Simcard stopped working - no network (weirdest problem ever) - Galaxy S 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Out of the blue (I did nothing to the phone) I lost my network connection - no calls, no internet.
My phone is unlocked. I've been using it for months without problem.
The phone is originally from Videotron but I unlocked it and been using it with Bell for months.
Now the weirdest thing: If I put my simcard in other people's phones, it works. If I put other people's simcards in my phone, they also work, but only as long as they're not from Bell. Somehow, Bell simcards don't work on my phone anymore, for no apparent reason.
I went twice to the Bell store, bought a new simcard and no progress. I get the message: Unregistered SIM.
I've never heard this happening to anyone before.

..

That's the thing. I bought the phone a few months ago from someone. But he gave me receipts and everything. He had the phone on videotron. Of course my first thought was that something fishy is going on and that it got blocked. So I asked Bell to check the imei and they said it was clean. Also if it was blacklisted on Bell, it would be across all providers in US/Canada and other people's simcards wouldn't work.
Bell said there's not much they can do. They said that since I didn't buy the unlock code from the original manufacturer (Videotron), it's like I hacked the phone (isn't it the same unlock code though?) so they said that can cause glitches.
I honestly have no idea if that's the case but I have no other explanations, so maybe they are right.
However I had so many phones in the past and unlocked them on the internet and NEVER had a problem. What's also pretty weird is that the phone worked for like 3 months without any issues. And yesterday when it stopped working, I was sleeping, I didn't flash any roms or update the software (it was already the latest version) so I have no clue what could have triggered all this.
Today I tried rooting/unrooting the phone, installing different roms and then going back to the latest version of the stock rom and nothing helped.

..

I'm not sure if you misread what I wrote but the phone is clean. It's not blacklisted etc.

Sometimes it can take ages for the list to be updated (blocked imei numbers)
but if it just happen like u say then its been blocked or network blocked
have a look here or other sites
http://www.imei.info/

..

Wow guys you were right....
The phone is now on Canadian national blacklist and it doesn't work with any other simcard anymore. I guess it took some time for it to go through the system.
I can't believe I got scammed. I was super careful. I verified everything before buying. The transaction was obviously in cash. But it took place in his own apartment and I had a friend with me.
When I bought the phone, I took his entire bill in PDF format. This includes his address, his account number, his full name, all of the numbers who he messaged or called. I went twice to his apartment today but he wasn't there. I talked to the neighbors and gained a lot of info on this guy. Printed his picture from Facebook as well.
I called his company, Videotron, to report his fraud, but they didn't seem interested. They said I can either contact this guy or go to police. I insisted on talking to their security or legal department and they said they're closed today (Sunday). I will call them again tomorrow. I'm pretty sure he reported it stolen and then claimed insurance to get a replacement for $150.
This stuff should get him in big trouble, right?
I found a similar story in the news and it happened in the suburb of the my city, Montreal.
http://westislandgazette.com/news/s...-down-kijiji-scammer-to-his-west-island-home/
I hope I have a chance to get my money back or my phone unblocked.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

He's not going to get in trouble, and your going to be out of money. Tough lesson to learn.

..

How do I sue this guy? I've been at his place 3 times yesterday and for a few hours today since 7 a.m. Still waiting. He won't answer his door. How will he be served with a court notice if he's hiding from people? I will spend the time that's needed to bring him to justice. Not even a matter of money for me.

Got the phone unblocked! Have an appointment with a court clert to go over my lawsuit on Wednesday. Did lots of digging. The guy got all of his lines and services blocked. 20 people with blocked phones are looking for him. I have a suspicion he's involved with credit card fraud.
Sent from my SM-G900W8 using XDA Free mobile app

olegplanets said:
Got the phone unblocked! Have an appointment with a court clert to go over my lawsuit on Wednesday. Did lots of digging. The guy got all of his lines and services blocked. 20 people with blocked phones are looking for him. I have a suspicion he's involved with credit card fraud.
Sent from my SM-G900W8 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sounds like a lie to me.

I wanted to give an update to people who tried to help me before the situation is fully resolved and I can release all the details. If you're gonna imply that I'm lying it's better to delete this whole thread altogether.
Sent from my SM-G900W8 using XDA Free mobile app

I don't know if anyone cares at this point but it was a big ordeal for me so I feel like it needs to come to it's conclusion. The phone is permanently unblocked because I was able to provide the phone company with the receipt of the purchase from the individual. I got a mail today and my court date is set for March 24. I sued him for $999

Related

I think I may have bought my girlfriend a stolen HD2...

