Used phones are more likely to include blacklisted handsets than new ones. Keep an eye on the status of your IMEI to avoid having your phone’s services restricted by your carrier (International Mobile Equipment Identity).
What is a blacklisted phone?
Phones are not blacklisted by default. A carrier will blacklist a phone if something wrong happens to it. This usually indicates the original account owner ceased paying on the device, or it was reported stolen or lost. When a phone gets blacklisted by a carrier, it can no longer utilize its original network and cannot be unlocked to use on another network.
New phones are rarely blacklisted or reported stolen. You can still activate a blacklisted phone, new or used. Blacklisted phones are generally regarded as useless paperweights. A carrier usually blacklists the phone’s unique identity — the IMEI and serial number — which cannot be changed.
Reasons why your phone has been blacklisted
So, if you have found that your phone has been blacklisted and you don’t know why this section can help you figure it out. Here are some of the reasons why.
Your phone is reported lost or stolen.
If your phone is blacklisted, it may have been lost or stolen. Nowadays, carriers have the Blacklist where owners can report their phones lost or stolen. Once on the Blacklist, a device cannot connect to any carrier’s network.
You Have Pending Bills Against Your Phone
If you acquired a used phone and it was banned, it could be due to unpaid debts from the prior owner.
Other reasons
Other factors that can cause your smartphone to be blacklisted include false information, a change of address, or phone insurance fraud.
How to unlock a blacklisted phone?
If you want to unlock your phone, UnlockBase Service is a great tool. The thing that makes this instrument genuinely unique and amazing is how easy it is to use and how convenient it is compared to other instruments on the market. It is safe, legal, and can be done independently with a simple step-by-step process. Besides that, it’s also a long-term solution. Once you break the carrier lock, you won’t have to do it again.
If there is an issue, such as someone reporting the phone lost/stolen, any wireless company won’t activate your device. And although we can unlock blacklisted iPhones, we don’t do it for lost or stolen ones.
Select the brand of your phone.
Type the IMEI of your phone.
Enter your email for confirmation.
Choose the country where the phone is locked to.
Choose your network/carrier.
Confirm your payment and wait for an email confirmation.
Conclusion
If you get a phone reported stolen or lost, you can’t do much about it. So, the objective is to guarantee that you don’t get a phone that is already on the blacklist. You can easily do it by following these two simple steps: check the IMEI number and buy phones from reputable stores. If you have any questions, let us know in the comment section below!
All products, and company names, logos, and service marks (collectively the "Trademarks") displayed are registered® and/or unregistered
trademarks™ of their respective owners.
The authors of this web site are not sponsored by or affiliated with any of the third-party trade mark or third-party registered trade mark owners,
and make no representations about them, their owners, their products or services.
Blacklisted phones are phones that were either reported lost or stolen by its owners and have been enlisted in a national or international blacklist database of service providers and carriers; such that a smartphone which is blacklisted in the USA can no longer be used in all US carriers unless proven found or retrieved by the owner.
Despite the bad reputation, these blacklisted phones are being sold widespread in many e-commerce sites, and a lot of victims have been left with a device that’s good as trash in their country. You’re lucky if you bought a blacklisted phone and live halfway around the world because there’s a chance you can use it in another country.
Unfortunately, carriers are pretty good at catching thieves. Even if you use a different sim card or switch to a different carrier, they will receive your IMEI data and they automatically scan that in the national blacklisted database.
You’re lucky if you can make a call or two, but once they figure out that you are using a blacklisted phone, they will automatically block any attempt to connect to their network and send the information to the police.
You certainly can use some time with the police officer trying to answer difficult questions to prove your innocence.
Phone Unlock vs Phone Unblock
Did you know that your phone can be both locked to a carrier and blacklisted at the same time? So, you might be asking, “what if I have purchased that kind of phone, will I be ever able to use it?”
Yes, you can, but of course, there are a lot of limitations. As mentioned, you can use it when you bought it in a different country with a different carrier. You can, in fact, get your phone unlocked with us or with any third party phone unlock service provider.
If in the event that we find out that our customers are having a blacklisted phone, we always set proper expectations about its limitations. We can only relate to people who unfortunately bought such phones, but we cannot do anything to get their phone’s IMEI “clear.”
On the other hand, unblocking the phone or “clearing” it’s IMEI, as some people would like to call it, is illegal. That being said, don’t fall for any “unblocking” service online because the chances that they are fraudsters are high, and you also don’t want to get involved with an international organized syndicate, would you?
