Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Purchased iPad Air that is blacklisted...will I get in trouble?
- Thread starter cotylee1991
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
I am not sure I understand the line that eBay is taking here.
Of course, it is good they are researching into the problem. But asking the purchaser not to contact the law enforcement authorities ? Does not seem a very reasonable position to me, at least for a big corporation, unless making a legal claim is part of what they are doing themselves.
It seems to me that, if I buy something and discover at that point that it was stolen, not reporting it may prevent clues from emerging to resolve the case (e.g., this iPad may be part of a larger burglary), and if possible, reunite the stolen goods with their legitimate owner...
Of course, it is good they are researching into the problem. But asking the purchaser not to contact the law enforcement authorities ? Does not seem a very reasonable position to me, at least for a big corporation, unless making a legal claim is part of what they are doing themselves.
It seems to me that, if I buy something and discover at that point that it was stolen, not reporting it may prevent clues from emerging to resolve the case (e.g., this iPad may be part of a larger burglary), and if possible, reunite the stolen goods with their legitimate owner...
Last edited:
I hope this works out well for the OP. Sucks.
One thing I have to say - Ive always HATED laws that punish the buyer of stolen goods when in many cases the buyer has no real way to verify if something is stolen or not. I mean, how the hell do you know? Do you have to call every local law agency and check? Why does the buyer of the item get punished but somehow the *actual* theif ends up getting away? I dunno.... just never though this made any sense. If I buy something used or on eBay and it ends up being stolen and I had no easy way to find out ahead of time, I aint handing over to the cops and "eating" my losses.
How is the buyer being punished in this situation? The buyer gets their money back. It is not reasonable to think a buyer should be able to keep a stolen device.
I hope this works out well for the OP. Sucks.
One thing I have to say - Ive always HATED laws that punish the buyer of stolen goods when in many cases the buyer has no real way to verify if something is stolen or not. I mean, how the hell do you know? Do you have to call every local law agency and check? Why does the buyer of the item get punished but somehow the *actual* theif ends up getting away? I dunno.... just never though this made any sense. If I buy something used or on eBay and it ends up being stolen and I had no easy way to find out ahead of time, I aint handing over to the cops and "eating" my losses.
I can’t speak for all 50 states but in Ga to be prosecuted for being in possession of a stolen item, the state has to prove that the accused should have had a reasonable belief that the item in their possession was stolen. If one were to buy an item from a legit place and later it showed up as stolen on a computer database the item would be seized but if the buyer did not know it was stolen and can show they bought it legitimately, they would be fine. The problem with this issue in this thread is that OP knows it is stolen so that would mean in Ga he could possibly be held liable for retaining possession of the iPad. In Ga it is called theft by receiving stolen property. Like most laws it requires a guilty act and intent. The old actus rea and mens rea.
Not sure why you just didn't take the seller's offer, although probably would request an explanation as to why the iPad was blacklisted. Maybe a reasonable explanation.
That is a case of give it back so I can try to sell it to someone else who might not notice or complain.
Just because you’re honest,doesn’t mean everyone else is...
Please look more into eBay fraud. It’s way too easy, for a unscrupulous buyer there to claim “item wasn’t described”,get their money back, and then ship you back a box of rocks. EBay will always side with the buyer at the detriment of the seller.... it does not matter how well the seller ‘described it’
For the OP, it’s definitely time to ‘drop it like it’s hot’. Hopefully you bought it through PayPal and can do a chargeback through them also even if eBay doesn’t help with you.
Wouldn't that be mail fraud where the seller could open a police investigation of fraud against the buyer?
Yes, you could file it, but good luck on ever getting a conviction out of state. The cops won't even bother with this...
Yeah Ebay's buyer protection is out of hand sometimes. I had a guy return a tablet BUT didn't return any of the extra cases, box, chargers, etc. that I included with it. Ebay sided with him and I was out a couple hundred dollars. Karma on the other hand is a bitch.
[doublepost=1508344740][/doublepost]
Swappa requires a clean IMEI and checks it before you can even list the item.
I hope this works out well for the OP. Sucks.
One thing I have to say - Ive always HATED laws that punish the buyer of stolen goods when in many cases the buyer has no real way to verify if something is stolen or not. I mean, how the hell do you know? Do you have to call every local law agency and check? Why does the buyer of the item get punished but somehow the *actual* theif ends up getting away? I dunno.... just never though this made any sense. If I buy something used or on eBay and it ends up being stolen and I had no easy way to find out ahead of time, I aint handing over to the cops and "eating" my losses.