My gf's old phone broke, and I found a cheap HD2 on craigslist. I went ahead and bought it from the guy. He seemed ok, maybe a LITTLE shady. When I brought it home and told her how I got it, she became worried that if we put her sim card into it, and it IS stolen, a red flag will show up at T-mobile and she might get into trouble.
Is there any way T-mobile can tell who has the phone if it IS stolen? Also, if she ever has to send it in for a replacement through warranty, will she be screwed? I know I shouldn't have bought it off of Craigslist, but it's too late for that now...
Well, you could always call T-Mobile and ask them if it was reported stolen ....
Don't think they will call the police on you , If you tell them you are going to , but I bet they will want to take your name, just in case ...
Lol this whole thread seems shady as hell.
Sounds like the OP might be trying to fish answers for his own endeavors...
lol, i know. it sounds pretty bad, but i assure you, that's not the case.
they can tell if it's stolen. they can tell if more than one person has the same IMEI number. whoever was using the phone will have that IMEI on their account, and if your gf puts her sim card in it, they will be able to see the IMEI from the phone. that's done on purpose, so that if someone does report a stolen phone, and the IMEI turns up on another account, they can flag it. however if it was not reported stolen, then there isn't much they can do as they don't know whether or not the original owner sold it to you or a shady guy on craigslist sold it to you, so reporting to the authorities would be pointless for them, as it may have been a legal transaction. as for calling them, they're probably not going to give you the info if that IMEI is registered in their system, they may not even tell you if it is. but if it has been reported stolen, and the IMEI shows up under a different account it will probably be flagged, I'm not sure what would happen at that point. More than likely rather than calling the authorities they'll just cut off the service to the phone.
Try a prepaid sim card and see if it was IMEI blocked?
well, we put her sim card in it and nothing has happened so far. i suppose it was legit.
If you got it with box, supplies and cables its very low chance that it stolen. Actual price in my local craiglist is really low, but it doesn't mean that most of all are stollen
tmobile dont care if the phone stolen or not. it doesnt really matter.
Slash8915 said:
My gf's old phone broke, and I found a cheap HD2 on craigslist. I went ahead and bought it from the guy. He seemed ok, maybe a LITTLE shady. When I brought it home and told her how I got it, she became worried that if we put her sim card into it, and it IS stolen, a red flag will show up at T-mobile and she might get into trouble.
Is there any way T-mobile can tell who has the phone if it IS stolen? Also, if she ever has to send it in for a replacement through warranty, will she be screwed? I know I shouldn't have bought it off of Craigslist, but it's too late for that now...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that were possible I would like to think they would have told me when my TouchPro2 got stolen... The fact that they didn't mention anything like that leads me to believe they can't tell just by the sim card.
i buy/sell phones on craigslist almost weekly and put my sim in all of them
when i call t-mobile to change the internet plan they always ask me where i bought the phone. i always say from t-mobile and they never say anything about it. guess they cant really tell
hope this helps
Slash8915 said:
My gf's old phone broke, and I found a cheap HD2 on craigslist. I went ahead and bought it from the guy. He seemed ok, maybe a LITTLE shady. When I brought it home and told her how I got it, she became worried that if we put her sim card into it, and it IS stolen, a red flag will show up at T-mobile and she might get into trouble.
Is there any way T-mobile can tell who has the phone if it IS stolen? Also, if she ever has to send it in for a replacement through warranty, will she be screwed? I know I shouldn't have bought it off of Craigslist, but it's too late for that now...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I'm not in the US but i always purchase phones from US and UK on ebay.
Always when i buy phones which are doubt to be stolen or reported as stolen i use this site www.checkmend.com.
They are even recommended by ebay. They claim to have a connection to a database that has all the information on Mobile Phones, Laptops, GPS navigators, etc. Which they can track by the serial number.
In your case you will need to provide them with the IMEI number of your phone and they will give a report on the status of the phone and past owners if they are registered. (they send this report by email instantly. they charge you USD 2.99 for this service. i thinks its quite worth than the risk.)
in my experience I've tried this service twice and a HD that i bought from the UK was returned with a report that said "This item has been blocked during its lifetime by one or more UK network(s)." which means it was reported lost or stolen.
and i even tried my HD2 which i'm using currently which i got from US cos i didn't get any box or accessory with it. But the report came out clear and i am in peace of mind.
Hope this helps.
ruwan7 said:
in my experience I've tried this service twice and a HD that i bought from the UK was returned with a report that said "This item has been blocked during its lifetime by one or more UK network(s)." which means it was reported lost or stolen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
usefull site. does it give any detail? i blocked my last phone thinking i'd lost it, 4 weeks later it turned up in a friends sofa, so i had them un block it and used it for another 18months.
i guess that would give the response you gave above..
Someone mentioned the IEM number that is the way they can tell if its stolen. So when and IF you ever take your phone into the store to have the useless sales people help you solve some problem. That is how they will know if its stolen. If there is a way to tell by electronic signal Tmobile simply doesnt care. I asked when I bought mine and they told me to get insurance. I asked how do you know if I dont just keep the phone and get a new one for 100 bucks. IEM number shows up was their answer.
Your IMEI and sim info are constantly broadcast about the cell network, you don't have to go into a store for this information to be picked up.
http://www.numberingplans.com/?page=analysis&sub=imeinr is one of the most common websites for checking your IMEI number (it's free), but do be careful with posting your IMEI/Serial number online at any site. Some are looking for valid IMEI numbers to use illegally.
Damn those shady Craigslist guys...
c2tmdsn said:
when i call t-mobile to change the internet plan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could be mistaken but I believe that if you select the G1 unlimited data plan, then any smart phone you have after that will not need to be updated...I am using the G1 plan with my HD2 and it works fine. So maybe you can avoid lying to them.

