IMEI fraud - any counter measures? - Galaxy S 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Majority of people selling phones over the Internet these days, take actual pictures of the device along with its box, and the IMEI is often visible. I m guessing there is a certain amount of fraud associated with IMEI - so what can be done to prevent such fraud? Assuming that someone's bought a device who's IMEI is revealed to someone with a malicious intend. E.g. phone gets blacklisted for no apparent reason. Any way for legitimate users to protect themselves in such scenarios?

jstoner said:
Majority of people selling phones over the Internet these days, take actual pictures of the device along with its box, and the IMEI is often visible. I m guessing there is a certain amount of fraud associated with IMEI - so what can be done to prevent such fraud? Assuming that someone's bought a device who's IMEI is revealed to someone with a malicious intend. E.g. phone gets blacklisted for no apparent reason. Any way for legitimate users to protect themselves in such scenarios?
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maybe try only buying from people who dont do stupid things like that and maybe try
http://imei-number.com/imei-number-lookup/

-PiLoT- said:
maybe try only buying from people who dont do stupid things like that and maybe try
http://imei-number.com/imei-number-lookup/
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Just can't get round my head why would someone be so naive and post IMEIs like that. They could blur it out and mention something like 'clean IMEI'. No need to make it that easy for scammers!

OK - so there is this: http://www.checkmend.com/uk/
Might be useful running a check prior purchasing a new phone. Dunno if it actually works on brand new devices. But since IMEI fraud could also affect a new device, I don't see why not...

Related

Change XDA 2 IMEI

Is it possible to change the IMEI of an XDA 2 phone?
Would the original XDA Manipulator Program work for this?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=6697
I read through that, and nowhere in that forum does anyone actually say how to change the IMEI number.
well some say in that post that it's taken from the hardware on the xda2 and you could only change it in xda1 where you could overwrite the hardware IMEI
if there is another way i dont know
also i would prob have put this post in that other forum since it's not all that general and will disappear from the visible part of this forum pretty fast unless you bump it a lot until somebody who knows more about the inner workings of the xda2 comes along and see your question
the reason i guess is that the IMEI is like a mac adress on a nic TEHRE CAN BE ONLY ONE!
and it's suppose to be sendt along with the sim code when you call somebody and the police use it to track stolen phones and such
just a word of warning.... changing the imei is completely illegal in the UK!!!
well some say in that post that it's taken from the hardware on the xda2 and you could only change it in xda1 where you could overwrite the hardware IMEI
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Can anyone confirm or deny this? Others have said it is very similar to the arrangement on the XDA...
I believe it can be done, its just that nobody has done it yet. When you think about it there are very few reasons why you would want to change an imei, to unblock a stolen phone, to unblock a phone that has been subject to insurance claim. On my old xda I changed my imei to my birth date but now I can get 5 years in jail and a huge fine for doing that because the law is aware also of the reasons that people do it and took steps in an attempt to stop people being robbed of their phones by making it harder to find somebody to reprogram imei, who is going to risk 5 years jail for £10.

Legality of tracking stolen phone with Wavesecure etc.

