Blurring the number won't do, nowadays softwares can undo the blur or scrambled images, on the internet, there was this guy who did something bad, and scrambled a photo of him that he took, then later on, the Police found this person on the internet, unscrambled the photo with a software, bam, caught.
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Should I give out my serial number?
- Thread starter superspiffy
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Blurring the number won't do, nowadays softwares can undo the blur or scrambled images, on the internet, there was this guy who did something bad, and scrambled a photo of him that he took, then later on, the Police found this person on the internet, unscrambled the photo with a software, bam, caught.
Yes, but would they have a receipt or the box or any record from Apple of having bought it. No.
That guy just swirled his face. Sometimes you can reverse the swirls/smudges in photoshop and get something legible, some of the pixels are still there, theyre just moved to different spots so all you have to do is swirl them in the opposite direction. Its not possible for them to undo something that was properly blurred or blocked out where the old pixels are changed to new pixels, once its saved as a jpg the previous data is gone forever.
Well I NEVER had anyone ask for serial. If they want to confirm warranty, they can do it in person.
I will tell them the warranty is good until a specific date.
That took YEARS of work by the police to figure out. Most people won't have the capability to do that.
I will tell them the warranty is good until a specific date.
That took YEARS of work by the police to figure out. Most people won't have the capability to do that.
One of my buyer asked for serial number. I told him to do it in person. He refuse because of carrying cash around. He insist to have a serial number. Does it sound bad?
Just bumping this thread
I had a potential buyer call me over the weekend asking for the serial. I provided it for him and never heard back... so that seems a bit sketchy.
I think another post on here had a point about some people just collecting macbook serials in order to scam other people on eBay and Craigslist by giving out yous.
I had a potential buyer call me over the weekend asking for the serial. I provided it for him and never heard back... so that seems a bit sketchy.
I think another post on here had a point about some people just collecting macbook serials in order to scam other people on eBay and Craigslist by giving out yous.
When I sell items on ebay I always include the serial number in the description order to protect myself against fraudulent returns. Thankfully I've never had anyone return anything, nor did I have any problems because I gave out the serial number.
People request additional information before buying and then change their mind... Happens all the time, wouldn't call it sketchy at all. A serial number allows the potential buyer to verify the warranty status and the exact stock configuration. They are just double checking your claims. If they decide not to buy, it could be for many reasons.
The OP also mentions not giving their VIN when selling a car - well, even that is quite common practice and not suspicious. For one, your VIN is displayed on your car in such a way that anyone passing by the parked car can see it, it's not supposed to be private information.
It's understandably tricky to determine when it is safe to share identifying information and with whom, but giving a potential buyer a serial number or other unique product identifier is actually standard practice.
I agree 100%... Look at eBay for vehicles... it is a REQUIREMENT that the vin number be entered. (I think the only exception if it has a salvage title) It's the only way a potential buyer can look up a carfax or other model info without having to "take your word" for it.
Unfortunately, the world is filled with ill-willed people, on both sides of the buying/selling game. If a seller isn't willing to provide me with a serial number, or possibly even the proof of purchase, I would certainly pass... that would be a "red flag" for me.
--rob
You can understand someones argument of not wanting to carry heaps of cash with them. You could consider doing a paypal transaction with them, personal transactions have no fee attached to them, and if the buyer has an iPhone he could use the app to make the transaction. Anyhow, I would always suggest you take someone to accompany you when you meet with a potential buyer.
I have actually given a serial number for an iPhone out and that person attached it to their account and reported it stolen. I had purchased it from someone else..so I had no proof that it was truly mine...so then my phone was useless. I am very Leary giving serial numbers out for this reason alone.
When I worked in a cellphone store, we would rip off the shipping labels on the boxes we got in with the serial numbers. It was a CDMA carrier and a serial number (ESN/MIN) can be cloned onto blacklisted devices.
[doublepost=1559425185][/doublepost]The scam is... They reply to a ad of your laptop for sale ( ie ) Facebook Craigslist etc. Then they ask for serial number so they can verify the system, next, they report it stolen . They then send police over to get back their stolen laptop. Yes this scam works and is being used all over the world. Omaha Nebraska included. NEVER GIVE SERIAL NUMBERS OUT. TAKE A SCREEN SHOT OF THE SYSTEM INFO .
and you show them your purchase invoice with the serial number. Not sure I see the issue here.
Same happened to me. A guy just insisted heavily to get the serial number and an image of the back of the box. The moment I provided him the images he blocked me in FB. Super sketchy. Not sure if have to be worried about anything.
