Phone was reported as lost

[Charles Briggs]

I am a 6 year AT&T iPhone user and I decided I want to finally make the switch to android. I found a guy selling a GS4 on craigslist and even made him go to the T-Mobile store to activate it with me. I went in and T-Mobile said that they activated it and it would take a couple days to have my phone number ported over. I gave the man his money and waited. Well the phone never started working, the employees at T-Mobile were baffled and told me to call customer care. I called customer care and they said that my IMEI number was reported lost and that's why it wasn't working! I have done EVERYTHING I can to make this situation right. I asked T-Mobile to contact the person that reported it lost and let them know that their phone has been found, believe it or not they don't track who reported it! I tried contacting the guy that sold me the phone but his numbers are disconnected now. I got scammed and now I have a stolen phone that won't work. Is there any way that I can get it working? Change the IMEI number to a legitimate one? Any help is appreciated.

 

[dpham00]

Re: Help I bought a stolen GS4

Sorry you are out of luck. You may be able to sell it overseas, but in the US, they share blacklist.

And you cannot legally change the imei.

This is also why I don't ever buy a cell phone from cl and recommend that no one does as well.

For future if you buy used, buy from eBay or Swappa. They seem to have the least problems.

dpham00, Android Central Moderator
Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

 

[Golfdriver97]

Re: Help I bought a stolen GS4

Welcome to the forums.
Unfortunately, I don't know of a way to alter the device IMEI. Perhaps going to the police and giving the disconnected number?

 

[Remaxmatt]

Re: Help I bought a stolen GS4

I'm assuming because you said you're with AT&T that you're in the States, so any input I have won't be very helpful. In Canada, you cannot change the EMEI, and I can't think of any circumstances that will allow you to. Sorry to hear this has happened to you, but the best thing you can do is take it as a learning experience.
dpham is right...don't buy a phone from Craigslist, and be very cautious buying a used phone period.

?~best phone in the known Galaxy~?

 

[dpham00]

You can also sell it as a phone with a bad imei, but you won't get much for it

dpham00, Android Central Moderator
Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

 

[Dave-in-Decatur]

On eBay you might at least have some recourse against a scammer like this, especially if you insisted on paying through PayPal. If I was going to buy a used phone from a stranger for cash, I'd insist on seeing his ID and writing down the information, and his car license plate as well. If he refuses, there's a reason. And maybe when T-Mobile or whatever service provider activates it, ask them to check the IMEI before you pay.

 

[baddroid007]

I have a similar issue. I purchased an AT&T S4 on ebay, it worked for one day, then got blacklisted. The seller does not accept returns. My question is, if I root this device, can I change the blacklisted imei to a valid one? I've seen a few walk thru's online, but nothing concise. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks in advance!

 

[mhinc]

Basing this whole thing on the phone being an T-Mobile phone in the first place. I would be beating down T-Mobile's door making them take the hit on this if I were you. They "activated" it, and didn't inform you at the time that the phone was lost or stolen. And don't believe for a second that they can't track down who reported it. They sure as hell can, if they are a T-Mobile customer they have that info.They can't tell you the details, but they sure a hell know who's phone it was.
Go as high as you can go through the chains of command at T-Mobile, tell them you did everything right, and they did it all wrong.
What I am wondering and this may be a long shot, but this person that sold it to you was so willing to go into the T-Mobile store KNOWING the phone was lost/stolen, and the T-Mobile employee was not able to tell you this and told you no problem it would be activated. That tells me that maybe this guy was in CAHOOTS with the employee? Just a theory! Either way, fight with T-Mobile!

 

[tech_head]

I have a similar issue. I purchased an AT&T S4 on ebay, it worked for one day, then got blacklisted. The seller does not accept returns. My question is, if I root this device, can I change the blacklisted imei to a valid one? I've seen a few walk thru's online, but nothing concise. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks in advance!

File a complaint if you got it on eBay.
If they did not advertise a phone as a bad IMEID/ESN then you can use buyer protection.

No way to fix a bad IMEID.

 

[mhinc]

File a complaint if you got it on eBay.
If they did not advertise a phone as a bad IMEID/ESN then you can use buyer protection.

No way to fix a bad IMEID.

You really need to read. The OP clearly stated "I found a guy selling a GS4 on craigslist and even made him go to the T-Mobile store to activate it with me."
Why waste everyone's time if you aren't even going to read the original post!?!

 

[tech_head]

mhinc did you even read what I quoted in my post???? Baddroid007 said he had a similar issue but had bought on eBay. Before you start correcting people and implying stupidity, maybe you should do what you told me to do.... READ the individual post, quote and all!!!!!

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[metle_geek]

YOU CAN CHANG THE IMIE# BUT THE CATCH IS YOU HAVE TO GET A NEW SYSTEM BOARD AND YOUR LOOKING AT 500 DOLLARS OR MORE

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[metle_geek]

Honestly I would cut my losses and buy a nexus with 32 gig internal for less than the price of the mother board

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[li2327]

I'm not understanding why it would take a couple of days for you to transfer your service from the iPhone to an android phone. That should be instant. Doesn't make sense.

Sent from my Samung Galaxy S4 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[08silveradoonrims]

Basing this whole thing on the phone being an T-Mobile phone in the first place. I would be beating down T-Mobile's door making them take the hit on this if I were you. They "activated" it, and didn't inform you at the time that the phone was lost or stolen. And don't believe for a second that they can't track down who reported it. They sure as hell can, if they are a T-Mobile customer they have that info.They can't tell you the details, but they sure a hell know who's phone it was.
Go as high as you can go through the chains of command at T-Mobile, tell them you did everything right, and they did it all wrong.
What I am wondering and this may be a long shot, but this person that sold it to you was so willing to go into the T-Mobile store KNOWING the phone was lost/stolen, and the T-Mobile employee was not able to tell you this and told you no problem it would be activated. That tells me that maybe this guy was in CAHOOTS with the employee? Just a theory! Either way, fight with T-Mobile!

Exactly what I was thinking. This was most likely not the first time for these 2 clowns

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[Almeuit]

YOU CAN CHANG THE IMIE# BUT THE CATCH IS YOU HAVE TO GET A NEW SYSTEM BOARD AND YOUR LOOKING AT 500 DOLLARS OR MORE

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using AC Forums mobile app

But it's also illegal to do this. So best bet is to buy another phone and sell the stolen one but notify the buyer it has a bad IMEI.

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3 using AC Forums.

 

[mhinc]

mhinc did you even read what I quoted in my post???? Baddroid007 said he had a similar issue but had bought on eBay. Before you start correcting people and implying stupidity, maybe you should do what you told me to do.... READ the individual post, quote and all!!!!!

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

I stand corrected and hang my head in shame. I am sorry dude. My bad indeed.

 

[mhinc]

Exactly what I was thinking. This was most likely not the first time for these 2 clowns

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I am staring to think this more and more, as I think about it. Like li2327 said above, it doesn't take 2 days to transfer a phone. It's instant. This had to be a scam. That T-Mobile employee had to be part of the deal with the guy that sold you the phone on craigs list. It's the only thing that makes sense.
I would raise holy hell with T-Mobile and let them know this theory. Tell them you want a phone or equal or greater value because THEIR employee messed up, or worse, was involved in FRAUD!

 

[08silveradoonrims]

Legal actions should be taken if they don't wanna cooperate with you.

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[mrsmumbles]

About the time to finalize porting a phone number, it's instant to get the new phone to work but if you're transferring between carriers I guess it can take a few hours or even days before it's completed and you won't miss calls or texts on the new phone. Not sure if that was the situation, but just playing devil's advocate regarding the T-Mobile employee.

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