4 Things You Need To Avoid Before Buying Used iPhone

Used iPhone

One of the facts to consider is that the iPhone or any phone at all has become your third hand in these days, but not all are having its budget the reason that let the many choose to get a used one whether its an upgrade or replace in order to save some bucks.

undoubtedly before you make the decision you need to know from where you will get and what you are getting, buying from a third party seller like eBay, Craigslist, OLX, Kijiji, or any online store. 

while searching for a used iPhone on any Online store you will find thousands of devices with a wide range of conditions, that required a few checks, and here are the main points that will help you start and be aware of scammers.

Used iPhone

How To Avoid Being Scammed when Buying Used iPhone?

Four main bad situations that happened from unscrupulous sellers while getting your device from an online store, you need to care about to save time and money.

Unlocked Carrier With a Blacklisted status:

It’s not necessary for the unlocked devices to work on all carriers as the device might be blacklisted.

Most of us know that blacklisted devices will work outside blacklisted country, which is totally incorrect as according to the international EIR systems (Equipment Identity Register) your blacklisted IMEI will be recorded on a blacklisted database to be shared with carriers over the world, so carriers in the US, Uk or elsewhere are working with their partners to make sure that blacklisted devices are blocked.

So it’s not guaranteed for your unlocked device to work outside the blacklisted Country, and you might be lucky if your country is not part of this agreement international EIR systems.

Here’s below one of our customer’s devices IMEI Check for an unlocked device with a blacklisted Status.

Model Description: IPHONE 11 PURPLE 64GB-ZDD
Model: iPhone 11 64GB Purple A2221 Global
IMEI Number: 35399**********
IMEI2 Number: 3539**********
MEID Number: 3539**********
Serial Number: FK#########
Manufacture Date: 16 Oct 2019
Unit Age: 1 year, 4 months and 26 days
Assembled In: Foxconn Zhengzhou, China
Activation Status: Activated
Warranty Status: Out Of Warranty
Telephone Technical Support: Expired
Repairs and Service Coverage: Expired
AppleCare Eligible: No
Valid Purchase Date: Yes
Registered Device: Yes
Active Apple Repair: No
Replaced by Apple: No
Replacement Device: No
Refurbished: No
Demo Unit: No
Obsolete Device: No
Loaner Device: No
Find My iPhone: ON
iCloud Status: Clean
Blacklist Status: Blacklisted 👈👈
Blacklist Records: 1
Blacklisted by: Free Mobile
Blacklisted on: 2020-03-27 23:48:50 👈👈
Blacklisted Country: France 👈👈👈
Next Activation Policy ID: 10
Locked Carrier: Unlock
SIM-Lock Status: Unlocked 👈👈

iPhoneimeicheck

How to avoid previous owner blacklisted device when buying used iPhone?

  1. Your First step is to ask the seller to send you the iPhone IMEI number if the seller rejects Please DON’T BUY.
  2. Once you get the IMEI make sure that it’s not blacklisted from any carrier (You can easily use our service from here), if blacklisted DON’T BUY, and stay away from the hassle.
  3. If the device is in your hand you can contact the carrier ask if the device is blacklisted or not.

But what if I already or mistakenly purchased a blacklisted device, is there a way to fix it?

Can you still use a phone that’s blacklisted?

Your blacklisted device will work with WIFI, but will not be able to make calls, text someone, or use the data and if you still have the chance to refund Please do it and save your time and money.

If not just contact us with your details the blacklisted country and carrier, but if the device unlocked already no way unfortunately

Locked iPhone device:

It means that your device will work only on one carrier, unlocking it allows you to use it on a different carrier and switch between them.

In a deep meaning if your device is locked to AT&T you can’t use it on T-Mobile/ Vodafone or any other carrier.

Here’s below one of our customer’s devices IMEI Check for a locked device on US AT&T Carrier.

Model: iPhone 12 Pro Max 512GB Pacific Blue
IMEI: 356*************
IMEI2: 356*************
Serial Number: F2L########
Carrier: US AT&T Activation Policy
Country: United States
SIMLock Status: Locked

How to avoid Locked iPhone when buying it used?

  1. If the device is not on your hand Ask the seller to send you the IMEI number,
  2. Use our iPhone IMEI-controle service to make sure that the IMEI is Unlocked and not locked on a carrier if locked better to stay away
  3. If the device is in your hand just try to switch between carriers if you get no signal this means that the device is locked not unlocked.
  4. Check the name of the carrier from the top left corner of the iPhone if it’s on your hand, then contact the carrier ask if this device is locked or not.

Can I unlock my phone and still use it?

Sure you can unlock it but not all carriers are supported to be unlocked so you need first to use a check service to know your device locked on which carrier first by using your iPhone IMEI number then check to unlock page and submit an unlock request.

iCloud Clean locked device:

iCloud locked device means that the Activation lock is turned on as a kind of protection to keep it safe, from unknown people if it’s accidentally lost/stolen for any reason.

