Question about bad ESN?

[elskaa]

Hi
I am trying to buy a used smartphone but without the data plan. I heard that the phone can be bad esn if the account holder does not pay the bill in time.
I checked the esn number of the phone im trying to buy, and it seems to have clean esn. However, since the phone is already activated by the seller, can it be bad esn later if the seller fails to pay the bill? Sorry for my poor english.

 

[elskaa]

One more question, if the phone is for GSM carrier which uses sim card, does that mean i dont have to worry about bad esn?

 

[sitlet]

The BEST advice anyone on here will give you when buying a phone from someone else: Agree to meet the seller at a carrier store. That way, you can have the people there check the esn right there to see if there is any problems with it. This is the only way to fully assure you arent getting scammed. The seller could just be giving you a different esn, or some other way to try to scam you. If you take it to the store, they can tell you right there if that phone is good or not.

 

[elskaa]

But i just found that GSM carrier does not even have the esn number on phone but just the sim card for the account holder. Is that correct? Does that mean i am free of any risk?