I bought an iPhone 5 off of craigslist, which unbeknownstome was stolen

Taylor the most common scam on Craigslist is where a cell phone subscriber gets a new discounted phone (for maybe $99 or $199) on their cell phone account and then either (1) stops paying and takes the hit to their credit report. In this case they (fraudulent seller) gets many hundreds of dollars of cash from the person they sold the iPhone to via Craigslist or eBay. During this time the IMEI checks out as valid and legit. AT&T or other carrier waits 30-60 days trying to get the account subscriber to pay their bill. All the while the iPhone would work for the buyer. Then when the carrier writes off the account the carrier can block the IMEI, rendering the phone unusable as a cell phone. The second (2) method the scams work is the seller gets a subsidized/discounted phone and sells it via eBay or CL. The IMEI is currently valid because the phone is on a currently active plan. A week or month later the seller calls the carrier to claim the phone was lost/stolen. If they have handset insurance through the carrier they get a replacement handset to replace the one that was lost/stolen. So the "seller" ends up with another phone. As the insurance claim goes through the IMEI of the lost/stolen phone is blocked.

In MOST cases the IMEI will check out clean at the time the buyer purchases it from eBay or CL, and will be blocked LATER, sometimes weeks or months later. Many times it will be weeks or months later especially for eBay because the seller waits past the eBay or PayPal window for claims to be filed.

In all these scams the Seller is most often but not always committing fraud. They're either selling the phone to a buyer as an unencumbered phone knowing full well they plan to stop paying the account or (2) the "Seller" commits insurance fraud by claiming a phone was lost/stolen, when they actually sold it.

The problem in the current state of affairs is the the BUYER is a complete victim with NO RECOURSE. The cell phone carriers will not talk to the buyer/victim. They will not help the victim even identify the fraudulent seller. As noted before the police just really don't care. It is simply very difficult to SAFELY buy a used iPhone on the private marketplace.

The AT&T stores are not willing or interested in helping in the transfer of an iPhone (identified by IMEI) from a buyer to seller. Best I can think of is to require the seller to provide the original receipt and a Bill of Sale signed by the seller identifying the seller by name and signature (and some ID like a drivers's license number) and identifying the phone/iPhone/iPad by IMEI.

If anyone knows HOW to conduct a sale to completely protect the buyer I'd like to know how to do so.

I'd also like to hear from any practicing lawyers because it also seems to me that the cell phone companies are in most cases aiding and abetting this fraud and leaving honest buyers of private property with crippled devices. Is there any law that allows these private companies/cell phone carriers to interfere in private property sales and use? They'll block devices only on the say-so of their account holder and don't even require a police report. Seems they're completely willing to take the position that cell phones should only be purchased brand new from their stores.

Keep in mind that it is illegal to accept stolen goods (You did not know initially but now you have proof that it is stolen). Also, if you are taking money from the original owner ($100 or whatever) then you are also guilty of selling stolen goods. Bottom line, file a police report and move on. Like previously mentioned, this was an expensive lesson.

Craiglist is a good place to find deals, but like everywhere else, there will be theives amonst the honest people. Just look for the warning signs and they usually start with their post.

Here are some tips for dealing with purchases on Craiglist to protect yourself:

- If a deal seems to good to be true then be skeptical (Example: Iphone 5s Gold 64gb for $250.00)

- Get the tag# of the seller (This is helpful if you need to file a police report)

- Test the item thoroughly before buying (If buying an iDevise then make sure iCloud settings is empty)

- Meet in a public place that has free WIFI (McDonalds, Starbucks, etc).

- Have the seller call you from their cell phone at the time of sale so that you have a working # to contact them.

I had something like that happen to me, bought it from a guy said it was his gfs. All of a sudden get the lock and the message. Wasn't on there when I was looking at it. Happened after I bought it. Told me they would buy it back for 100$. Come to find out it was the gf that said it was stolen. So they got the 400 I paid,in the first place. Gave me 100$ back. So they made out with 300$ and the phone back to prob do again! just wonder how many ppl d this to people!

I Recently had my phone stolen, if it were me i'd lure you to the store with the cops or my son and his friends and I'd get my phone back.

willscosme, why is it you think the original owner of the iphone owes you anything. She got her phone stolen and yet she was willing to give you $100 because she wanted to get some pictures which were still on the phone. I think what she offered you was very generous, considering she was already out the money she paid for the phone and use of the phone. Usually when a good Samaritan returns something that was lost or stolen, it is done so out of kindness and consideration, not financial gain. It's normally up to the original owner to decide how much, if any, should be given to the finder, not the finder holding the item as hostage until they get what they believe to be a fair amount. For God sake, don't hold this woman's phone hostage. Do the right thing and return her phone. She did nothing wrong to deserve her phone being stolen. You, however, didn't research this sale well enough. You seem to think 10 minutes is sufficient time which it is not. Had you done a bit more research, you would have learned it was stolen.. So don't try to squeeze money from this poor person. You are more at fault for not doing more research to see if the phone was stolen. And keeping this woman from having her phone is against the law. You now know it was stolen and by law you need to return it. If you don't you could be arrested because you are now in possession of stolen property.

In case you didn't notice, you replied to a post that is 1 1/2 years old now. We do not know how this ended.

Yes, I did notice the date it was posted and I am aware we don't know the outcome. This thread was still open and as such I added my input. Thank you anyways for your comment.

This is exactly what I did. I filed a police report, and the person ultimately got their phone back.

I know this post is old, but I'll share some of my knowledge for others looking for answers. If you've been scammed in this manner, the best idea is to hand the phone over to police and let them deal with it. If you were to take this phone to the person at the apple store, they could very easily come to an employee and say "This person stole my iPhone" and you would be screwed over.

willscosme wrote:

...I simply asked for a fair exchange...

It's HER phone. A fair exchange is ZERO. You are holding on to a STOLEN phone. It does NOT MATTER how it came into your possession - it's still STOLEN and you have no right to keep it.

Umm, look at the date on the message you replied to.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

Umm, look at the date on the message you replied to.

Dang. I did it again!

Happens to me regularly, also.

ArcFlash20 wrote:

I know this post is old, but I'll share some of my knowledge for others looking for answers. If you've been scammed in this manner, the best idea is to hand the phone over to police and let them deal with it. If you were to take this phone to the person at the apple store, they could very easily come to an employee and say "This person stole my iPhone" and you would be screwed over.

Yeah, that was advised way back at the beginning of the thread.