Buying a phone off of craigslist

[Cy1971]

I am currently a Telus customer on a month to month bring your own phone plan and I am thinking of buying a new phone (note 5) on craigslist. My question is can I buy a telus locked phone and get Telus to transfer the ownership to me so that the person I a buying it off of cannot report it stolen? If this is possible I'd assume we would just do the transaction at a telus location. Correct? 

[jayman1973]

Hello Cy1971.  Are you absolutely 100% sure that you want to purchase a new phone from Craigslist?  Just my opinion, I would NO WAY ON EARTH purchase anything whether it be a smartphone or any electronic device from Craigslist as I feel that the item may have been reported stolen.  Does the ad for the phone on Craigslist state what network it is capable of accessing (Rogers, Bell in Canada or in the USA from AT&T, Verizon, etc.)?  To be on the safe side I would purchase the phone at a TELUS Store rather than purchasing it online from Craigslist as the previous owner selling it might come back and claim the phone WAS stolen.  If the phone you purchased from Craigslist was reported stolen then sorry to say "you are screwed".

[dru]

@jayman1973 is right. Though there are legit sellers on classifieds sites, there is no way to tell the good sellers apart from the bad ones. 

There are a number of scenarios whereby a phone's IMEI might be flagged (not limited to being reported stolen) and can always be initiated days, weeks, months later. 

My personal belief is better safe than sorry!