Now if you, unfortunately, bought a blacklisted phone, report your seller right away to the e-commerce hosting website (eBay, Amazon, etc) where you got it from. If you bought it from a legitimate and well-known website, you may be given consumer protection privileges, like a refund, etc.
Note: We don’t encourage you to buy blacklisted phones, and we only offer a chance to give you a redeeming option to be able to use it. Unlocking the phone is legal, but “unblocking” it or altering its IMEI status is illegal. We are not in any way connected to any organization that does this to people. We offer our services to everyone assuming that it is with good intentions. You can also check this article, to know more about blacklisted phones.
All products, and company names, logos, and service marks (collectively the "Trademarks") displayed are registered® and/or unregistered
trademarks™ of their respective owners.
The authors of this web site are not sponsored by or affiliated with any of the third-party trade mark or third-party registered trade mark owners,
and make no representations about them, their owners, their products or services.
Buying a used cellphone can be a great idea: you can save money, obtain an already unlocked phone, or buy a brand or a particular model you couldn’t otherwise afford. It sounds ideal, but unfortunately, buying a cellphone that is blacklisted can mean not only is your phone completely useless to you, you could potentially end up with a knock at the door from the police asking some difficult questions.
Think it can’t happen to you? In 2013 over 3.2 million cellphones were stolen in the United States alone, double the amount stolen in the previous year, so this is a fast growing problem. It means millions of cellphones are out there being advertised daily on online auction sites and listing sites around the world that could well be stolen, and you won’t know anything about it until you arm yourself with what to look for and what questions to ask.
Every mobile device in the world, whether it’s a cell phone or a tablet, has a unique serial number known as the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identifier). In a growing number of countries, operators enable consumers to report a mobile phone or device as lost or stolen using the device’s unique identity number, the IMEI. The operator can block the phone from their mobile network, which is called IMEI blacklisting. Participating operators have an up to date Device Check database which contains the IMEI for devices reported as stolen or lost, as well as the device model and capabilities.
Groupe Speciale Mobile (GSM), established in 1982, defines the GSM standard as the internationally accepted digital cellular telephony standard. Global mobile connections now exceed some 10 billion connections, and as of 2015, exceeds the total population of the globe.
As a means of controlling this vast number of global connections, which is increasingly important in an age of international organized crime and terrorism, blacklisted IMEIs are provided to the GSMA central IMEI Database which allows operators to exchange data and to block devices on multiple networks both nationally and internationally.
Each time you make a call your SIM card immediately identifies you as a subscriber to that particular carrier. If your account is in order, then you can make the call and use the services of your service provider. Before that can happen, however, the network will check your phone’s IMEI, which is a number that is unique to every GSM handset.
Like IMEI, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) devices also use something similar called an Electronic Serial number, or ESN. The IMEI or ESN identifies the phone to your carrier and it checks that the handset is valid to use. If the phone is locked to another carrier or if it’s lost or stolen your service provider can use the IMEI to “blacklist” a device which means you won’t be able to make calls.
So for example, it’s the IMEI, and not your customer profile that lets a large carrier such as AT&T know that you are using an iPhone. Even if you switch to a different type of phone, a BlackBerry or an Android, your service provider will know which phone you are using. Even when you jailbreak a phone, your IMEI will still give your chosen service provider the information they need to know.
Each time you switch your phone on or attempt to make a call, the network systems check the IMEI number of the handset you are using as soon as you insert a SIM card.
In the USA, the cellphone blacklist is operated by the CTIA, which works with leading cellphone providers including AT&T, Cellcom, Nex-Tech Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile USA, and Verizon Wireless to provide a vast database of blacklisted phones. They are also linked to the GSM IMEI database.
In the UK, when the SIM card is inserted, the IMEI number of your handset is cross referenced with the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR), which is also known as the IMEI database. If the IMEI number of your handset is on the CEIR/IMEI blacklist then the network will either refuse to send a signal to your phone (No signal strength at all or will supply a signal but will not allow any outgoing or incoming calls.
If your IMEI number is on the CEIR your handset is blacklisted and therefore of no use to you or anyone else except for spare parts.
Despite huge efforts by service providers and international cellphone network organizations to clamp down on stolen cellphones, inevitably the system has its shortcomings and criminals can still get around the blacklist database by sending blacklisted handsets overseas, which is why cellphone theft still tops the list of stolen items. It’s a crime worth billions every year to international organized crime syndicates. The so called petty criminal who pickpockets your handset while you gaze into a shop window could be passing the phone on as his part in a global crime syndicate. Also, IMEI’s can in some circumstances be changed or rewritten. Don’t be tempted to try it, it’s against the law and will result in a jail term, but it still goes on.
