lost/stolen iphone

basically my mate found an iphone 4 16gb brand new on the floor of a nightclub in january, since then its been out of battery and just hanging around in his room, no one claimed it etc

so i traded him gta 4 and FEAR 360 games for it lol

it was disabled for 22,009,837 or so minutes, but a hard recovery and restore got past that.

only thing is i don't have a proper o2 micro sim to test it with, went to store today and the girl tested her sim in it for me and it still said no service. damn

does this mean the IMEI is blocked? or something

anyway it still has warranty according to apple so ive applied to send it off for "repair" lol maybe get an undisabled one back

Imo you should have handed it into your local police and if it wasn't claimed within two weeks or something you would have got it anyway, don't think keeping it was the right thing to do.

if the owner has registered it with apple i doubt you'll be seeing it back, since every iphone has its own unique number-thing if you get me

It'll probably only work overseas like @cocaine; said I doubt you'll be seeing it working. So basically you have an iPod touch.

Oh and why would you send it back to Apple for a 'repair' they're not stupid they're going to know it's lost/stolen.

Sounds like its been blocked. My uncle found a blackberry and gave it to me, it got barred and you can't try and take the bar off it cos its illegal

I was told if i entered the serial into the apple site and it gave me warranty details etc it's only carrier disabled lol if no details its disabled totally

gonna be honest, i think if you send it back to apple yr never gonna see it again.

what i'd do is go into an apple store say you found this iphone 2 weeks ago at work (loliknow) but no-one claimed it so you've been allowed to keep it, is there anything you can do to remove the block?

OR sell it on to cex or somewhere, least you'll get a return on it then.

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Originally Posted by bethany

gonna be honest, i think if you send it back to apple yr never gonna see it again.

what i'd do is go into an apple store say you found this iphone 2 weeks ago at work (loliknow) but no-one claimed it so you've been allowed to keep it, is there anything you can do to remove the block?

OR sell it on to cex or somewhere, least you'll get a return on it then.

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CEX wont accept block phones bethie

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Originally Posted by Catchy

CEX wont accept block phones bethie

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you obv aint been to birmingham. hahaha. cex accept anything, possibly still with the arm of the dead man you mugged still attached.

to be fair for what i got it for (2 games for a console i dont have) id keep it n use as an ipod rofl

You can't unblock it if the IMEI is blocked. Changing the IMEI, being in procession of something able to change the IMEI or offering to change the IMEI is a criminal offence and carries a prison sentence of up to 5 years and/or a fine.

i could sell it to an american user then

CEX Check all incoming phones IMEI Numbers against a database that is updated daily with blocked IMEI's, I work there, I should know, The amounth of times I've had to say no to people because the IMEI Comes back as blocked and blacklisted, Plus all phones that are traded in are linked to a CEX Account, which to trade in a phone, you have had to of handed in photo ID, to confirm you're name, so if a phone does get returned because it was blocked (I,E Lost, found, handed in to CEX all on the same day) we can track it back to the person who traded it in, and 9 times out of 10 it is sorted.

Also, we help the local police, we often get the in asking if we have sold a phone with a certain IMEI Number, and we can track who to as well, so they can contact them.

Also, IMEI is a worldwide thing, If it blocked in the UK, its blocked everywhere else.

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Originally Posted by Jackabee

Also, IMEI is a worldwide thing, If it blocked in the UK, its blocked everywhere else.

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not true

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Originally Posted by Swearwolf

not true

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I'm sure it is, or that's what I was told.

EDIT:

I remember now.

I was told if it was blocked on for example t-mobile in the UK, it would be blocked on T-Mobile in the US, thats what I was told.

from what i know when its blocked by for example o2 it goes on the british register which is based in dublin and then gets checked by all UK networks on their blacklist when turned on, so its not on a blacklist in the US, scandinavia india asia etc

No. There are a few IMEI blacklists in the world that networks can (and usually do) share/sign up to, they all cover multiple countries over multiple continents. If a phone is blocked in the UK, it won't work on any network in the UK, it won't work on most networks in the EU and it won't work on the majority of networks in the US or Asia.

