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Help Blocked IMEI tmobile s3 problem

J

jonbercrombie

Lurker
I recently purchased a 2nd hand galaxy s3 from this guy on craigslist. The meetup went smooth and the phone was fine. When I put in my sim, all my contacts showed up because I stored everything on my gmail and it synced, but when I tried to make a call, it said "network not registered" or something like that. I resetted the phone, and from then on, it kept going between "searching" and "no service". I called tmobile and found out that my IMEI number was blocked so when I googled what that meant, it said that the phone was stolen or something...

Great. Now what? Is there any way that I can get around it? I don't exactly want to throw away $600....
 
Any way you can contact the seller to find out what the deal is? There's a chance that it is a legitimate mix up but it does look as if you've been sold a stolen phone unfortunately. If you don't get any luck with the seller, I'd suggest contacting the police.

I know that's probably not what you wanted to hear, sorry.
 
Did you put your SIM card make a call, check the phone, internet connection before buying it?
I was skeptical about it too. I bought my galaxy s3 from a girl and checked everything, luckily it still works lol.!
 
dervari said:
"You pay your money, you take your chances."

Sorry, but you were scammed. :(
Click to expand...

Yes, but it doesn't / shouldn't end there. The seller should be contacted. As mentioned, it could be a genuine mistake. Even if it's not a mistake and the OP HAS lost money on the deal, it is still his responsibility (IMHO) to report this to the authorities.
 
It could be stolen. He also could have just skipped on his bill. Carriers lock down IMEIs due to non-payment to force the payment. If that's the case, you could possibly work with the carrier to get the phone unlocked and see where it goes from there. The carrier will tell you if it was stolen or if it's just due to lack of payment.

Either way, you might have to take the guy to small claims court to settle the dispute.
 
That's the fear when buying phones on CL.
I suggest that if you want to purchase one using CL, you meet the seller at your cell provider's store and activate it there.
It doesn't prevent the phone from being reported stolen later, but does add a small level of safety to the transaction.
 
I have a similar problem with a Galaxy S2 I bought on ebay. The IMEI number answers to a Nokia 6310i and it appears that the S2 was either stolen or deactivated due to nonpayment then the phone was flashed with the Nokia's IMEI number. My sympathies go out to you :mad: :mad: :mad:
 
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