I asked the police today about the legality of tracking etc your phone if stolen using wavesecure or similar in the UK.
The particular officer seemed to think it should not be a problem since it is your property and regardless of who's possession it's in you are allowed to track it.
The legality however of tracking its use is uncertain, their calls, SMS etc, but again, since the phoone is yours, it should not be a problem.
They are going to get in touch with me should further details arise.
It's good to know though that as long as one doesn't attempt to take the law into their own hands, you are ok with tracking your stolen phone and should, technically be able to use this data collected as evidence against the thief should you find yourself able to track them this way.
I don't know if this information is of use to anybody but I thought I would share what I discovered today.
Just because you own a webcamera for instance, doesn't make it okay to stick it into someones house and record their activities does it?
Tracking your phone, no problems at all with that. But i don't think you have any right to read their SMS, Calls. Its a touchy subject.
Just thought i'd add this to your post.
cymru said:
Just because you own a webcamera for instance, doesn't make it okay to stick it into someones house and record their activities does it?
Tracking your phone, no problems at all with that. But i don't think you have any right to read their SMS, Calls. Its a touchy subject.
Just thought i'd add this to your post.
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No, but if they steal your webcam and it happens to be set up to record all activity around it (normally related to yourself) had it not been illegally removed from its original location, you're not to blame nor at fault should it keep recording wherever they leave it, and then provide this as evidence to the police in order to recover said stolen item.
Fair point. to be honest i'm just arguing for the sake of it. Im very bored.
Why not.
Well, we could argue technicalities, my mrs is a lawyer so I'm sure she would argue it out with me all day long about how their are laws against it, but to be fair, I think the law would take your side regardless, and you could even have it permitted on a technicality (i.e. that the server is set up to automatically back up all your data, contacts and SMS for your own data security, should someone elses end up there through illegally obtaining and using your device, that's through no fault of yours.)
Yeah fair play, I know what you mean. Even if its your phone and gets stolen i've no doubt any defence will pick holes in why you were able to have access to their personal information. We all know how good the justice system can be in our country sometimes.
It's true, it's always possible you could end up wit hthe wrong persons data and instead end up with some silly sod who bought a cheap stolen phone off someone (equally as guilty i'd say, but that's a different argument), but that is why the services such as Wavesecure offer options to simply disable the phone and prompt the (new) user to call one of your preset "buddies" or 999 (or any other message/number you care to give them) in order to return the phone.
Normally though I would suggest this would be a last resort, because a thief would probably just dispose of the phone or destroy it if they find it locked as such.
You could always track it down yourself and make a citizens arrest ;-)
Section 24A of PACE '84 :-D
^Don't really do this
Yes
Indeed, it would be perfectly legal to make a Citizen's arrest under those circumstances, however, to stereotype the nature of such a person that is likely to steal a mobile phone, particularly from the area in which I live, it is quite possible and somewhat likely that they are either A) a violent criminal (mugging), B) A drug abuser (mugging) or C) Just outright violent (any other person).
P.S. The moral is that it's not a good idea to try go after it yourself, you might get hurt, or worse......your phone might.
I was literally typing 'Are you from liverpool?' when i read your location on the right
Best leave well alone lol. Let your phone be the only Hero in your partnership.
Indeed
I personally am from the Wirral, but I work and study in Liverpool, and as anyone from Liverpool will tell you, we from the Wirral are considered stuck up c**ts and to us, Liverpudlians are violent criminals, personally, my mrs is from Liverpool, maybe I just want to have a hard life
But anyway, should my phone get stolen, no doubt someone would try sell it to her sooner or later.
A) Just phone your local police and give them the location of the thief and phone, they would love the easy collar.
B) Thieves rights? don't make me laugh. If someone nicks my camera they don't have any rights to the photo's on it when I recover it. I would be more than happy to photograph their cuts and bruises as I use "reasonable force" to excecute my citizens arrest and send them to them.
C) If they do send sms from your phone, just note down the numbers and pass them on to the police too, chances are they are thieving smackheads too so might be able to arrest more!
mantracom said:
A) Just phone your local police and give them the location of the thief and phone, they would love the easy collar.
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yeah sure...
"my phone is somewhere in a 600m circle around main street 145, can you get it for me?"
"absolutely sir, two S.W.A.T. teams are already on their way!"
lol kendon Good one!
As for the issue itself, I wonder how this would go in a country with slightly more relaxed laws (US for example). There, I can really see issues where someone jumps in their pickup with their 'shooting club buddy', tracks their stolen phone using a laptop etc. from the passenger seat, and go setting about making use of the second amendment (click here if you don't happen to know amendments to the US constitution off by heart like me) on the thief (or unsuspecting buyer of the stolen goods).
To be honest, I'd have little sympathy for the thief in that case, regardless of how outnumbered they were. If you steal, you really do deserve what you get. What happened to the concept of an outlaw, where the law affords them no protection from others due to their disrespect of it?
^BTW, don't go doing that just cos you saw it here.
And, for the record, I'm actually from Britain, so maybe a pickup wouldn't be used...
alias_neo said:
Indeed, it would be perfectly legal to make a Citizen's arrest under those circumstances, however, to stereotype the nature of such a person that is likely to steal a mobile phone, particularly from the area in which I live, it is quite possible and somewhat likely that they are either A) a violent criminal (mugging), B) A drug abuser (mugging) or C) Just outright violent (any other person).
P.S. The moral is that it's not a good idea to try go after it yourself, you might get hurt, or worse......your phone might.
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hahahaha "or worse your phone might"
cymru said:
I was literally typing 'Are you from liverpool?' when i read your location on the right
Best leave well alone lol. Let your phone be the only Hero in your partnership.
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kendong2 said:
yeah sure...
"my phone is somewhere in a 600m circle around main street 145, can you get it for me?"
"absolutely sir, two S.W.A.T. teams are already on their way!"
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LOL! This thread just made my day
Anyway, let's just hope you never have to use Wavesecure.