The activation lock is turned on when Mein iPhone suchen feature is activated, this feature will prevent strangers from using it without entering Apple ID (Email and Password).

How to avoid iCloud lock before being scammed while Purchasing a Used iPhone?

iCloud activation is associated with the Find My iPhone feature so you need to check the find my iPhone before purchase if it’s turned On this means that the device is locked on iCloud if it’s Off there is no iCloud Activated on that device.

You will not be able to check the find my iPhone feature if the device is not in your hand, so you can ask the seller about the IMEI number to check its activation lock iPhone IMEI Check service.

Here are two examples below for two different cases.

Find My iPhone OFF iCloud is NOT activated

Loaner Device: No
Find My iPhone: OFF 👈🏻👈🏻
Blacklist Status: Clean
Blacklist Records: 0
Next Activation Policy ID: 2387
Locked Carrier: US Verizon Locked Policy
Country: United States
SIM-Lock Status: Locked

Find My iPhone ON iCloud is activated 

Loaner Device: No
Find My iPhone: ON 👈🏻👈🏻
iCloud Status: Clean
Blacklist Status: Clean
Blacklist Records: 0
Next Activation Policy ID: 10
Locked Carrier: Unlock
SIM-Lock Status: Unlocked

Can the iCloud lock be removed?

Unlocking iCloud have 3 ways

  1. Take a cup of coffee, take a rest try to remember your Apple ID  “Email address and password”, as without them the situation will be harder
  2. If this device is for a previous owner, try to contact him and ask for switching OFF, the Activation lock,Hinweis: This Can be done remotely, just by signing into iCloud.com with his Apple ID –> then select Find iPhone –> Click all devices from the top center of the screen –> select the device you want to remove from iCloud –> then Click Erase and Next until it gets erased and Removes from the account. (Just ask the seller to do these steps if he doesn’t want to give you his Apple ID email and password)
  3. if you failed to use the first and the second way just uses the bypass service but keep in mind that it supports all models from 6 to X only Whatever your device is MEID or IMEI.

If all ways failed just use our iCloud unlock service.

iCloud Lost / Stolen device:

The lost iCloud lock is exactly like the iCloud lock that we explained before 👆 but the difference is in its status the above one is in clean status while this one is in a lost mode.

Lost mode status prevents all apple features from being used and locks it down from connecting to a computer, all you can do, is just call the owner’s phone or the emergency, and once the device is connected to the WIFI or any internet source it will share the iPhone device location.

In the ‌Find My‌ ‌iPhone‌ app, when an ‌iPhone‌ can’t be reached, due to the offline mode, For 24 hours, the last known location is available. After that, no information about its location is shared.

While a lost ‌iPhone‌ when turned off, cannot respond to ‌Find My‌ ‌iPhone‌ requests to put it in Lost Mode or wipe it, as soon as it is powered back on, Lost Mode will be activated.

Here’s an example below for lost mode iPhone IMEI Check

Obsolete Device: No
Loaner Device: No
Find My iPhone: ON
iCloud Status: Lost Mode
Blacklist Status: Clean
Blacklist Records: 0
Next Activation Policy ID: 10
Locked Carrier: Unlock
SIM-Lock Status: Unlock

how to avoid Lost iCloud lock when Purchasing Used iPhone?

if you will going to purchase the used iPhone device from a mobile shop it’s easy to check that, ask the seller to restore the device to its factory settings as the device will be able to connect to the internet and check its iCloud status, make sure that the Find My iPhone feature is turned OFF.

But if your purchase is from an online store (eBay, OLX, kijiji.ca, craigslist) just ask the seller to send you a screenshot displaying the IMEI number (Like the below one), use our iPhone IMEI Check service to check its iCloud status, if the Find My iPhone is ON DON’T BUY IT if its iCloud status is Lost DON’T BUY IT.

You will get a result like the below 👇 after you check the IMEI number if it’s lost.

Obsolete Device: No
Loaner Device: No
Find My iPhone: ON
iCloud Status: Lost Mode
Blacklist Status: Clean
Blacklist Records: 0
Next Activation Policy ID: 10
Locked Carrier: Unlock
SIM-Lock Status: Unlocked

Screenshot displaying the IMEI number 

iPhone IMEI Number

Can a lost locked iPhone be unlocked?

If for any reason you get scammed with a lost iPhone device, it’s not easy to get it unlocked but wait we still have a way it’s not 100% but could be 50% better than nothing.

On the Lost iPhone devices, you can search for the owner’s Phone number if it’s available you can just contact us, we will help you, if not, unfortunately, the way will be not easy to try, to sell it as parts lost iCloud device

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