new g2 got stolen because of ups's stupidity

I called tmobile a week or so ago and explained my hinge issue. They blew me off so I called corporate. The csr their sent me a new g2. Two days ago ups dropped it infront of my door since I wasn't home. Fast forward to today; I called corp again to ask for a status or at least a tracking number. She told me that it was all ready delivered. And the notes indicate that the dumb ass ups agent just dropped it on my front door n left. She wont be able to send me a new g2 again till some investigation is complete. She mentioned that they will track the serial number of the phone and imei number. If one of my friends or family members have it I will have to pay full price for the device.
Is this true?!?! If some Jack ass I know stole my damn g2 I'm going to have to actually pay for it? What are my rights exactly? Can they really track a phone? If one of my neighbors stole it do I really have to pony up for it?
Thoughts?
first, this incident doesn't surprise me. UPS are worthless scumbags and i personally know many people that have had their **** stolen because of UPS's mess ups like this one. thats why i always have stuff shipped to my work address because there's always someone to take it and sign for it.
second, i don't know about what tmobile said. how would they know if the person that did steal it is your friend? family i can see how that may be possible to determine, but i highly doubt they'll be running background checks and social networking sites on the individual that stole your phone just for the sake of making sure he's not your buddy. i think they said that just to make sure you didn't claim a fake claim just to get another phone out of them, figuring that maybe you'd call later and say oh yeah my buddy picked it up and was holding it for me.
konoplya said:
first, this incident doesn't surprise me. UPS are worthless scumbags and i personally know many people that have had their **** stolen because of UPS's mess ups like this one. thats why i always have stuff shipped to my work address because there's always someone to take it and sign for it.
second, i don't know about what tmobile said. how would they know if the person that did steal it is your friend? family i can see how that may be possible to determine, but i highly doubt they'll be running background checks and social networking sites on the individual that stole your phone just for the sake of making sure he's not your buddy. i think they said that just to make sure you didn't claim a fake claim just to get another phone out of them, figuring that maybe you'd call later and say oh yeah my buddy picked it up and was holding it for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
damn... I should have shipped to my work address.
I hope ur right, a part of me wants to know who the bastard is so I can call the cops. But another part of me doesn't want to dish out the 500 dollars for that bit of info.
I figured they were trying to paint me against a wall. To my knowledge tmobile just can't go out and flip a switch that lets them know all the iemi and serial numbers of the phones on their network.
sheek360 said:
Is this true?!?! If some Jack ass I know stole my damn g2 I'm going to have to actually pay for it? What are my rights exactly? Can they really track a phone? If one of my neighbors stole it do I really have to pony up for it?
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems logical. Probably a fraud prevention scheme. It was just a few weeks ago that some idiot suggested in a thread (in this subforum) that he could get two devices by lying to T-mo and claiming his package was never delivered. That's fraud of course, and the thread was locked.
If you think your neighbors or your family members may have taken the package in for you, you better check with them before reporting a missing package.
To my knowledge tmobile just can't go out and flip a switch that lets them know all the iemi and serial numbers of the phones on their network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whenever a phone registers to a cellular network, it has to submit its IMEI and IMSI to the tower. Not only can any cellular carrier know which phones are active on its network at any given time, it can also identify the phone's location at the least to the accuracy of its cell tower density-- even more accurately if using time-delay or signal triangulation.
jashsu said:
Seems logical. Probably a fraud prevention scheme. It was just a few weeks ago that some idiot suggested in a thread (in this subforum) that he could get two devices by lying to T-mo and claiming his package was never delivered. That's fraud of course, and the thread was locked.
If you think your neighbors or your family members may have taken the package in for you, you better check with them before reporting a missing package.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I spoke to all of them as soon as I hanged up with tmobile. They haven't seen ups nor were they holding my package for me.
I don't understand why you're liable for anything.
The way I understand it, you have a G2 with a loose hinge. You called TMO and they sent you a replacement G2 which was allegedly stolen from your front porch. Soooo you still have your old G2 and you can send that back to TMO to satisfy your $500 debt.
Of course, that leaves you without a phone. Unfortunately, TMO has nothing to do with this. The only recourse you have with UPS is diligently complaining until they give in, or seeing if there was any insurance purchased on the package. If UPS doesn't budge, you're most likely SOL and would have to find out who stole the phone.
Even easier than sending the package to your work is to make sure that whoever sends the package requires a signature on delivery. That way, you know someone in the house receives the package, or if no one's home, they'll leave a tag on your door and you can pick up the package at the distribution center in person.
I'd also like to point out that if UPS stopped dropping packages off and instead required signature for every package, everyone would ***** to high hell about having to be home all the time or having to go to the distribution center.
Ups will trace the package and will locate it. This happens more often than it should. Its often up to the driver if they get a signature or not. The driver will go out there and try to find it with their gps unit before tmobile will act on it. If it was coming from tmo it should be insured and they ought to send you another after its done if they can't find it.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