[Q] Changing IMEI of the Nexus 4

My brand new Nexus 4 got stolen within a week of buying it while traveling in Bombay. I was hoping to get it back after lodging a police complaint and they assured me it will get traced using the IMEI number. But recently I have came across many newspaper articles saying that the IMEI number can be changed using software's from the internet.
If such is the case, aren't the IMEI numbers useless in the first place?
The new IMEI number doesn't make the phone unstable or make it share its IMEI number with any other phone?
Can phones with changed IMEI numbers be used with regular mobile networks?
Modern technology isnt making this impossible?
Can someone well versed in these issues answer these questions?
Thanks
I'm pretty sure changing the IMEI number would be illegal.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
Devhux said:
I'm pretty sure changing the IMEI number would be illegal.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
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So is stealing the device in the first place! The thief won`t care for that. As discussions about changing Imei numbers are not allowed on XDA that doesn`t mean there isn`t some dark app/software around to change the Imei though.
Is illegal and you would have to have some sort of access to be able to change it
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4
there are many softwares avb thru which the IMEI can be changed. But adding extra digits to the IMEI number or having two phones with the same IMEI number not make the phone useless? can the telephone companies not read these type of phones?
In India the success rate of phones getting recovered is merely 2%. There are many shops in seedy places where thieves can get the phones wiped or get the IMEI changed. Manufacturers need to come up with better solutions to prevent theft or make the phone unusable once stolen. If they expect people to buy such expensive phones, it wouldnt hurt them to make them more secure and in turn safe guarding our costly indulgence.
vaibhav414 said:
In India the success rate of phones getting recovered is merely 2%. There are many shops in seedy places where thieves can get the phones wiped or get the IMEI changed. Manufacturers need to come up with better solutions to prevent theft or make the phone unusable once stolen. If they expect people to buy such expensive phones, it wouldnt hurt them to make them more secure and in turn safe guarding our costly indulgence.
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I'm sure it's possible for them to make the phone trackable as long as the phone has charge. Eg, a small chip that is ALWAYS on to enable 24/7 GPS tracking.
Although that's nice, people would complain about privacy. They would say the manufacturers are tracking them and soon there will be some illuminati or political war going on with the manufacturer.
Is it possible? Very likely.
Will people like it? Yes and No.
exb0 said:
I'm sure it's possible for them to make the phone trackable as long as the phone has charge. Eg, a small chip that is ALWAYS on to enable 24/7 GPS tracking.
Although that's nice, people would complain about privacy. They would say the manufacturers are tracking them and soon there will be some illuminati or political war going on with the manufacturer.
Is it possible? Very likely.
Will people like it? Yes and No.
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Thats a good idea. and Privacy-shrivacy! People who make a big deal about privacy should pay everyone who loses their phone and then cant track it.
Also, manufacturers have done away with a tiny slot that you could used to tie a cord around. I feel tying your phone to your trousers is the only way not to lose your phone in India. We are packed like sardines here when we use the public transport and thats the only way to secure your phone.
exb0 said:
I'm sure it's possible for them to make the phone trackable as long as the phone has charge. Eg, a small chip that is ALWAYS on to enable 24/7 GPS tracking.
Although that's nice, people would complain about privacy. They would say the manufacturers are tracking them and soon there will be some illuminati or political war going on with the manufacturer.
Is it possible? Very likely.
Will people like it? Yes and No.
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Wouldn't be surprised if they're already doing that, atleast American carrier locked phones. But then it would be detected by engineers by examining the motherboard? Although it's not necessary with network and software capability like Carrier IQ and Prism.
vaibhav414 said:
Thats a good idea. and Privacy-shrivacy! People who make a big deal about privacy should pay everyone who loses their phone and then cant track it.
