Activating A Craigslist Bought iPhone?
I bought a Verizon iPhone off this guy and I know that's a dumb dumb move but I was wondering how I could possibly activate it. The guy I bought it from still has his name on the number and everything. So what I was thinking was maybe If I bough a little pre-paid phone and then switched the number over to the iPhone and just went with Verizons pre-paid smartphone plan would that work? This is a serious question. Please answer seriously. I greatly appreciate it.
No it won't work…
Verizon is CDMA… CDMA iphones use ESNs… This is not a GSM phone where you can simply sim swap and not worry about the IMEI. CDMA phones have no IMEI, they have a ESN
if the original owner is under contract or has an unpaid balance with Verizon, then the ESN is froze to their account… This is called a BAD ESN… Phones with a BAD ESN can't be flashed to any other account or wireless carrier, prepaid or postpaid, on planet Earth… This is a fact of life just as the sky is blue… You can cry… Whine… Throw pots and pans… I don't care… BAD ESNs are paperweights… Now, the Wi-Fi will still work. That's hardware and has nothing to do with the ESN… But as for making and receives calls and texts and using cellular data… Never EVER again! Well, until the original owner meets contracts and bill obligations with Verizon…
basically… Being a non-techie that you are, you fell for the oldest scam on Cragilist and Ebay… Congratulations… You have bought a very expensive Ipod Touch…
Enjoy!
FYI… Next time, use swappa.com. On Swappa.com, they hold your payment. The seller doesn't get your money until you ge the phone, activate it, and report back to Swappa.com Admins stating "no scam". Only then does seller get paid. If you report a scam, swappa returns your money + money to ship back phone to seller and seller's bank account is debited shipping fees. Either way, you win… Swappa.com is XDA approved…
But no… People still wanna use craiglist and ebay… Oh well… Their loss… Not my money!
Nope. The original owner would need to cancel it first.
since he didn't it probably has a bad esn making it useless as a phone
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