Scammed, any chance to deal with this?

[Traxan]

So I got hosed. I traded a Galaxy for an iPhone 8, with the trader telling me the phone was on AT&T and unlocked. We even put my AT&T SIM chip in his phone and it worked fine. Then I went home and did a factory reset, and it no longer worked. I learned the phone was on Sprint and locked. Sprint can do nothing since they need to hear from the account holder, and he's ghosted me.

So do I have any chance of unlocking this phone without Sprint's help, or am I screwed?

And yes, I called AT&T and reported my old phone stolen. That scamming bastard has a brick now.

 

[Audit13]

If att adds your Galaxy to the national IMEI blacklist, the Galaxy can only be used overseas or sold for parts.

The only thing you can do is look for an unlocking service on eBay unless you know of a local unlocker.

 

[Traxan]

An unlocking service on eBay? Such a thing exists?

 

[Audit13]

iPhone unlockers have been around on eBay for years.

 

[C DM]

So I got hosed. I traded a Galaxy for an iPhone 8, with the trader telling me the phone was on AT&T and unlocked. We even put my AT&T SIM chip in his phone and it worked fine. Then I went home and did a factory reset, and it no longer worked. I learned the phone was on Sprint and locked. Sprint can do nothing since they need to hear from the account holder, and he's ghosted me.

So do I have any chance of unlocking this phone without Sprint's help, or am I screwed?

And yes, I called AT&T and reported my old phone stolen. That scamming bastard has a brick now.

If it's a Sprint phone that is locked, how did your AT&T SIM work in it initially?

 

[Traxan]

Good question. I have no idea.