Can at&t verify if a phone has been reported lost or stolen?

[ahfu25]

Tomorrow im meeting up with a person to trade a iphone 5 for their Galaxy s4. We are meeting up at a at&t store and I wanted to ask you guys a question. Can a at&t rep at the store tell if the phone was reported lost or stolen? If it wasn't, is it possible for the person to report it stolen afterwards? What can I do to protect myself from this happening? Thanks in advance.

 

[quarlow]

Tomorrow im meeting up with a person to trade a iphone 5 for their Galaxy s4. We are meeting up at a at&t store and I wanted to ask you guys a question. Can a at&t rep at the store tell if the phone was reported lost or stolen? If it wasn't, is it possible for the person to report it stolen afterwards? What can I do to protect myself from this happening? Thanks in advance.

This has been a hot topic lately. There are a few threads about this, blacklisting a phone.

They can verify it isn't stolen at that moment, yes. But, they will not transfer ownership or notate the account. The person that bought the phone can report it stolen the next day, week, or even later than that.

You can't really do anything to protect yourself from this. AT&T also shares that list with T-Mo so the phone is blocked from both networks. Only the original owner can lift the ban.

Unfortunately this has made buying and selling a phone second hand a lot harder.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337

 

[ahfu25]

This has been a hot topic lately. There are a few threads about this, blacklisting a phone.

They can verify it isn't stolen at that moment, yes. But, they will not transfer ownership or notate the account. The person that bought the phone can report it stolen the next day, week, or even later than that.

You can't really do anything to protect yourself from this. AT&T also shares that list with T-Mo so the phone is blocked from both networks. Only the original owner can lift the ban.

Unfortunately this has made buying and selling a phone second hand a lot harder.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337

Thank you. Hopefully all goes well. Im going to do it only because he's giving me the receipt and offered to give his home address so I could meet him there. Wish me luck..lol

 

[xBeerdroiDx]

Verify (with drivers license) names on at&t accounts and that the s4 is actually on the account with a manager. Do this in addition to the written receipt

 

[AxAtAx]

Verify (with drivers license) names on at&t accounts and that the s4 is actually on the account with a manager. Do this in addition to the written receipt

good answer boss, we have seen to many of these. And he also needs to be careful.

 

[nthknd]

good answer boss, we have seen to many of these. And he also needs to be careful.

I wish Att would do something to help protect people from this new scam. I bought a s4 off swappa for a great price and I had the same concern. I took the chance since I pay for it with paypal and the guy had good feedback and he had other phones for sale. At least this way I have documentation that I bought it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

 

[bhp090808]

Do the transaction at an att store. It will be documented in there system eliminating the ability for them to falsely report it lost or stolen

BEAST......... that is all

 

[ahfu25]

Just got back from doing the trade. Seemed like an honest guy, he gave me the receipt and had no problem showing me his license and waiting out the process at the at&t store. Phone was never activated on his account, he paid full price for it. Even swap and all is well. I was still nervous so I took a pic of his license and even his license plate just in case but I dont see any problems going foward.

 

[qbanlinxx]

When I got my S4, the att rep noted the other persons account.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda-premium