Also, manufacturers have done away with a tiny slot that you could used to tie a cord around. I feel tying your phone to your trousers is the only way not to lose your phone in India. We are packed like sardines here when we use the public transport and thats the only way to secure your phone.
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Pretty annoyed by people who keep whining about privacy as well. Germany is probably the worst worldwide right now when it comes to such people. Like a while back, when they all complained about Google Streetview and set them back via lawsuits and politics several times. Now it was only passed when people were able so request their houses(!) to be pixelated. I mean srsly, it's not like it's their faces or licence plates, it's just some outer walls, every one can see when driving by themselves! Anyway, that's why there isn't much Streetview going on here right now (Google probably got tired of it). And it's just one of many annoying examples.
But back to topic: I think Google is doing some good first steps in the anti-theft and recovery direction with the Device manager. Now it just has to work for me...
vaibhav414 said:
Thats a good idea. and Privacy-shrivacy! People who make a big deal about privacy should pay everyone who loses their phone and then cant track it.
Also, manufacturers have done away with a tiny slot that you could used to tie a cord around. I feel tying your phone to your trousers is the only way not to lose your phone in India. We are packed like sardines here when we use the public transport and thats the only way to secure your phone.
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Nope. I actually don't like "big brother" tracking me down.
So what if you can track it? I might be able to track it down to a condo, so how are you gonna know who took the phone?
I doubt the police would make a raid JUST FOR A PHONE.
Yes I know, I've been to India. Yep, I agree on this one. I do want a strap.
eksasol said:
Wouldn't be surprised if they're already doing that, atleast American carrier locked phones. But then it would be detected by engineers by examining the motherboard? Although it's not necessary with network and software capability like Carrier IQ and Prism.
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If they were, engineers would see it.
No, with software it's easily wipeable. If the nexus 4 came with a tracking app named TRACK (for an example) , I can just take the phone, wipe it and install cyanogenmod on it. There you go, the app "TRACK" will be gone. Software side would be useless. If i'm not mistaken cerberus suffers from the same problem. It's a software. I'm sure you can wipe it.
Bottom line is, unless manufacturers make a HARDWARE that lets you track it, there's no full proof way of tracking it. Even then, it's hard to convict someone of stealing your phone.
In case you're thinking that I don't understand your pain of losing a nexus 4, trust me when I say I do. I lost my nexus 4 IN SCHOOL about 2 weeks go.
exb0 said:
Nope. I actually don't like "big brother" tracking me down.
So what if you can track it? I might be able to track it down to a condo, so how are you gonna know who took the phone?
I doubt the police would make a raid JUST FOR A PHONE.
Yes I know, I've been to India. Yep, I agree on this one. I do want a strap.
If they were, engineers would see it.
No, with software it's easily wipeable. If the nexus 4 came with a tracking app named TRACK (for an example) , I can just take the phone, wipe it and install cyanogenmod on it. There you go, the app "TRACK" will be gone. Software side would be useless. If i'm not mistaken cerberus suffers from the same problem. It's a software. I'm sure you can wipe it.
Bottom line is, unless manufacturers make a HARDWARE that lets you track it, there's no full proof way of tracking it. Even then, it's hard to convict someone of stealing your phone.
In case you're thinking that I don't understand your pain of losing a nexus 4, trust me when I say I do. I lost my nexus 4 IN SCHOOL about 2 weeks go.
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The point is to make stealing phones difficult. If the police raid a couple of times, the thieves would think that its useless stealing phones, since they get tracked and would discourage them from this practice. Till the someone found an IMEI loophole, im guessing phone theft would be on decline too. For eg: Modern cars. Since the chip installed in the Key. Car theft has gone down considerably.
Also, were not really upset upon losing your Nexus 4? What steps did you take to get it back, if at all?
I was hoping mine would get recovered eventually. But i have lost all hope.
I wish the thief gets slow roasted in hell.

