Question about buying a phone

[iMore Question]

My iPhone broke. I found one online that claims to have a clean IMEI #. My husband is a police officer and I can give the IMEI and serial # to him and he can run it in NCIC (national database) to verify it's not stolen.

My question is, if I buy this phone from this person and I activate it and begin using it, can they turn around and report it stolen or lost, thus deactivating it so I've got a $350 Apple paperweight?

 

[nikkimd11]

The person selling it to you must restore the phone to factory settings thus erasing their iCloud account from the device and the ability to deactivate it through the find my phone app/website.

 

[TwitchyPuppy]

Yep, they can, sadly.

 

[TwitchyPuppy]

The person selling it to you must restore the phone to factory settings thus erasing their iCloud account from the device and the ability to deactivate it through the find my phone app/website.

Not if they report it as lost/stolen to their carrier. They’ll blacklist the IMEI, rendering the phone unusable in OP’s country.