Phone was reported stolen

[AC Question]

Okay the short of it. I bought a used Verizon Galaxy S4 on eBay from a reputable seller, They checked the IMEI it was clean and not reported as stolen, I also check online myself and even called Verizon, all sources said the IMEI was clean. Put a Straight Talk sim in it no problem with the phone, including the use of LTE. 7 months later my sim was damaged when I replaced it the phone wouldn't work, called support who told me the phone had been locked, called Verizon who told me for some reason it had been reported stolen and they didn't know why after so long. Of course they couldn't fix it since that's the policy which I understand. At least the seller, who was baffled, agreed to a full refund even tho it had been 7 months. My question is is there a way to prevent this from happening in the future? Especially since Verizon themselves didn't know how it happened.