If you hard bricked your g3

CALL LG CUSTOMER SUPPORT. The phone is under a year old, so the 12 month warranty covers it regardless of how you voided the warranty. I sent mine to Texas, they repaired it (I assume they jtag'd it) and fedex'd it back to me.
Sorry, in a previous mention I instructed to lie and say a friend did it so you don't know how, not only is that wrong, but the pretext of how you bricked your device is irrelevant.
It's quite qood news, but to be honest, due to 'exploiting' warranty like this LG is making devices much harder to unlock. I mean, user f**k up his phone, sends it on warranty with any "I don't know how this happened" story and they have to replace it. Several cases are barely noticeable, but when countless number of people starts to do so, they loose some serious money
Fraud
Vivasanti said:
Fraud
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Seriously.
Amazing how ppl publicly post their fraudulent activity as if they want a high five? Warranty isn't even supposed to transfer from original owner
meyerweb said:
Seriously.
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Fraud - wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.
So yea
Vivasanti said:
Fraud - wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.
So yea
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I was agreeing, not doubting.
This is why lg and others do not want to unlock bootloaders.
Sent from my LG-D851 using XDA Free mobile app
I don't see the problem? It's so easy for LG to fix the phone. Just wipe the memory cards and reinstall the appropriate software or just replace the memory card.
They could also use these phones for parts :/
What?
xRamz said:
I don't see the problem? It's so easy for LG to fix the phone. Just wipe the memory cards and reinstall the appropriate software or just replace the memory card.
They could also use these phones for parts :/
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Just wipe the memory cards and reinstall the software? How long have you been on XDA that you don't even know how a phone operates. If it were as easy as just putting the software on the memory card, then people wouldn't have to send their phones back to LG in the first place. Some morons physically damage the motherboard of their phone by flashing incompatible kernels or firmware and cause heat issues that lead to short circuits. These kind of bricks are much more costly to fix than a software issue (which is call a soft-brick btw, a hard-brick is when the phone is in an unrecoverable state). It is people like you and the OP that keep companies like LG locking their boot loaders down. They're too worried about idiots like you messing their phone up and then screwing LG by claiming you don't know which idiot put software on your phone, knowing very well it is YOUR fault. As others have stated, it is quite shocking how many people are willing to brag about their illegal activity on a publicly available forum.
acparker18 said:
Just wipe the memory cards and reinstall the software? How long have you been on XDA that you don't even know how a phone operates. If it were as easy as just putting the software on the memory card, then people wouldn't have to send their phones back to LG in the first place. Some morons physically damage the motherboard of their phone by flashing incompatible kernels or firmware and cause heat issues that lead to short circuits. These kind of bricks are much more costly to fix than a software issue (which is call a soft-brick btw, a hard-brick is when the phone is in an unrecoverable state). It is people like you and the OP that keep companies like LG locking their boot loaders down. They're too worried about idiots like you messing their phone up and then screwing LG by claiming you don't know which idiot put software on your phone, knowing very well it is YOUR fault. As others have stated, it is quite shocking how many people are willing to brag about their illegal activity on a publicly available forum.
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Haha alright bud calm down. What I was trying to say is I'm sure it's easy as hell for LG to repair the phone or replace a component. If I'm wrong how about teaching me rather than throwing insults hmm?
xRamz said:
Haha alright bud calm down. What I was trying to say is I'm sure it's easy as hell for LG to repair the phone or replace a component. If I'm wrong how about teaching me rather than throwing insults hmm?
