Say someone sold you a stolen or lost iPhone 5.can it be tracked?

I lost an iPhone 5…

Just wondering, is there a way to track it to who ever has it? I mean after they have basically factory reset it.

I heard they have a GPS tracker that allows the carrier to track it… Is that true?

Can someone start using the phone themselves… With no problem.

Have I lost my iPhone for good?

If it was a Verizon or Sprint, you can call the carrier and they will deactivate the iPhone which will cause it to have a bad ESN, and therefore can't be activated again unless you called and cancelled.

  • Tracked stolen iphone, can the police help retrieve it? On Monday night my phone went missing at a nightclub, I'm unsure whether it was lost or stolen however a couple of other things went missing from my bag. I know now that the phone has been taken, using iCoud and "find my iphone" I tracked my phone to a house on a road near to the club, so someone has obviously found/taken my phone home with them. Are the police able to do anything about this as i know the location of my phone?
  • Stolen iPhone 5. Can it be tracked? My iPhone 5 is off and might be on airplane mode when turned on. I can't use Find My iPhone because it is off but is it also because it might be on airplane mode? Also, it says on my itunes that the last iCloud back up was at 12:47 am. Which is 10 hours after my phone was stolen. What does that mean? Could iCloud still back up when turned off?
  • Lost iPhone. How can it be tracked? My daughter lost her IPhone. She set up find my phone but the is off so how can she track it to see where it is and can someone use it any way? What can we do. How can she get a notice when the IPhone is turned on again? Any thing she can do?
  • Is iPhone 5 sold in the US better than those sold in China in quality? I know that most of apples products are manufactured in China. But is there like any slight difference?