Risk of Phone getting blacklisted?

[Jparhar]

Hi, i recently bought a phone off of eBay. It is a brand new, sealed , never opened IPhone from Russia. I have confirmed that it has never been activated, and everything looks clear from an IMEI check i did. If the seller does try to do a blacklist fraud, am i clear? Considering there’s never been a phone number tied with the phone, and nor does russia blacklisting take affect in Canada, i was wondering on some opinions people have.

[polecat]

@Jparhar      My opinion is 50/50

[WestCoasterBC]

Buy local or don't buy one at all especially from Russia. Unless you want to throw it away and be out X amount of money..I guess if you purchased through eBay and paid with paypal you would be somewhat protected but still it's high risk.

[xray]

How did you confirm that it has never been activated?

Do you already have the phone? If not then any EMEI check is meaningless because there is no guarantee the phone you will be getting has the EMEI that you checked.

[Jparhar]

I got a picture of the box. Yes it could not because the IEMI that i checked, but if it isnt, then i can return the phone because i am covered under buyers protection. If the phone isnt brand new, and the exact same phone as in the pictures, i am covered. The issue is, if he reports the phone as stolen later. Would a russian blacklist effect me here in Canada?

[xray]

I wouldn't worry about that unless you plan on getting phone service in Russia. Canadian carriers only check the Canadian stolen phone list (maybe US as well).

If you think about it there's no motivation for the seller to do that. They already have your money.

[Jparhar]

I bought the phone for $700 and its a brand new sealed iphone 11 pro max 256gb so it's very fishy and he definitely wants to report the phone as stolen. I just need to somehow confirm that he is from russia and not actually from the US, because the phone box is all in english. trying to currently get the model number so I can confirm if its from europe.

[Nighthawk · Accepted solution]

$700? New? That is so far below the actual value of the phone. That should be the first indication it's extremely likely to be a scam. Even a new 256GB iPhone 11 (non-Pro) is $1,059 Canadian. That same phone in Russia is 69 990.00 pyб or $1,200 Canadian. Makes even less sense

There is a long running eBay scam where scammers are selling what look like sealed retail boxed iPhones but the box either ships with a weight or a rock inside or some other old model of phone. It's entirely possible that the IMEI that the seller gave you isn't even from a Russian or European phone. It's also possible that the scammer bought an empty iPhone box online from the US or other country and is just trying to use it to draw in potential victims. If there is an iPhone in there you should also be cautious if it's a stolen one from the looting in the US earlier this year. Apple will have blacklisted those ones internally so the IMEI won't matter. Additionally Apple devices stolen from the US have been smuggled to Russia and are being re-sold from there.

Some additional reading:

• https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/13287-u-s-charges-10-in-50-million-russian-iphone-smuggling-ring
• https://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/100-000-suspicious-iphones-seized-004758845.html

[Jparhar]

Yes that is all very possible, but the point for me is that, it's listed as a brand new iphone, and ebay has a policy if its not exactly what was listed, then I can get a refund. This means if it is internally locked, or anything is fishy, I can get a full refund. Everything up to if the IMEI that he gave me and the one that ships to me are different, i should get a full return via eBay. The only risk is him sending me a phone that works, but later claiming it as stolen, and locking me out of it. I figured if he really is in Russia, it should be fine, because the blacklist wouldnt be affected here.

[polecat]

@Jparhar  Scam   You will probably the rest of 2121 tying get a refund from ebay.

[xray]

When a deal is too good to be true it usually means it's a scam or it's stolen merchandise.

[Jparhar]

Update, I got the full refund from ebay, and the iphone is still on the way. I managed to snag myself a different local iphone 11 pro max, and the guy that i bought the $700 iphone off of from ebay has not responded to me since i opened up the case and got suspicious of the phone he was selling. He hasn’t replied on where to ship it back either. Not sure what to do with the phone once it actually comes to me.

[Jparhar]

noo i can issue a refund straight from ebay tomorrow 🙂