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Maybe people like you and the OP should stop supporting illegal activity that harms the entire development community by encouraging phone manufacturers to lock down bootloaders. So no I will not teach you because if you screw something up you'll just give these manufacturers another reason to make it harder for us to unlock their next device.
f2bacon said:
MODERATOR EDIT: XDA RULES
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Yea not sure why you would want people to do that????
Definitely not for XDA
~/$ THREADCLOSED.sh
oposiasty said:
It's quite qood news, but to be honest, due to 'exploiting' warranty like this LG is making devices much harder to unlock. I mean, user f**k up his phone, sends it on warranty with any "I don't know how this happened" story and they have to replace it. Several cases are barely noticeable, but when countless number of people starts to do so, they loose some serious money
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acparker18 said:
Maybe people like you and the OP should stop supporting illegal activity that harms the entire development community by encouraging phone manufacturers to lock down bootloaders. So no I will not teach you because if you screw something up you'll just give these manufacturers another reason to make it harder for us to unlock their next device.
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What about this is illegal? Maybe in my case because I purposely bought a bricked phone but many people paid a good amount of money for phones that are no longer functional. That sucks, and considering LG has no issue fixing it, it's obviously under warranty, or I'd like to think they'd really bust my balls about it.
Maybe if the bootloader wasn't still locked people would be soft bricking their devices, instead of hard bricking. In my opinion if you want a phone that fights you in customization get an iphone, and stay off xda. This is where people make actual tutorials on how to purposely void your warranty.
=f2bacon;56020451]What about this is illegal? Maybe in my case because I purposely bought a bricked phone but many people paid a good amount of money for phones that are no longer functional. That sucks, and considering LG has no issue fixing it, it's obviously under warranty, or I'd like to think they'd really bust my balls about it.
Maybe if the bootloader wasn't still locked people would be soft bricking their devices, instead of hard bricking. In my opinion if you want a phone that fights you in customization get an iphone, and stay off xda. This is where people make actual tutorials on how to purposely void your warranty.[/QUOTE]
It's not a matter of legality regarding just voiding the warranty it's about fraud and purposefully lying about how you screwed your phone up after you read a legal agreement that stated you were knowingly abolishing your rights to your warranty by performing certain actions. The worst part is that this is a prime example of what LG is trying to stop by locking bootloaders. So this kind of behavior, regardless of being in protest or not, only adds fuel to the fire for LG. I apologize if I was rude but I just don't like seeing this kind of information on a public forum that LG definitely monitors and will look to for excuses to make it harder on all of us in the future.
acparker18 said:
lying about how you screwed your phone up after you read a legal agreement that stated you were knowingly abolishing your rights to your warranty by performing certain actions.
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I didn't screw my phone up, someone else did, and sold it on ebay, for a pretty cheap price. I bought it with the intent of fixing it, couldn't, found out its covered by warranty, and sent it to LG to fix. I admit I'm definitely taking advantage of the warranty, and I guess I did break the legal agreement regarding the warranty, but it turns out I didn't have to. I could've just said "Hi, my phone is broken. I need an RMA #, and an address to send my phone to"
f2bacon said:
I didn't screw my phone up, someone else did, and sold it on ebay, for a pretty cheap price. I bought it with the intent of fixing it, couldn't, found out its covered by warranty, and sent it to LG to fix. I admit I'm definitely taking advantage of the warranty, and I guess I did break the legal agreement regarding the warranty, but it turns out I didn't have to. I could've just said "Hi, my phone is broken. I need an RMA #, and an address to send my phone to"
