New wrinkle on selling an effectively stolen phone

Forums › New Zealand Mobile and Wireless › New wrinkle on selling an effectively stolen phone

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#1913901 6-Dec-2017 15:30

hio77:

wellygary:

OK, so that just opened a HUGE can of worms in regard to how the phone got blocked in the first place.....

Potentially somewhere in the story, there was another party involved that has reported the phone? who knows.

OP has indicated the telco's fruad department is on the case, so if it was ran anywhere on that providers end i'd expect it to be very well documented.

I suspect the Telco has blocked the Phone's IMEI as it was possibly reported as stolen.

I don't believe Telco's can block a phone IMEI based on non-payment as the interest free payments etc they offer are usually an "un-secured" loan against an individual rather than device security.

I had a very similar case 2 years ago and was given the reason that the Telco had blocked the IMEI due to fraud activity on the actual purchase (someone used someone's identity to buy a phone) or possibly an insurance claim about a lost property (phone) etc.

hio77

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#1913904 6-Dec-2017 15:38

maxeon:

I don't believe Telco's can block a phone IMEI based on non-payment as the interest free payments etc they offer are usually an "un-secured" loan against an individual rather than device security.

As mentioned above, Telcos can not.

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bigreddog

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#1913916 6-Dec-2017 15:55

Relevant? https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/99554966/jail-for-trademe-swindler-who-sold-cellphones-that-never-arrived

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KrazyKid

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#1913918 6-Dec-2017 15:57

Just came here to post that very link. Trademe is convenient but you have to realize you have a higher risk than in other places.
The price you pay reflects that risk.
Most traders are honest, but there are a few that are not.

Feel for the OP and hope it gets sorted.

wellygary

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#1913921 6-Dec-2017 16:03

hio77:

wellygary:

OK, so that just opened a HUGE can of worms in regard to how the phone got blocked in the first place.....

Potentially somewhere in the story, there was another party involved that has reported the phone? who knows.

OP has indicated the telco's fruad department is on the case, so if it was ran anywhere on that providers end i'd expect it to be very well documented.

Yeah, but what it does mean is that the whole claim by the seller of "I'll get the payments made again to lift the IMEI block" is clearly BS,

As you say somewhere along the line the phone has been potentially reported stolen, (presumable with a paper trail including a police report)-

IF the OP is now in procession of stolen property, he needs to hand it over the police, along with the detail of the seller who sold it ...

StarBlazer

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#1913922 6-Dec-2017 16:08

bigreddog:

Relevant? https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/99554966/jail-for-trademe-swindler-who-sold-cellphones-that-never-arrived

Does this confirm that this is obviously a criminal case and not a civil case?

Procrastination eventually pays off.

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bigreddog

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#1913929 6-Dec-2017 16:22

Woops - had meant to post more of a comment with that link. #DamnPhoneCalls

The link looks to not be the same as the OP's problem (I assume from reading the story anyway), but as KrazyKid says, not everyone on Trademe is as honest and wholesome as ourselves and it seems like sometimes we forget that. :-(

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hio77

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#1913930 6-Dec-2017 16:24

wellygary:

Yeah, but what it does mean is that the whole claim by the seller of "I'll get the payments made again to lift the IMEI block" is clearly BS,

As you say somewhere along the line the phone has been potentially reported stolen, (presumable with a paper trail including a police report)-

IF the OP is now in procession of stolen property, he needs to hand it over the police, along with the detail of the seller who sold it ...

That's another way to cut the statement indeed.

As i commented originally, Sh!tty situation.

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DeepBlueSky

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#1913935 6-Dec-2017 16:40

Hi Guys,

The phone was blocked for non-payment so the Telco does have the ability to do this if they believe it is fraud so interesting situation its much simpler for the Telco to block an IEMI than take the effort to find the fake person / fake contact details and it still leaves the average Joe in peril of this way of scaming.

MurrayM

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#1914267 7-Dec-2017 07:56

KrazyKid:

Trademe is convenient but you have to realize you have a higher risk than in other places.
The price you pay reflects that risk.
Most traders are honest, but there are a few that are not.

Yup, there are some things that I'd never buy on TradeMe and mobile phones is one of them.

hio77

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#1914481 7-Dec-2017 11:17

DeepBlueSky:

Hi Guys,

The phone was blocked for non-payment so the Telco does have the ability to do this if they believe it is fraud so interesting situation its much simpler for the Telco to block an IEMI than take the effort to find the fake person / fake contact details and it still leaves the average Joe in peril of this way of scaming.

Just to give a bit of detail, atleast from my side of the telco camps is..

For Faud situations, there is clear requirement of contact attempts and so on before a IEMI block goes in place.

I really do feel sorry for the situation your in though OP, Best of luck taking it through the dispute process with the seller.

Let this thread be a bit of a buyer beware case, of hey.. there are shady folk out there who do things like this.

On that note, relevant reflection: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/99554966/jail-for-trademe-swindler-who-sold-cellphones-that-never-arrived

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DeepBlueSky

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#1914590 7-Dec-2017 13:54

Hi Guys,

I would love your thoughts on this.

Every conversation up to this point its been made very clear to me its for non payment but it seems its been deemed Fraud.

Okay my thoughts on this are

Phone purchased with bogus details
Phone delivered to Person X
Phone then on-sold

Assuming the person I have bought the phone is not Person X and i'm sure they are not as they are also active current Telco X Customers numbers are active.

Phone sold to Boss
Phone gifted
Phone bought by Me.

This still leaves me in a pickle and has I think created a new Scam president that I think needs to be fixed fast.

I'm going to coin a new term and socialise it.

'TELCO TIME BOMB'

This time bomb is hard to protect against, and consumers should not have to.

As I see it I have the option of taking the guy who I bought the phone off to the disputes tribunal or possibly Telco X to so people in my position don't get left holding the baby.

These cases cost time and $45.00; I have a genuine worry people are and most likely have become victims of this Scam and without a change this is just going to keep on happening.

StarBlazer

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#1914676 7-Dec-2017 15:29

If I were you I'd get some advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau.

Procrastination eventually pays off.

kingjj

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#1914744 7-Dec-2017 16:45

StarBlazer:

If I were you I'd get some advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau.

The OP already did so as mentioned several times throughout the thread...

mudguard

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#1914750 7-Dec-2017 16:58

Does it matter how many steps? It's still receiving stolen goods isn't it?
A horrible situation, bit it could be worse. I've known people to have their car repossessed as the previous owner still had it on finance. At least with a car you can check for security. A phone, well it's much tougher.

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