iPhone imei blocked

Christine37

Christine37

Christine37

Associate
Joined
29 May 2023
Posts
3
Location
United Kingdom
Hi, I bought a second hand Apple iPhone 13 from Facebook marketplace, back in December 22. The phone is open to all networks and worked fine with my Vodafone sim.
About six weeks ago I noticed it stopped recieving calls and my data stopped working. Upon further investigation, it had stopped reading the sim, I tried another sim and it isn't reading any. I contacted Vodafone and it's nothing to do with them. I input the imei number on some sites and it is coming up as blocked, which can happen if a phone is stolen or someone hasn't paid the contract.
This is strange, since I've had the phone five months and it's been fine until now. I contacted the original seller, but have been ignored. I have even rang the police, to see if it's registered as stolen and it isn't. Vodafone won't help, as they don't own the phone. I don't know the original carrier, so my question is, is there a organisation that I can contact that can give me the information, as to why the phone is now blocked or will unblock it. Thank you
 
I guessed that. I'm just wondering if there is an organisation that overlooks blocking them. If I knew the original carrier and could prove how I bought it, then I could get it unblocked by them, but since its unlocked I don't.
 
Christine37 said:
I guessed that. I'm just wondering if there is an organisation that overlooks blocking them. If I knew the original carrier and could prove how I bought it, then I could get it unblocked by them, but since its unlocked I don't.
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Yeh Apple. That’s the only company who has the authority to block them. It’s not SIM it’s phone.

You can’t prove you are the original buyer therefore you won’t get it unblocked.
 
Christine37 said:
But I rang the police and gave them the imei number and they I formed me it's not listed as stolen
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Not listed as stolen in the U.K. maybe.

There’s a growing number of network operators (119 in 41 countries) using the GSMA’s IMEI Blacklist to discourage phone theft.

Anyone of these operators could have declared this phone stolen and added it to the database. Vodafone eventually updated their Equipment Identity Register with the latest list and said stolen phone got blocked.
 
An IMEI blocked phone is very unlikely to be unblocked in the future. It will have been reported lost or stolen and thus barred from networks.

It happened to me once, I ended up giving it to a friend who sold it for me in a country he was visiting that didn't use the same IMEI database.

Lesson learned the hard way!
 
Christine37 said:
But I rang the police and gave them the imei number and they I formed me it's not listed as stolen
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By 'the police', who exactly do you mean? The local police station?

And does data protection allow the police to even answer that question?

Also, just because something has been stolen, it doesn't mean that was reported to the police. I used to deal with the phone contract for the company I worked for and if people lost their phones or claimed to have them stolen, we just got them IMEI blocked, we never reported them to the police.

Once a phone is IMEI blocked, you're very unlikely to be able to get it unblocked unless you can prove you're the original owner by showing your original sales receipt. Which you can't because you're not and you don't have it.

Christine37 said:
I contacted the original seller, but have been ignored.
Click to expand...
Well there you go. They half inched it.
 
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