i need help with possible stolen phone parts please

[Goz Oakes]

hey all, im not very technically minded so i will need some help with this before i get scammed.
i had a samsung galaxy s4 mini but upgraded to galaxy s5,
i put the s4 mini on ebay and it sold for £90, i wrapped it very very well and it was in perfect working order, turned off with battery life when posted.
the buyer should have received it on tuesday and messaged me on friday saying it doesnt work and doesnt turn on.
ive been told by a friend that some people buy phones and swap out working parts such as motherboards and what not then return the phones as broken, and because ebay allways reward the buyer and never the sellers they just get away with it.
its happened to me before where i sent a car dvd head unit and they opened a ebay case and won and sent me their old broken one back, same model but not the one i sent, i couldnt do anything about it.

anyway, i have the phones imei number and was wondering if i can use it to tell if the phone has been turned on since the 8th of february, this will help me to win the ebay case if he has changed out working parts.
any help would be great and very appreciated,
thank you, Goz.

 

[Wm7Long]

The eBay buyer scam return you describe, Goz, really sucks. If this actually is what happen'd with your old S4mini, then I hope you win your case. The only thing I can think of is Google's device location service. May be no help, wish I knew more, but you can give it a try, here:

https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager

 

[Wm7Long]

Got another idea for you to try: Pull the battery and see if the serial number shows. It's usually on a fairly secure sticker that's fix'd to the back of the motherboard. If it looks fowl, or fails to match the S/N on the box, you should win your case!