Now, you could change the IMEI, which is as Tomm said, a criminal offence and the network can tell extremely easily when the phone does it's handshakes with the network's backend.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interna...stolen_devices

Just to clarify, "finding" a phone is no different to "stealing" a phone if you choose to keep it.

just put a proper o2 sim in and its now working, wasnt IMEI locked in the end apparently

no wait its blocked again. oh well just ordered a new contract iphone :D

glad, anyone who finds such an expensive phone and doesn't hand it in to the police is an idiot, people who buy the phone when they know it's stolen are even worse

good job i did neither

ok fine, also idiots who trade their own **** for a stolen iPhone

Totally agree with what Tara said, it's just not right what you're doing...

calm yourselves down lol !

UR A MOBILE THIEFFFFFFFF

jk, over here you find a phone all you have to do is put your sim in it, the phone companies don't put blocks on phones.

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Originally Posted by Metric1

UR A MOBILE THIEFFFFFFFF

jk, over here you find a phone all you have to do is put your sim in it, the phone companies don't put blocks on phones.

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Yes, yes they do. The owner just hasn't rung to have it blocked (which is silly because anything that happens on that phone can be traced back to you).

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Originally Posted by Recursion

Yes, yes they do. The owner just hasn't rung to have it blocked (which is silly because anything that happens on that phone can be traced back to you).

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Naw, they don't - they put a block on the account, the phone is free game. My phone number is registered to my sim-card, nothing else. I lost my phone and I had this insurance thing on it where I paid $150 for a replacement. I called them they next-day airmailed me a new phone (unlocked) - my other phone was dead in-between my car seat and I found it the next week. I gave the new phone to my sister, she put her sim in it and it worked. I've been using my old (lost) phone for months!

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Originally Posted by Metric1

Naw, they don't - they put a block on the account, the phone is free game. My phone number is registered to my sim-card, nothing else. I lost my phone and I had this insurance thing on it where I paid $150 for a replacement. I called them they next-day airmailed me a new phone (unlocked) - my other phone was dead in-between my car seat and I found it the next week. I gave the new phone to my sister, she put her sim in it and it worked. I've been using my old (lost) phone for months!

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You completely and utterly missed the point of my post, which is entirely true.

fair play for tryin george but ya shouldve known it'd be registered to find my iphone, the reason it got disabled innit.

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Originally Posted by Recursion

You completely and utterly missed the point of my post, which is entirely true.

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What was your point? The phone company locks phones when the owner reports it stolen? I'm saying IN CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES, they don't.

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Originally Posted by Metric1

What was your point? The phone company locks phones when the owner reports it stolen? I'm saying IN CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES, they don't.

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They do, usually.

All phones have an IMEI Number, Which when you put a SIM card into the phone, and the phones begins to communicate with the network, it goes something like this.

Phone: Hi Network! Mind if I join you?
Network: You can! However, I need you're number and IMEI!
Phones: Sure, here they are!

Now, the network will either go

Network: Thats fine, you can use the network for calls, texts and internet now!
or
Network: That IMEI Appears to have been blocked because the phone was reported lost or stolen, sorry!

The IMEI is the phones ID, Any SIM that is put in the Phone communicates the IMEI with the network.

Now, depending if you told you're NETWORK you had lost the phone, it probably wasn't blocked.
If you only told the insurance, and got another sent to you, then yeah, it probably wasn't blocked because the network didn't know about it so they didn't blacklist it.

Also, it is optional in the US to Blacklist an IMEI, its usually up to the network and/or customer, Yes, usually they just block SIMS and Accounts, it all depends however.

No need for the caps rage.

Insurance is through the phone company.

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Originally Posted by Metric1

Insurance is through the phone company.

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Not if you have third party insurance, or are you on about your own personal insurance? Confused.

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Originally Posted by Metric1

Insurance is through the phone company.

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Usually isn't fulfilled by the company though, they outsource it.