Why haven't you made a police report? I mean, T-Mobile and UPS claim it was delivered. They don't seem to try to help you out. You don't have it. It's apparent someone is lying or someone is depriving you of your tangible property. Sounds like a theft. If the officer doesn't write it up as a theft, at the very least your generating a report. It should state you don't' have it and that you never gave permission for anyone to take it. You have been informed by both T-Mobile and UPS of it being delivered to your door step. Provide both phone numbers to the officer for the report, and also the IMEI number if T-Mobile is willing to give it to you. If not an investigator will be able to get it. It might never turn up and the investigator probably won't look to much into. He'll probably just enter a lost article into the system and attach the IMEI / serial number to it. You just need something for the insurance.
If the supervisors sees the officer turning in a report with all that information on it, it'll be hard for it not to be classified as a theft. The last thing it is lost property. It's not lost, its stolen.
If you do pay insurance on the phone, I can't see why it wouldn't be covered.
I had this same problem years back I was replacing a damaged dash and it was taken off my front porch...i have a ups driver who helped me out. He got me a copy of the record where no one signed for the package and i kept a copy of the sticky saying it was left on my porch....i sent them in to t-mobile and it took a few extra weeks but i did receive that dash i was replacing..
Thanks for the help guys. I called the cops. Since I didn't take delivery it still isn't my property. So they can't write me a report. Tmobile will have to dialled 911 on this one it seems.
Ups customer service was no help either. Supervisor said that it was left on the front door and its not their fault, its tmobiles for not asking for a signature with delivery.
By friday I will know what the end result will be, ill report then with their findings.
sheek360 said:
Ups customer service was no help either. Supervisor said that it was left on the front door and its not their fault, its tmobiles for not asking for a signature with delivery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was actually pretty paranoid about this, so I asked T-mo if they could mark the package as signature required (preordered from corporate). I was surprised that the sales rep actually had to ask a manager if this was possible, only to say it is not possible and that if there were any problems I should call them. Pretty surprising that they have no qualms about letting a $500 package be delivered without signature confirmation.
My brother works for tmo and is getting phones sent to his house all the time. One time my phone broke so the new one was sent to his address because I'm under his employee plan. I went to his house to pick up the phone and there was a guy sitting in his truck in front of the house on the phone. When he saw me walk to my bros house he looked surprised and asked me if joshua lived there. I don't know anyone by that name so I told him and he left. 10 minutes later ups shows up.
Now this would be a coinsidense but the next time I had a phone sent to my brothers house I got there and the same truck was there but as soon as the guy saw me he hung up the phone and took off. Sure enough ups arrived within 15 minutes. It seems some ups drivers will tell there buddies when a phone is being delivered (as the boxes say tmobile or htc on them) so that as soon as they delivered them to the house (which their trucks are tracked by gps so they HAVE to go to the location) their buddy grabs the box and leaves.
The driver gets to say it was delivered and then the problem lies with the person who ordered the phone. Shady stuff man.
Lesson learned always be there when a phone is being shipped.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
phantasybm said:
Now this would be a coinsidense but the next time I had a phone sent to my brothers house I got there and the same truck was there but as soon as the guy saw me he hung up the phone and took off. Sure enough ups arrived within 15 minutes. It seems some ups drivers will tell there buddies when a phone is being delivered (as the boxes say tmobile or htc on them) so that as soon as they delivered them to the house (which their trucks are tracked by gps so they HAVE to go to the location) their buddy grabs the box and leaves.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Place an order for some gel cases and put some hidden cameras out in front and around your house. Could be fun.
I also like to have stuff delivered to work because I know it will be safe. however, t-mobile said they could only ship it to my home address. when I saw the UPS truck outside, I went out to meet the guy, and he actually asked me for ID. he said, this is a phone so I wanna make sure the right person gets it. I was thankful that he was being conscientious about it. too bad they don't all make that effort.
That sucks. I feel for you.
I recently added my mother to my account and we got her a free, plain jane flip phone. When we ordered it, it said that someone would need to sign for it. Of course my wife and I work so they left the sticky note and I picked it up at the distribution center. When I got the pre ordered, not even released yet, top of the line G2, they just left it on the porch. I don't know, seemed backwards to me.
Damn, sorry man. That really isn't cool. I recently had USPS "lose" my G2 while trying to have it returned. Still haven't heard anything about where it is. Looks like I'll have to file a claim which a lot of people here say USPS claims can take months. I had $500 in insurance, but it's still a pain in the ass. Now I'm not only weary of USPS, but T-Mobile and UPS. T-Mobile would NOT let me return the phone at a store since I pre-ordered. I will never pre-order anything from T-Mobile again.
funkeee said:
The driver will go out there and try to find it with their gps unit before tmobile will act on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol what?
stupid 10 char limit
aedv said:
I'd also like to point out that if UPS stopped dropping packages off and instead required signature for every package, everyone would ***** to high hell about having to be home all the time or having to go to the distribution center.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FYI the shipper decides if signature confirmation is required (and if so, they pay extra.) Your only recourse is if a signature was required, but they dropped it off anyway. If so, UPS has to prove who signed for the package.
T-Mobile always flags *MY* packages as signature required. I don't see how this wouldn't be a company-wide policy.
To answer the question of how they know if your friends have it, when I worked as a csr I saw a few cases like that. Every phone shipped they have the imei for, if it activates on the system they know the phone number it activated on. If the number that activated it is in your call records the conclusion is that you know the person that has it. That kind of fraud came to my attention once or twice a month so pretty regularly. It sucks that a few dishonest people muck up what should be a simple process.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

