I had a phone stolen many years ago. I set a lock screen message, "hey, return the phone and I'll give you a reward, it's locked".
Nothing. For about a month.
Then some guy calls me. "Hey, so I bought this phone on eBay and when I got it I saw your message. So I was scammed. But uh, hey, since you probably had insurance, would it be possible for you to unlock it so it's not now two of us who have lost out?"
Admired his chutzpah. Said "how do I know you didn't steal it?" etc. In the end I said I wouldn't do that. So, he reaches out to the seller, asks for a refund. Seller refuses.
So he escalates. "Actually, I wasn't asking, I was demanding. See, I have the original owner's info now, and will send him the listing, and all of your info. Refund me, or I give it all to him." Seller refunds him, and he gives me the info anyway.
I see my phone listing. IMEI is the same, but two digits transposed. Enough that it won't show up on a search. Enough that he has plausible deniability. Failed the IMEI validity check. Seller is about ten minutes from me. I go to his other listings.
Holy shit.
Approximately fifty iPhones and Samsungs. All with the same IMEI transposition. Approximately a quarter describe that the phones are activation locked, but the rest don't.
Oh, and all the listings. "Does not include charger. Does not include headphones. Does not include cables. Does not include accessories."
I continue scrolling. Oh, look, this guy is also selling about forty or so Macbooks.
Guess what? None of them come with a charger either, or any accessories.
So I reach out to the local cops.
"Well, he is probably not the person who stole your phone, just someone else."
"I'm fairly sure knowingly selling stolen goods is also a crime."
"How can you say that they're stolen?"
"Well, absence of chargers, etc., would probably indicate that..."
"..."
They did nothing.
I resisted the urge to drive by his home and sugar his gas tank. Barely.
Anyway, anecdotally, plenty of people fence things on eBay. Admittedly that might not be because they're stupid, but because they know local law enforcement doesn't care.
Turo around here is being used to launder drug money. Chrysler 300Cs being "rented" out for weeks on end at $600/day. It works well because you don't even lose use of the vehicle, just have one of your customers pay Turo for "rental" with money you gave them.
> IMEI is the same, but two digits transposed. Enough that it won't show up on a search. Enough that he has plausible deniability. Failed the IMEI validity check
What's the point here? Who requires an IMEI but doesn't care if it is valid?
How do you launder money through Turo? You can't pay Turo with an envelope full of cash.
For the actual owner: if you search your IMEI, it won't show up. For the seller, "I didn't meeeeean to make a mistake, I certainly wasn't trying to hide it from its rightful owner".
No, you can't. But you can give several customers envelopes of cash, and have them pay you $600/day to "use" your car with less red flags than trying to deposit several thousands of dollars into an account.
I had a phone stolen many years ago. I set a lock screen message, "hey, return the phone and I'll give you a reward, it's locked".
Nothing. For about a month.
Then some guy calls me. "Hey, so I bought this phone on eBay and when I got it I saw your message. So I was scammed. But uh, hey, since you probably had insurance, would it be possible for you to unlock it so it's not now two of us who have lost out?"
Admired his chutzpah. Said "how do I know you didn't steal it?" etc. In the end I said I wouldn't do that. So, he reaches out to the seller, asks for a refund. Seller refuses.
So he escalates. "Actually, I wasn't asking, I was demanding. See, I have the original owner's info now, and will send him the listing, and all of your info. Refund me, or I give it all to him." Seller refunds him, and he gives me the info anyway.
I see my phone listing. IMEI is the same, but two digits transposed. Enough that it won't show up on a search. Enough that he has plausible deniability. Failed the IMEI validity check. Seller is about ten minutes from me. I go to his other listings.
Holy shit.
Approximately fifty iPhones and Samsungs. All with the same IMEI transposition. Approximately a quarter describe that the phones are activation locked, but the rest don't.
Oh, and all the listings. "Does not include charger. Does not include headphones. Does not include cables. Does not include accessories."
I continue scrolling. Oh, look, this guy is also selling about forty or so Macbooks.
Guess what? None of them come with a charger either, or any accessories.
So I reach out to the local cops.
"Well, he is probably not the person who stole your phone, just someone else."
"I'm fairly sure knowingly selling stolen goods is also a crime."
"How can you say that they're stolen?"
"Well, absence of chargers, etc., would probably indicate that..."
"..."
They did nothing.
I resisted the urge to drive by his home and sugar his gas tank. Barely.
Anyway, anecdotally, plenty of people fence things on eBay. Admittedly that might not be because they're stupid, but because they know local law enforcement doesn't care.
Turo around here is being used to launder drug money. Chrysler 300Cs being "rented" out for weeks on end at $600/day. It works well because you don't even lose use of the vehicle, just have one of your customers pay Turo for "rental" with money you gave them.