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You're missing the entire point. This kind of behavior is harmful to the entire development community and just gives phone manufacturers incentive to keep us from being free to do what we want with our device in the future. Regardless of how you view the legality of the situation, you sent a phone back to LG knowing the warranty had already been voided by someone else. This is the exact reason that boot loaders are locked and our phones don't allow root access without exploits. Phone manufacturers see people like you who knowingly send in a user damaged phone and end up costing LG more money to repair it. Whether or not you think this hurts LG monetarily is aside the point. To those at LG, this is a problem that is solved by trying to keep people from making modifications like this to their phone at all, and that is the way LG is going to view the situation for the foreseeable future. So whether or not you violated warranty agreements or broke any laws doesn't matter now and I know that no further action will be taken, but what does matter is the fact that threads and advice like yours are only going to hurt the relationship between phone manufacturers and the indie developer community. If you are going to do this kind of thing, well I can't stop you. However, I do ask that you not publicly post your taking advantage of the system as it only causes more tension between us and the companies that make the devices we are trying keep from being locked down in the first place.
But no matter what, people are going to bork their own phones, bootloader locked or not. By having the bootloader unlocked it wouldn't be a hard bricked situation, and they wouldn't have to inhouse jtag these devices. And more importantly what do you suggest? That the people who paid $700 for a phone, that tried something like installing xposed on a phone without root or something, should just be happy with their brick? I mean sure it's their responsibility, their phone, but they come to developers, to see how to fix it, and if it's soft bricked they can fix it themselves, or have some dingus fix it for them. I'm just pointing out LG will fix it. If they start noticing damn so many people are sending back hard bricked devices, maybe they should make it so that doesn't happen. Don't lie about voiding your warranty, just don't mention it. At no point did they ask how it was bricked.
I'm not trying to debate the ethics, I'm just saying LG can and will fix hard bricked g3's for free. For the many other people who are just holding a $700 literal brick, there is a fix.
f2bacon said:
But no matter what, people are going to bork their own phones, bootloader locked or not. By having the bootloader unlocked it wouldn't be a hard bricked situation, and they wouldn't have to inhouse jtag these devices. And more importantly what do you suggest? That the people who paid $700 for a phone, that tried something like installing xposed on a phone without root or something, should just be happy with their brick? I mean sure it's their responsibility, their phone, but they come to developers, to see how to fix it, and if it's soft bricked they can fix it themselves, or have some dingus fix it for them. I'm just pointing out LG will fix it. If they start noticing damn so many people are sending back hard bricked devices, maybe they should make it so that doesn't happen. Don't lie about voiding your warranty, just don't mention it. At no point did they ask how it was bricked.
I'm not trying to debate the ethics, I'm just saying LG can and will fix hard bricked g3's for free. For the many other people who are just holding a $700 literal brick, there is a fix.
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The solution is, if someone bricks their phone by messing with it then they pay the repair.
Believe it or not it costs lg big money to cope with things like this and this is why they keep it locked.
Sent from my LG-D851 using XDA Free mobile app
Richieboy67 said:
The solution is, if someone bricks their phone by messaging with it then they pay the repair.
Believe it or not it costs lg big money to cope with things like this and this is edgy they keep it locked.
Sent from my LG-D851 using XDA Free mobile app
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But by keeping it locked, they're making it a bigger issue! If the bootloader wasn't locked, users could get into recovery mode. Hard bricks would be soft bricks, and the fix would be easier, regardless of who does it.