stolen droid x problems

My room mate just bought a Droid X from a girl on craigslist. She seemed nice enough, but mentioned it had ties to her (ex?)boyfriend and she just wanted to get rid of it. Sold it to my roommate for $175. Me and my room mate went straight to the Verizon store to activate it, and they said it was on the lost and stolen list and they couldn't activate it. Been on the phone with Verizon for a while now, seems like they can't do anything. Any ideas? The girl wont answer her phone now.
Here's the craigslist ad
http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/mob/2299532665.html
jasongthang said:
My room mate just bought a Droid X from a girl on craigslist. She seemed nice enough, but mentioned it had ties to her (ex?)boyfriend and she just wanted to get rid of it. Sold it to my roommate for $175. Me and my room mate went straight to the Verizon store to activate it, and they said it was on the lost and stolen list and they couldn't activate it. Been on the phone with Verizon for a while now, seems like they can't do anything. Any ideas? The girl wont answer her phone now.
Here's the craigslist ad
http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/mob/2299532665.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, not a damn thing you can do. If it's on VZW's black list, that's that. Unless the seller pay's their bill, it's most likely stolen, past due amount on the account or there is an ETF not paid.
You can take it to Cricket and flash it worse case scenario. We don't know if it is indeed stolen or not and if you guys think it is, I would contact the Police and make a report to try to get your money back and press charges.
No phone number, no pictures taken of the phone...man, that's a huge red flag right there for buying a used cell of craigslist. Sorry for your luck.
Make sure to always ask for the MEID number before buying ANY CDMA phone; VZW verifies it for free if it is OK to activate or if it's not clean. This type of thing happens a lot more then you even imagine.
Good luck.
Ben's said:
Nope, not a damn thing you can do. If it's on VZW's black list, that's that. Unless the seller pay's their bill, it's most likely stolen, past due amount on the account or there is an ETF not paid.
You can take it to Cricket and flash it worse case scenario. We don't know if it is indeed stolen or not and if you guys think it is, I would contact the Police and make a report to try to get your money back and press charges.
No phone number, no pictures taken of the phone...man, that's a huge red flag right there for buying a used cell of craigslist. Sorry for your luck.
Make sure to always ask for the MEID number before buying ANY CDMA phone; VZW verifies it for free if it is OK to activate or if it's not clean. This type of thing happens a lot more then you even imagine.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, through email we had a name and she gave us a contact phone number, and we had no problem contacting her up until the sale, after that she didnt answer anymore. Shes not a verizon customer, based on the name associated with the email and the phone number she gave. There were pictures of the phone, but they may have just been pictures from the ads.
One thing I wished we had done was met at a verizon store and got it all checked right then and there.
Verizon gave my room mate the phone number and case number (i think) to take it to the fraud department and try to at least get his money back.
jasongthang said:
Well, through email we had a name and she gave us a contact phone number, and we had no problem contacting her up until the sale, after that she didnt answer anymore. Shes not a verizon customer, based on the name associated with the email and the phone number she gave. There were pictures of the phone, but they may have just been pictures from the ads.
One thing I wished we had done was met at a verizon store and got it all checked right then and there.
Verizon gave my room mate the phone number and case number (i think) to take it to the fraud department and try to at least get his money back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same thing happened to my best friend, he bought a DX from a girl on CL, she wanted $200 for the device, but took $150 after some haggling (from the way he described her and her outfit she was probable a dancer/escort).
When he tried to set the device up on his VZW account, the CSR informed him that it was on the "Lost or Stolen" list and was given an incident #. He contacted the Dallas PD, turned out the girl was a stripper/escort/dopehead and had been jacking her customers for their wallets or cell phones.
He ending up, having to turn the device over to the PD and was out the $150.
After all of this (and at the time this was probably a [email protected] thing I pointed out to him), but you can pick up a pre-owned DX from VZW for $149 and they come with the full warranty.
Sorry to hear about your friends misfortune,
Hatxtrick
Rule of thumb, never buy a cdma phone (VZW or Sprint) without first checking with C.S if the ESN is clean.
Fuuton: Atsugai

