Cell Phone Purchase Scam

Be on the alert for an increasingly popular cell phone purchase scam. Avoid purchasing cell phones from people you do not know or any unfamiliar online sellers. Even new and completely unused phones are now prone to quickly becoming expensive-but-useless plastic bricks. Two common temptations attracting thieves to steal from you are (1) the low-priced and often free phone offers for contract cell phones, and (2) the ease of age-old insurance fraud.

You’ve probably realized by now that the sweet-sounding discounts on carrier-provided cell phones are most often simply added back into contractual service plans. So, if you play by the rules, you don’t really get any discount at all. But, identity thieves or thieves with little to no credit will acquire these contract cell phones, unlock them from the carrier to make them more attractive, and then resell them as new.

The classic insurance fraud is just too tempting for some thieves to resist. It seems like such easy money: buy a phone, sell it for a little less, and then claim it was stolen. They either get their money nearly doubled (paid by both the subsequent buyer and the insurance company) or they get their phone free.

Victims of these thieves (subsequent buyers) have no way of knowing these cell phones either have an outstanding contract attached to them or are about to be reported by the thief as lost or stolen. Instead, victims think they are getting a small, but more meaningful discount for a great cell phone. After all, the cell phone will activate with nearly any service provider and won’t show up on any cell phone blacklist… that is, until later.