"Eating the loss" is a possible consequence whenever you're in business. If you try to stick your customer with defective or stolen goods (regardless of whether you knew they were stolen or defective at the time you sold them), then your reputation as a business suffers, or your ability to sell at all may be forfeit (loss of vendor status, loss of business license, etc.). You can take steps to minimize the chances that you do have to eat a loss, but you can't make yourself loss-proof without pushing that loss onto someone else.
Whether the thief gets away with it or not is besides the point. There are multiple victims in a situation like this; the victim of the theft, and the victim(s) of the fraudulent sale(s) (an item may pass through several unwitting owners before it's recognized as stolen).
Stolen goods do not become un-stolen just because they pass into unwitting hands. The original crime doesn't go away; that victim is entitled to recover their property if it shows up.
There are two kinds of "penalty" for the buyer of stolen goods - criminal penalties, if they knowingly purchased stolen goods (or perhaps turned a blind eye to the likelihood that they were stolen), or simple forfeiture of the goods if the purchase was truly unwitting (such as sale by a reputable dealer).
Either way, penalties are deterrents. When people fear those penalties, they're likely to be more careful about buying goods outside the mainstream; it becomes harder for thieves to find buyers for the stolen property. When buyers are hard to find, the price tends to go down. If it becomes too hard to sell the goods at a good price, theft itself becomes an unattractive business proposition.
This discussion thread is a prime example. If the OP had faced no penalty, we wouldn't even be discussing it. The people reading the report become more cautious in their own purchasing behavior. An honest vendor, having been "stuck" with stolen goods, will be more careful about vetting subsequent purchases. And so on.
I had one that I had bought last October or so from a reputable company that sells resale iPads. When I first got it, it worked fine and I enrolled it in the T-mobile free 200MB for life plan. I just wanted a little extra data to use when out and about. Suddenly around March the free plan still showed, but it would show No Carrier. I tried several things but finally called T-mobile and they eventually told me it was blacklisted because the original purchaser had not made their device payments. I could have just kept it as a wifi iPad, but I really wanted the data. And I also felt strange knowing I essentially had a stolen iPad. I don't think I would have ever been in trouble for it, but I wouldn't have felt right trying to eventually re-sell it to someone else.
The original purchaser must have sold it to the company I bought it from and then stopped making payments to T-mobile. So the IMEI was clear when I bought it, but was blacklisted several months later after T-mobile couldn't collect. As far as I know there's no way to insure that a device is truly free and clear of any restrictions?
I contacted the company I bought it from. It took me several months and persistence, but they eventually refunded all of my money and I returned it. Fortunately I had kept the box and all documentation they had sent me.
So it is possible for a device to become blacklisted after you buy it since many carriers are now selling on payment plans. I'd be real careful buying stuff off from an unknown seller now (like an anonymous Craigslist transaction) as you would have no recourse if it suddenly came up blacklisted after a couple months of having it.
The original purchaser must have sold it to the company I bought it from and then stopped making payments to T-mobile. So the IMEI was clear when I bought it, but was blacklisted several months later after T-mobile couldn't collect. As far as I know there's no way to insure that a device is truly free and clear of any restrictions?
I contacted the company I bought it from. It took me several months and persistence, but they eventually refunded all of my money and I returned it. Fortunately I had kept the box and all documentation they had sent me.
So it is possible for a device to become blacklisted after you buy it since many carriers are now selling on payment plans. I'd be real careful buying stuff off from an unknown seller now (like an anonymous Craigslist transaction) as you would have no recourse if it suddenly came up blacklisted after a couple months of having it.
Actually, no, he doesn't (unless I missed something.) What he knows is that it is blacklisted. It could be blacklisted for nonpayment. It could be lost. And there are other scenarios. Is it likely stolen? Oh yes! But does he or can he know it is stolen? Nope.
I mostly agree ^^^ but have always wondered how many phones and tablets get blacklisted due to nonpayment during the contract term. It might be a fairly sizable percentage. Has anyone ever seen any estimates, or actual numbers?
If you look at his screen shot it clearly says it is stolen so I am going to have to go with what I posted. It is in the first post and picture.
[doublepost=1508398072][/doublepost]
- Status