Someone else's number/info in my SGSIII

I have a brand new SGSIII, it was purchased using my son's upgrade and activated on his account for the requisite 24hours before he switched back to his old phone. I activated it on my account and used it for about a week before swapping out last night to try the Galaxy Nexus.
Tonight I decided to sell the Nexus and return to the SGSIII but when I tried to activate it the Sprint website told me it was already activated. I figured surely this was a mistake but thought since it was, in the past 24hrs, on my account maybe all I had to do was update PRL/profile and go back to using it.
So I did that and it turns out that someone else's phone number and information is in my phone! How could this possibly happen, the phone hasn't left my sight since we got it in the mail. Of course it's too late tonight to call and find the answers. (isn't it already morning in one of their call center locations?)
I've never had this happen, could someone at Sprint have stolen and sold the DEC number to another person? Turns out the number that it's showing is a New York City area code/exchange.
(my apologies if this should've gone in Q&A)
It looks like someone got a hold of your meid and activated it on their account or possibly did an "meid repair" on another phone. In the case of the latter, they may potentially file an insurance claim to get a new GS3 therefore blacklisting yours.
Maybe it's time to find out who activated the phone by following up with the number on your phone; or maybe look into your son's phone for that number (may be a friend of his).
If you haven't already, do NOT make or receive calls on the GS3. Doing so at least once will allow the thief to file a fraudulent insurance claim. Good luck.
quick99si said:
It looks like someone got a hold of your meid and activated it on their account or possibly did an "meid repair" on another phone. In the case of the latter, they may potentially file an insurance claim to get a new GS3 therefore blacklisting yours.
Maybe it's time to find out who activated the phone by following up with the number on your phone; or maybe look into your son's phone for that number (may be a friend of his).
If you haven't already, do NOT make or receive calls on the GS3. Doing so at least once will allow the thief to file a fraudulent insurance claim. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Too late I'm afraid, someone called the phone (a friend of his) however I have my Sprint receipt with the DEC number on it showing that we legally purchased the phone, also a quick check of history will show that I was using the phone up to late Saturday night and then tried to re-activate it tonight, which isn't near enough time for me to have sent the phone from Alabama to New York and gotten it back again.
I'll be at Sprint first thing in the morning with my receipt, box it came in (with shipping info), phone box and phone. Hopefully it can be straightened out before anyone scams Sprint, or me.
that is kinda suck!
please keep us posted
At this point, I suggest that you not be hesitant to involve law enforcement in the event that Sprint is unable to help.
That sucks so much. I would hate to have to go through that. I feel for ya eso.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
peanut1596 said:
That sucks so much. I would hate to have to go through that. I feel for ya eso.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Peanut I appreciate it
quick99si said:
At this point, I suggest that you not be hesitant to involve law enforcement in the event that Sprint is unable to help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay so here's what I learned this morning from Sprint, and btw if you are like me and tend to have a few phones just hanging around not activated on your account you will want to pay close attention.
It took three phone calls to Sprint, the first this morning at 1:45am when I realized what had happened, got left on hold for an hour when the person went home after claiming she was getting her manager on the line to help. Called Sprint again at 7am and they sent me to the fraud department. The guy I spoke to in the fraud department claims it wasn't any attempt at fraud. Apparently the person whose information ended up in my phone had been having trouble with their phone for the past few days, so a Sprint customer rep tried to do a three way swap using a dummy EIN, well guess what dummy he grabbed the EIN from? Yeah, that would be me.
It seems when they are attempting this procedure they just randomly start swapping the last few digits of EINs associated with the same model of phone, in this case the SGSIII, to find one available for use and just happened to land on my number. Now I don't understand the reasons for this procedure, but it sure seems like a major screw up on Sprint's part.
Now magically between 1:40am cst this morning when I spoke to a friend of the person whose information ended up in my phone (she just so happened to call the number last night when I turned the phone on) and told them I'd be calling Sprint's fraud department first thing this morning and 8am when I talked to the fraud department, the EIN had been released, so I don't believe this was an accidental EIN grab at all.
Now I'm wondering if my other two currently de-activated phones are at risk of having their EINs hi-jacked and how to prevent it. I'm not a novice at this, I always keep a de-activated device around as my insurance plan in case I lose or break my current phone. I've never had this happen before and I am not impressed.
So after a fretful night with little sleep the problem has been resolved and the phone is re-activated on my account.
I very much appreciate the comments and advice.
Glad to hear it eso.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Wow that really sounds like a bs story. I miss Tmobile and sim cards. I could swap whenever I wanted between my nokia, sony, or blackberry.