[Q] Found a Galaxy S5

Topic closed! Got my answer. Thank you for everyone.
If you hand it into the police (At least in the UK) after a period of time, 4 weeks or something, it legally becomes yours if no-one claims it and you can go and collect it
Hand it In its being tracked
Not only that, but a local mobile network operator have no right to say you can keep a phone that does not belong to you, just because it was lost
Only the police can do that, and only after they try to find the rightful owner / give them a chance to report it lost and have it returned
Christiancs1969 said:
Hand it In it COULD BE being tracked
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fixed that for you
-PiLoT- said:
fixed that for you
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Ha ha thanks...
If it was me or you it would be handed In
True...?
Christiancs1969 said:
Ha ha thanks...
If it was me or you it would be handed In
True...?
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yes. honesty is honesty but that doesnt mean the device is definately being tracked, that could make the poor guy have a panic attack
-PiLoT- said:
yes. honesty is honesty but that doesnt mean the device is definately being tracked, that could make the poor guy have a panic attack
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Yes.. That thought bypassed me sorry..
I'll make sure I think next time ?
Forgot to add. Because phone was locked, I wiped it clean (3 button combination).
If I hand it in - who will give me all the funds i invested? Nobody. Hope isnt at my side.
Yes, I was dumb to replace the broken parts myself. But whats done, its done.
So. Can I use Google Play? Can I use WIFI or 4G?
Asurath said:
Forgot to add. Because phone was locked, I wiped it clean (3 button combination).
If I hand it in - who will give me all the funds i invested? Nobody. Hope isnt at my side.
Yes, I was dumb to replace the broken parts myself. But whats done, its done.
So. Can I use Google Play? Can I use WIFI or 4G?
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Wipe data & system and install a new rom via Odin and you're done.
Wipe data removes 99% of tracking apps, wiping system removes the rest.
Use a custom recovery and delete everything than use a custom rom/kernel and flash modem/bootloader files too via odin
dotuletz said:
Wipe data & system and install a new rom via Odin and you're done.
Wipe data removes 99% of tracking apps, wiping system removes the rest.
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not quite
It is traceable via IMEI.
But someone who lost this phone (apparently it looks like this) and phone was bought on contract, there is huge possibility that someone will block IMEI on network provider. After that 2 ways left. Sell it to foreign country or use it w/o mobile network.
qubbus said:
It is traceable via IMEI.
But someone who lost this phone (apparently it looks like this) and phone was bought on contract, there is huge possibility that someone will block IMEI on network provider. After that 2 ways left. Sell it to foreign country or use it w/o mobile network.
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oh, yes you guys are right. forgot the old ways now that everything is smart. On "dumb" phoness you were able to change the imei with the right tools, never tried it on smarthphones. Anyway the chances that someone who throwed away a smashed phone without battery to be looking for it are slim, i would use it
dotuletz said:
oh, yes you guys are right. forgot the old ways now that everything is smart. On "dumb" phoness you were able to change the imei with the right tools, never tried it on smarthphones. Anyway the chances that someone who throwed away a smashed phone without battery to be looking for it are slim, i would use it
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Maybe someone used this phone for criminal purpose and that is the reason of smashing it?
qubbus said:
Maybe someone used this phone for criminal purpose and that is the reason of smashing it?
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And that has something to do with him because ... ? phones don't comit crimes, people do. Let's say police was tracking a phone for some reason, once the criminal sells the phone it will be tracked for an X amount of time until police knows for certain the buyer doesn't have anything to do with the seller. Anyway more than 50% of phones out there have been used in... unapropiate way from prank calling to showing the latest vid of a gf to your friends (and you know what I mean by prank and vid).
Let us not make any more of what it is: a found phone, repaired, end of story. Nobody will come after it and if it does you can show the owner the receipt for spare parts. If he is as honest as wanting his/her phone back at least they can pay for repairs.
Just use it if you really wanted to... The authorities aren't gonna bother raiding your home and arresting you and stuff just for the sake of a lost phone. So just use it normally. If they blocked it then fine just use it as a gaming device or multimedia device. If someone tracked it then give it back to them and charge them the cost for fixing it. If it really came into accusing you of stealing(which has 0.1% chance of happening) then dare them a lie detector test.
dotuletz said:
And that has something to do with him because ... ? phones don't comit crimes, people do. Let's say police was tracking a phone for some reason, once the criminal sells the phone it will be tracked for an X amount of time until police knows for certain the buyer doesn't have anything to do with the seller. Anyway more than 50% of phones out there have been used in... unapropiate way from prank calling to showing the latest vid of a gf to your friends (and you know what I mean by prank and vid).
Let us not make any more of what it is: a found phone, repaired, end of story. Nobody will come after it and if it does you can show the owner the receipt for spare parts. If he is as honest as wanting his/her phone back at least they can pay for repairs.
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Agree! Just wanted to underline that there is no point to thinking 'what if'... Because we can get a really paranoic point such as cospiracy theory or something else...
Use it as long as you can and want.
Found not stolen they said
dotuletz said:
oh, yes you guys are right. forgot the old ways now that everything is smart. On "dumb" phoness you were able to change the imei with the right tools, never tried it on smarthphones. Anyway the chances that someone who throwed away a smashed phone without battery to be looking for it are slim, i would use it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
true but you also said wiping /system and /data would remove ALL tracing software. so youde be caught fast

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