This may be a new ebay scam? Heres the heads up!

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Beachkid23

Silver Member
Oct 26, 2013
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A lot of stuff I buy a yard sale signs up online. Every once a while I get these questions for people that are three-day so Lugustrum email. Today I got one about some and I found that I supposedly sold a while ago. So I kind catches me offguard and through some red flags up there. I wanted to see if you guys thought the same. This is the email I got today.




Hello,

I recently bought a phone from you. Would it be possible to have you unlock the phone from your At&t account. It's free to you and can be done on At&t website. I would really appreciate and be grateful for your help. If you could, I can send you the link of the At&t website. Please let me know either way.

Sincerely
David


Should I report this to eBay or PayPal or either of them? I don't even want to respond to the guy and all!
 

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Dang AutoCorrect. Anyways this is an email I got from someone who I sold an iPhone to online
 

Well if you sold him the phone, Why wouldn't you want to unlock it for him ?
If there are security issues Contact AT&T And ask them what your risks are first.

I know if I were buying something like a phone & it was locked, I'd feel ripped off

just saying :dontknow: I don't know how your sale was worded.
if you were selling it for him to use or scrap.


of course I would never buy a phone from anyone but an AT&T Rep
 

Last edited:
Thing is I sold one sept 9th. I got the email today. And it was reset to the factory settings same as if you bought it fron the AT&T store. The person who bought it was a different name then in the email....
 

Beachkid23 said:
Thing is I sold one sept 9th. I got the email today. And it was reset to the factory settings same as if you bought it fron the AT&T store. The person who bought it was a different name then in the email....
Click to expand...

A bit odd then :icon_scratch:
could have been a gift of course.
I doubt theft, as the original purchaser received it & should
be the only one to know about you.

Perhaps this persion is as lost as I am about Iphones & was told
it was locked by the guy who purchased it from you.

My guess Ebay won't care, as no way to figure out if scam or not,
unless there is a well known one already.
 

I would be careful.........
I'm no phone/computer expert, BUT........
It could be an attempt to get your att account info, idk........
think about this, if you change or enter info into your account online, if they have a phone or card,
that may would be "notified" of any changes made, they may can steal or access any info entered from your changes.

I could be totally wrong or way off base, I'm just wary of anyone and everyone, wanting me to do anything online.
Thanks for "heads upping" us!
 

I just wonder how he contacted me through my email address. It didn't come through PayPal or eBay. But by my email I don't know.
 

Beachkid23 said:
I just wonder how he contacted me through my email address. It didn't come through PayPal or eBay. But by my email I don't know.
Click to expand...

That is odd if the purchaser had no way to obtain your Email.

I'd definitely ignore the Email in that case.
I'm not sure if they could have hacked in & found emails & trying to ID who's who
 

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Beachkid23 said:
I just wonder how he contacted me through my email address. It didn't come through PayPal or eBay. But by my email I don't know.
Click to expand...

-
I sell quite a bit on eBay and I get scammer emails all the time sent to my personal email about something they said that I sold. Most of the time they are just fishing that I might have sold the thing they are writing me about. If the item was something like what I sold, I will look up the ebay item number that is included in their fishing email, and find it does not exist.
If they sent you the item number, look it up and see if it is real.
 

NOTE: I just edited my post to delete some incorrect information.

I think that buyer and seller emails get sold. I have no proof that this is being done, but I've suspected it for many years.

You are right...it most likely is a SCAM. Stay away, and don't reply to the email. They are just phishing.

And, FWIW, I NEVER respond to any email that doesn't come through my ebay mail. Never.
 

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Unfortunately you are all incorrect...

What he is asking you to do is UNLOCK the phone from its original carrier, ATT. Thus, he will have a carrier-free phone that could be used on any GSM carrier. For instance, it was once an ATT only phone. If you unlock it for him, it could then be used on T-mobile because it is also a GSM network with a SIM card.

Unlocking is only possible if you have the IMEI from the phone. The phone must be purchased under a 2 year contract and the contract term must be completed beyond the 2 year term fully paid and in good standing.

All you have to do is call ATT with the IMEI number, tell them you want to unlock the phone. They will ask you some questions and then give you instructions on what to do next.

100% legit. If you are a nice guy, you will do this for the guy.

TIP: If you EVER sell a used phone on ebay, unlock it first, as described above, so you can then sell it as an unlocked phone. They sell for more money than carrier-locked phones.
 

I posted this a minute to late, this was for Clovis.

Not true. As an example, AT&T iPhone is locked to AT&T. Put in a new sim from another carrier and it will not work. I have purchased numerous used iPhones in the past and had them unlocked to use my carrier. Normally it must be requested from the original contract holder because if somone stole the phone they would not be able to unlock it to use another carrier therefore making it worthless. I know a person that works for AT&T that can also have apple unlock them after verifying that they are not reported as stolen and the contract is closed for that particular phone.

I do not think this is a scam, just somone that wants to use a different carrier as I also do when I buy a used phone.
 

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I stand corrected, and learned something new today.

As for the OP, Beachkid, I am a little bothered that the request was done much later than the sale of the phone, and the request came from someone other than the purchaser.

Why didn't the person just use the "contact seller" form on ebay??
 

Maybe you could contact the buyer via eBay and ask if they tried to contact you without going through the eBay system. At least you would know. I wouldn't tell them details about the email. Just ask the simple question. If they are the ones trying to get you to unlock the phone, they would probably ask again. I wouldn't respond to the email.....
 

Beachkid23 said:
I just wonder how he contacted me through my email address. It didn't come through PayPal or eBay. But by my email I don't know.
Click to expand...


This is the part that is concerning.

How did he get your offsite email address?

Yes, unlocking phones, all official and such, some good reviews on how to do that.

BUT: How did he get your email address? I submit the following-

Mass email 200,000 people the same thing.

1 person responds, gives up account information.

Success!

So, go forth carefully. Don't use any phone numbers or codes or websites supplied by the person sending you the email if you contact them. Also, did he identify the specific phone you sold to him?

Or is this a generic phishing question?
 

G.I.B. said:
This is the part that is concerning.

How did he get your offsite email address?

Yes, unlocking phones, all official and such, some good reviews on how to do that.

BUT: How did he get your email address? I submit the following-

Mass email 200,000 people the same thing.

1 person responds, gives up account information.

Success!

So, go forth carefully. Don't use any phone numbers or codes or websites supplied by the person sending you the email if you contact them. Also, did he identify the specific phone you sold to him?

Or is this a generic phishing question?
Click to expand...

No I don't think he said the specific phone. The person that ordered it and an Asian name. Not David! I didn't reply back to him at all. The phone wasn't even from my account, I couldn't help him. He can call AT&T. I don't even have time to mess with that stuff right now. I guess if he bought the phone from me, he should write me through eBay.
 

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