ATT just shut down my phone, claiming it was reported stolen (internationally!)

No service, I can't even dial 611. They are not saying it went lost/stolen, they are saying the imei is on some internationally reported list of stolen devices, I suppose straight from the factory; and that seems quite unlikely. I know they have had great difficulty accurately tagging N-7000's correctly in their database, so Im guessing that is the issue at hand. That being said, it is proving quite painful; to convince Att of their own stupidity/ignorance in this matter.
Att says my imei (ending in 40000, which seems generic) was reported stolen months back and during a routine sweep they flagged me and shut me down. After hours of speaking with manager's managers, I finally convinced them I had an original bill of sale from Handcent (note to self, always make sure you go with the big brand name retailer, in case these matters turn up, I emailed Handcent at 7pm est and they got back to me, fully ready to help me by 9pm est, which is 2am in London; that's good service! Handcent you have earned me as a customer for life.
The Att rep said they'd somehow white-list my imei so this never recurs but it would take a few days.Anyone else have this come up? Any good solutions in case Att craps out on me, which I estimate at 50/50 currently? I'm currently back on my hd7 until this ugly matter corrects itself.
Jason
jason370 said:
No service, I can't even dial 611. They are not saying it went lost/stolen, they are saying the imei is on some internationally reported list of stolen devices, I suppose straight from the factory; and that seems quite unlikely. I know they have had great difficulty accurately tagging N-7000's correctly in their database, so Im guessing that is the issue at hand. That being said, it is proving quite painful; to convince Att of their own stupidity/ignorance in this matter.
Att says my imei (ending in 40000, which seems generic) was reported stolen months back and during a routine sweep they flagged me and shut me down. After hours of speaking with manager's managers, I finally convinced them I had an original bill of sale from Handcent (note to self, always make sure you go with the big brand name retailer, in case these matters turn up, I emailed Handcent at 7pm est and they got back to me, fully ready to help me by 9pm est, which is 2am in London; that's good service! Handcent you have earned me as a customer for life.
The Att rep said they'd somehow white-list my imei so this never recurs but it would take a few days.Anyone else have this come up? Any good solutions in case Att craps out on me, which I estimate at 50/50 currently? I'm currently back on my hd7 until this ugly matter corrects itself.
Jason
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should've backed up your EFS partition. Sounds like it got corrupted and your phone is now reporting Samsung's test IMEI.
That IMEI has been blocked in most countries for many months. I'm surprised it took AT&T this long.
Join the club. just make sure that you're not using the same generic imei number that got you flagged otherwise when you're calling them and reporting the case then they cannot restore service to your phone
If they act as if your the bad guy and actually stole the phone, don't accept that behavior.
Tell them straight out listen, you paid 600 dollars for your international phone from an reputable company , that wasn't subsidized by the clown circus known as att.
You are paying these animals an arm and a leg every month for substandard service.
Don't lash out on them though. This is one scenario that you don't want them writing notes on your account not helping you.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
Mine is not the same issue but thought I'd mention anyway. Wednesday I went to make a call and I got a recording that I was blocked from making calls. I'm on straight talk. Never messed with efs folder and always keep backup. Called them, gave them my phone number and all was fine afterwards.
Don't know what the hell that was about.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
sprintuser1977 said:
Mine is not the same issue but thought I'd mention anyway. Wednesday I went to make a call and I got a recording that I was blocked from making calls. I'm on straight talk. Never messed with efs folder and always keep backup. Called them, gave them my phone number and all was fine afterwards.
Don't know what the hell that was about.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Att are run by scumbags.
Sometimes I feel we would get better treatment if we paid for service overseas in Asia and add an international plan for use in the US
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
This same thing happened to me. Yesterday (Sunday) I meet up with a friend who tells me that he's been trying to call me for the past hour. So I try to make an outgoing call, and I hear a message that the device has been blocked. I've had the same phone for 2 years.
So I call ATT and after a half hour of discussion, they unblock it (in the conversation, the agent asked if I had put my SIM card in an iPhone 3gs recently, because the system showed that I tried to use a reported-as-stolen 3gs. Of course I didn't, I said.) A couple test calls/SMS and I'm back online, plus they gave me a $25 statement credit. I asked theym if they know who/when/how it was reported as stolen, because I never did. They said they would investigate, and set up an alert to email me if my service was disconnected again.
Anyway fast forward to 9PM and I realize that I've been blocked again. No e-mail alert. I call ATT again, explain it all again, and they unblock me again, and give me another $25 statement credit. Ok, I thought.. Annoying but whatever.
