happened.
You didn't necesarrily screw up.
Again we need to establish what the buyer wants to do.
Using your Apple Id and password to remove the Activation lock is one thing. Which does not require your Social security number at all. This is what you needed to have done, along with removing all your ionformation form the phone. If you did not do this, you can give him these details and after a few days, proceed to change your password for that Apple ID.
Unlocking it form the carrier is a different story. There's no requirement to unlock the phone from the carrier before you sell it. If that is what the Buyer wants to do, then he is on his own, and there's really nothing you need to do. You are under no obligation to give them this information. I would not give your social security to the buyer unless you know them.
I disagree with Phil0124's assertion "You didn't necessarily screw up".
The two paragraphs he included discussing possible motives both say the social security number is not required to do either. Yet the purchaser did ask for this information (last four).
I conclude yes, there was a screwup for this reason.
Alright thank you for the info. I looked through all the messages and my selling posting and i never state that the phone can or is unlocked(Great news for me). He tells me he needs this info to give to his friend that is working on unlocking the phone because the phone is not activated( which im assuming he was told by trying to use the imei number) although i thought i activated the phone when purchasing it from best buy. I never put any information onto the phone manually, the only info on it would be set up by the best buy people. I simpley took the sim card out and that was it.
But the buyer has all the information needed to hijack your telephone number and move it to the iPhone.
Just a UK person here, but if somebody asked for my social security number to unlock a phone, I would laugh like a drain and slam down the phone. What on earth has a social security number got to do with phones?
if i did a video chat with the buyer, told him, and see him put the info directly into the phone, and then see him restore it would all of MY problems be fixed?
No. The social security info is used with the carrier not the phone, so you won't see that.
To perform the unlock, the Carrier would need to validate it is you requesting the unlock and that you qualify for it. That's why I suspect he needs the info.
Again, you are under no obligation to help them unlock it for use with another carrier.
Standard activation of the Phone can be done with a functional sim from the carrier, there is no need for social security information.
If you want you could contact the original Carrier (AT&T) and request the unlock yourself if you want to help them unlock it.
Other than that there's nothing else you are required to do.
I disagree with Phil0124's assertion "You didn't necessarily screw up".
The two paragraphs he included discussing possible motives both say the social security number is not required to do either. Yet the purchaser did ask for this information (last four).
I conclude yes, there was a screwup for this reason.
What screwup exactly? The only screw up would have been if Grants had given the buyer the social security digits.
Other than that, there is no screw up if no unlocking was advertised and no digits have been given.
https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/client/en_US/termsAndCondition
Just submit the info on his behalf. The only problem is phone needs to be active at the time of submission, so ATT can unlock it.
If you never used that phone, buyer has to activate it and provide his info.
Sorry if I misunderstood something.
Unlocking iPhone
