Help Phone on "Negative File"

kylecummins · Feb 20, 2014

Wow... Where to start...

On Dec 22nd I bought a brand new 16gb Nexus 5 from a classified site (Kijiji.ca)

I texted a guy who had an ad up ; he was ask 375 and I offered him $350 and he accepted.

About an hour later I met him about 5 minutes from my house and cracked the seal .. Everything looked great so I purchased the phone. Everything was great until yesterday.. The phone went to emergency calls only and I thought I had a SIM error of some kind. After trying a few different Sims and trying mine in a note 3 we eliminated that possibility all together.

Today I went to the bell store and did an early hardware upgrade (135+49.99) and got a brand new nexus 5.. They had a trade in program and said they would check the value of my "not working" nexus 5...

After scanning the barcode the rep tells me my phone is on the "negative file" and that it's been reported lost or stolen.

The website

Www.protect your data.ca/check-the-staus-of-your-device-in-canada

Says the same thing - however since the device is unlocked does anyone know if it would work in the US?

otherwise my only option seems to be sell it as is (obviously stating its a blocked phone) and the person could use it for parts or as a small WiFi IPod kind of thing..

Anyone got any advice?

Rukbat · Feb 20, 2014

kylecummins said:
Says the same thing - however since the device is unlocked does anyone know if it would work in the US?

If the US and Canadian carriers don't share the same list, it's probably pretty close. That's why a private deal should always be done at the carrier's store, with the seller having them take the phone off his account and putting it on yours. Then he can't make the report, only you can (and obviously won't, since you didn't steal your own phone).

Sell it as a bad IMEI phone and eat the loss. It's legal and you'll sleep at night.

kylecummins · Feb 20, 2014

Yeah it wasn't on his account.

It was "marketed" as a unlocked brand new phone.

I think it may have been stolen from a stores stock..

Anyway.. How much would you ask for a bad imei nexus 5 that's mint?

Might be better to sell as a non cellular WiFi only mini tablet/mp3 player.

kylecummins · Feb 21, 2014

Reading on xda forum that I'm not the first person in Canada with a nexus 5 that this has happened to..

charliecc · Feb 21, 2014

kylecummins said:
I think it may have been stolen from a stores stock..

Anyway.. How much would you ask for a bad imei nexus 5 that's mint?

I don't think you should be asking a question about committing a felony. You may have bought the phone in good faith, but selling it on knowing or suspecting it has been stolen is a criminal offence.

kylecummins · Feb 21, 2014

One person tells me to sell the phone as bad imei that its legal.

Then the next tells me selling the phone is a felony...

OriginalGeek · Feb 21, 2014

if it was a felony, why didn't the store confiscate it right there and then when OP brought it in to see what was up?

On the other hand, legal or not, I would feel skeezy selling a phone I know was stolen.

Not sure how Canada works but in the US buying stolen goods "in good faith" doesn't get you out of much - you might stay out of jail for not knowing but you don't get to keep the goods. It happens to pawn shops a lot - they buy something, the police find it later and know it's stolen, they confiscate it and the original owner generally gets it back and the pawn-broker is out both the money and the merch.

At least, that's my understanding - would welcome correction by more knowledgeable people in regards to the law.

No matter what, OP got screwed and that sucks.

kylecummins · Feb 23, 2014

Yes I did get ripped off and indeed it does suck.

I took proper precautions and ran the imei before I bought it and 2 months later i still got robbed $350.

Is there anything else I can do here?

If I was selling the nexus 5 for parts, what would I list it for? To me it seems it either that or sell it as an IPOD touch alternative for maybe $175 ish..

Still swallowing 175 in losses.

MartinS · Feb 24, 2014

Have you reported the guy who sold you the phone? That may be a route to your money back.

kylecummins · Feb 24, 2014

If I could I would..

There's no email or phone records as our convo was over text messages and I deleted it after about 2 weeks.

I think I have it sold tonight for 175..

MartinS · Feb 24, 2014

kylecummins said:
If I could I would..

There's no email or phone records as our convo was over text messages and I deleted it after about 2 weeks.

I think I have it sold tonight for 175..

Phone bill?

kylecummins · Feb 24, 2014

If you mean a bill of sale -- I never got one

The phone was brand new and sealed - I ran the imei and it came back clean.

MartinS · Feb 24, 2014

kylecummins said:
If you mean a bill of sale -- I never got one

The phone was brand new and sealed - I ran the imei and it came back clean.

No, your bill from your carrier?

kylecummins · Feb 24, 2014

I get them emailed to me - what's that going to do?

kylecummins · Feb 24, 2014

Follow up:

I called my provider to dig further into the issue ; they informed me the phone was linked to fraudulent activity and was blacklisted and could not be reversed.

Anyways I managed to get $200 for my nexus with box (I kept charger) a repair shop bought it as a test unit & for the parts.. What they do with it I don't care I've cut my loses.

Moral of the story: don't buy second hand phones anymore.. Its getting to be a greasy business

I'll be using Google play or my provider from now on.

Tyseyh · Feb 26, 2014

kylecummins said:
Follow up:

I called my provider to dig further into the issue ; they informed me the phone was linked to fraudulent activity and was blacklisted and could not be reversed.

Anyways I managed to get $200 for my nexus with box (I kept charger) a repair shop bought it as a test unit & for the parts.. What they do with it I don't care I've cut my loses.

Moral of the story: don't buy second hand phones anymore.. Its getting to be a greasy business

I'll be using Google play or my provider from now on.

just read all of this thread.
You poor bugger

glad you managed to somehow cut your losses.

wizbang_fl · Mar 4, 2017

kylecummins said:
Wow... Where to start...

On Dec 22nd I bought a brand new 16gb Nexus 5 from a classified site (Kijiji.ca)
---
---
After scanning the barcode the rep tells me my phone is on the "negative file" and that it's been reported lost or stolen.

Says the same thing - however since the device is unlocked does anyone know if it would work in the US?

otherwise my only option seems to be sell it as is (obviously stating its a blocked phone) and the person could use it for parts or as a small WiFi IPod kind of thing..

Anyone got any advice?

Pretty much the only thing you can do with a phone on the negative file is to sell the device for parts. Same as if you see phones listed as Liquidation sale.

In the past you could sell the phone overseas, but with recent mergers and acquisitions of carriers every carrier seems to roll up to on of the 4 US major carriers (TMM, SPR, VZN, ATT) From regional, traditional, or prepaid carriers.

mikedt · Mar 4, 2017

wizbang_fl said:
Pretty much the only thing you can do with a phone on the negative file is to sell the device for parts. Same as if you see phones listed as Liquidation sale.

In the past you could sell the phone overseas, but with recent mergers and acquisitions of carriers every carrier seems to roll up to on of the 4 US major carriers (TMM, SPR, VZN, ATT) From regional, traditional, or prepaid carriers.

Blacklists can be now be shared internationally amongst carriers. Someone on AF last week reportedly had an unlocked AT&T phone, they bought in Ireland, and wouldn't give service in Australia, was "emergency calls only" or "no service".

Help Phone on "Negative File"

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