11PM. No service yet again!! At this time I'm super frustrated, wanting to go to sleep, but worried about missed calls and whatnot (when they disconnect it like this, it doesn't even go to voicemail, and all SMS sent to you are lost forever). So I call again and ask directly to speak to a manager/floor supervisor.
She explains to me that the phone has been blacklisted as a stolen device, and that they are investigating and should come to a conclusion in 24 hours. I ask what I'm supposed to do in the meantime. She says that she can reactivate it, but it will get automatically blocked again, so unless I have another device, she can't do much for me.
Really, ATT? 7 years with these clowns and they come up with this garbage now... 2 years with this phone, no SIM card change, no hardware change ever, and they decide that it was all of a sudden reported stolen, but they can't come up with an explanation as of how.
wilson735 said:
This same thing happened to me. Yesterday (Sunday) I meet up with a friend who tells me that he's been trying to call me for the past hour. So I try to make an outgoing call, and I hear a message that the device has been blocked. I've had the same phone for 2 years.
So I call ATT and after a half hour of discussion, they unblock it (in the conversation, the agent asked if I had put my SIM card in an iPhone 3gs recently, because the system showed that I tried to use a reported-as-stolen 3gs. Of course I didn't, I said.) A couple test calls/SMS and I'm back online, plus they gave me a $25 statement credit. I asked theym if they know who/when/how it was reported as stolen, because I never did. They said they would investigate, and set up an alert to email me if my service was disconnected again.
Anyway fast forward to 9PM and I realize that I've been blocked again. No e-mail alert. I call ATT again, explain it all again, and they unblock me again, and give me another $25 statement credit. Ok, I thought.. Annoying but whatever.
11PM. No service yet again!! At this time I'm super frustrated, wanting to go to sleep, but worried about missed calls and whatnot (when they disconnect it like this, it doesn't even go to voicemail, and all SMS sent to you are lost forever). So I call again and ask directly to speak to a manager/floor supervisor.
She explains to me that the phone has been blacklisted as a stolen device, and that they are investigating and should come to a conclusion in 24 hours. I ask what I'm supposed to do in the meantime. She says that she can reactivate it, but it will get automatically blocked again, so unless I have another device, she can't do much for me.
Really, ATT? 7 years with these clowns and they come up with this garbage now... 2 years with this phone, no SIM card change, no hardware change ever, and they decide that it was all of a sudden reported stolen, but they can't come up with an explanation as of how.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check your IMEI to see if you have EFS corruption. If your EFS is corrupt and your phone is reporting the generic/default IMEI, AT&T will block you.
When I first bought my Note, I didn't know there were two different models because I didn't get on XDA right away and all. So, I bought it and went to ATT and they typed the IMEI number in and could NOT get it to activate. They were very confused and said its weird because the boot logo looks different. Finally, he said that I should contact Samsung and see if they would flash a new firmware to it. Wow, crazy. He went ahead and activated my account for LTE (because of the ATT Note).
So, when I got home I started researching everything and found out about the two models. I messed around and got it working and it has been working great ever since with no problems from ATT.
jason370 said:
No service, I can't even dial 611. They are not saying it went lost/stolen, they are saying the imei is on some internationally reported list of stolen devices, I suppose straight from the factory; and that seems quite unlikely. I know they have had great difficulty accurately tagging N-7000's correctly in their database, so Im guessing that is the issue at hand. That being said, it is proving quite painful; to convince Att of their own stupidity/ignorance in this matter.
Att says my imei (ending in 40000, which seems generic) was reported stolen months back and during a routine sweep they flagged me and shut me down. After hours of speaking with manager's managers, I finally convinced them I had an original bill of sale from Handcent (note to self, always make sure you go with the big brand name retailer, in case these matters turn up, I emailed Handcent at 7pm est and they got back to me, fully ready to help me by 9pm est, which is 2am in London; that's good service! Handcent you have earned me as a customer for life.
The Att rep said they'd somehow white-list my imei so this never recurs but it would take a few days.Anyone else have this come up? Any good solutions in case Att craps out on me, which I estimate at 50/50 currently? I'm currently back on my hd7 until this ugly matter corrects itself.
Jason
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same exact thing happened to me. I have been using a generic imei since the Note came out to get around att blocking it when they saw it as a tablet. I have been using it for 18 months no problem then 2 weeks ago I get it blocked. I go in and they say it was reported stolen, which was incorrect and they unblock it. Yesterday I get blocked again , go back in and they fix it. Blocked again this morning. I call in and they say the Imei is blocked( exact words were stolen). Revert back to original IMEI and all is good.
Same here
Got suspended yesterday without any notification. Had a chat with the support to re-activate my account. Roll back to my original EFS folder and seems to be fine for the moment.

Categories

Resources