How do I find original owner of iphone?

look thru the contacts?

best thing to do is contact the police , and the seller try to get your money back

There is no way to find it if the seller will not work with you or help you. The only way to disable Activation Lock is to know that previous owners password, or be able to ask them to disable it. Without either of those, you now own a brick.

If it was stolen, then Activation Lock is doing exactly what it was designed to do.

Consider posting a "lost and found" notice, an online equivalent, asking your local police... if its legitimate owner did not affix any contact information to it there is only so much you can do. Apple can't help.

lmroche wrote:

No, the seller of the phone is not helpful. I need to know how to find the original owner of the phone. (I understand that I have purchased a brick if I cannot find the owner.)

I know of no way to find out. Apple will not help you, you say the seller will not help you, and nobody here can do anything. So you are on your own to try and find them. There is no mechanism or system to find the owner, if that is what you were hoping for.

lmroche wrote:

No, the seller of the phone is not helpful. I need to know how to find the original owner of the phone. (I understand that I have purchased a brick if I cannot find the owner.)

Turn it over to the police.

I'm with Tim. If you truly want to do the right thing, turn it into the police and report the bad guy.

What type of phone is it, and in which state did you buy it?

I suspect my phone was stolen 11 days ago, so I'm taking any possible lead I can find.

Listen to the other community members, and turn the phone in to the police.

I'm in the same boat ....trying to find original owner!! I have the same problem but a different twist. I bought an iPhone 4S on eBay from a seller in No. Carolina and I live in SoCal. It was sold to me with both front & back broken glass but working and now I found out I can't use it because of the link to other owner that's not my seller? Seller hasn't responded to my emails and I don't know how to contact original owner for release? Anyone have an ideas ... so far 150 for phone and 80 for glass ...230 out of pocket! It's not a beautiful thing! Thank you in advance for all replys!

If you purchased the phone from Ebay and the seller is not being helpful, then you need to file a claim directly with Ebay. That is what they are there for and you may or may not be able to get your money back from Ebay.

Unfortunately, you'll probably have to cut your loses because you will never be able to use this phone is the person who sold it to you on Ebay is not the original owner - probably selling on a stolen phone for profit, once he found out that he could not use it. You have been well and truly scammed.

File a claim with Ebay and see what happens, but you'll probably have to buy a new phone from a legitimate source if you want one.

Thx ....the seller on eBay has answered and said he'll release the icloud hold on the phone. Ethmoid .... I appreciate your frankness and I hope all works out well!.

i purchased iphone 4 my neighbours but unfortunatly he was dead in accedent idon;t know his find my iphone password in icloud

So what i do

plz answer me.....

As stated earlier in this thread, without the Apple ID and password of the previous owner, there is nothing you can do.

i got one iphone 4s few month ago i want to give back this iphone owner is possible otherwise i want to bye this iphone

so who loss this i phone plz mail me bye dont worry whatever you want i follow you thanks

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