Another major reason criminals want to get hold of your cellphone is not just to sell it on the international market, it’s the chilling fact that while 77% of users use their cellphones for online banking transactions, less than a quarter of these have any type of security on their phones! Accessing sensitive banking details on an unprotected cellphone is much easier than robbing a bank!
There are also several examples of incomplete data with all of the blacklist databases because the submitting of details is still voluntary. For example, a handset that is barred in the USA could still work in Mexico and vice versa, and a cellphone bought or stolen in the UK can work in a different country. A large number of UK barred handsets find their way to Italy, Spain and France.
There is an important difference between unlocking and unblocking a cell phone. Unlocking a cellphone from a service provider to be able to choose another is perfectly legal, but when a mobile phone is “unblocked” criminals can change the IMEI number and make the cellphone operational again. This practice is illegal and only the manufacturers are allowed to alter it.
Unblocking mobile phones is a criminal offence and carries custodial sentences. It is even an offence to simply offer to unblock or reprogram a phone.
If you are buying a phone online, and amazingly, 74% of consumers do, and you see one you want to buy on an auction site or a listing site, first determine whether the phone in the picture is the exact same phone you are actually being offered. No matter what site you are on you should expect to be able to glean some basic stats about the phone: the color, the correct model number, its storage capacity; all these are vital details in the device description.
The next step is to see if you can contact the seller to ask for the IMEI, if he or she refuses to give you this important piece of information, be wary and walk away. It could mean they have something to hide, and the fact is, there are so many other options you could explore rather than running the risk of a blacklisted phone. For example, Amazon and eBay have a safeguard of profiles and seller reviews that make them more trustworthy than buying from unmonitored websites. Also, Swappa and Glyde, have policies and safeguards in place for buyers. For example, Glyde holds the seller’s payment in escrow until the buyer has checked the device and confirmed that it’s clean and offers a full refund policy if not satisfied.
If you pay for your phone through PayPal or with a credit card you should be able to obtain a refund if the phone proves to be blacklisted.
If you are buying an iDevice, Apple now has a service on iCloud.com called Check Activation Lock Status. This enables you to quickly see if a device was obtained illegally. If you have managed to obtain the IMEI serial number from your seller, you can tell if someone used ‘Find My iPhone’ to switch on Activation Lock.
Activation Lock was introduced in iOS 7. It locks down the device, making it unusable until the correct Apple ID and password have been entered. So if you do purchase a bad Apple so to speak, you won’t be able to use it. You can also check how much warranty is left on the device by checking the serial number too.
Buying a cellphone online is always a case of ‘buyer beware’, which is essential for any major purchase from a complete stranger on the internet.
IMEI stands for International Mobile Station Equipment Identity. It’s the key identifier of each and every cellphone around the world. You can check your phone’s IMEI quickly and easily on a number of free sites:
So it really is very easy to do some basic homework before you allow yourself to become stuck with a blacklisted mobile phone. If in doubt you can also check with the service provider that is hosting the phone or even your own current provider. You can quickly look for free IMEI services in your own country by checking on the internet.
There is also a paid for service called Checkmend but beware, if you use this site and the IMEI is blacklisted, you might just be approached by your local Law Enforcement agency who have direct access to the searches made on the Checkmend website. This could result in an unwanted visit to the police station at an unsociable hour of the day.
What to do once you are certain your phone is not blacklisted
This is the easy bit. If you obtain a clean cellphone but you are not happy with the service provider that is hosting it, or you simply want an unlocked phone, UnlockBase offers the web’s largest database of service providers and cellphone models that can be safely, quickly and economically unlocked via remote unlocking, and it can all be done in a matter of minutes. Also, UnlockBase won’t be beaten on price, so if you find a genuine deal elsewhere that unlocks the same model for less, UnlockBase will match it or beat it for price, and you can’t say fairer than that!
Buying a new cellphone can be a fun and rewarding experience provided you exercise caution and know your facts prior to purchase. Study this article well, ask questions, don’t be fobbed off and walk away if you are in the least bit suspicious. Also, let your friends know about this article by sharing it.
A complete guide to Blacklisted Cell Phones – the eBook
All products, and company names, logos, and service marks (collectively the "Trademarks") displayed are registered® and/or unregistered
trademarks™ of their respective owners.
The authors of this web site are not sponsored by or affiliated with any of the third-party trade mark or third-party registered trade mark owners,
and make no representations about them, their owners, their products or services.
