Verizon Iphone Bad ESN

[anaphora68]

Here's the rule with Verizon. Once an ESN is reported as lost, or stolen, you cannot activate that ESN.

There is no legal way to activate that phone on Verizon. It is entirely illegal to reprogram a phone with a different ESN. Also, if Verizon catches you doing this, you can land yourself in some serious hot water.

 

[SimpleAsItSeems]

Ultimately, you won't find the answer you WANT here. Your speaking with a community of iPhone users and many of us stayed up on pre order day and paid good money for our iPhones. Even if we knew a way to cheat the system do you think we'd tell a cheap schmuck like you how to do it?

 

[cmpdblue]

If you find something on Walmart property and bring it to their attention, you dont leave with that item. They keep it there...

LOL...I was thinking the same thing. I think the answer we were all looking for was in his/her last response - looking for a "hack" to get the phone activated.

I'm proud of most of the responses on here - a stolen iPhone - there but for the Grace of God goes my phone

 

[cellphonejedi]

Do the honorable thing and call Verizon and tell them you found an iPhone. They can see which customer the ESN is linked to. There's nothing you can do with the phone anyway if it's a bad esn.

Exactly....You know what they say about Karma!!!

 

[D2TSHR1439]

Or perhaps you could do due diligence or simply dispose of the lost item properly by bringing it into a police station.

That's what any responsible adult would do, er, law abiding citizen.

Maybe someone else could or has already chimed in here, but by holding the phone, you could be criminally liable by holding lost goods, or one could construe it as possessing stolen goods.

Turn it into a police station.

Not that I agree with him keeping it, but honestly, we dont do anything with it either, unless a police report is filed. If no report is filed, it sits in LaF bin waiting for 45 days before its burned or thrown out. Most people dont file cases on phones. We are lucky if we get 1-2 a year. Best case scenario would have been to leave it at the BigBox store.

 

[busyme]

Could'nt an AT&T or Verizon store trace the number and call the owner?

 

[gueren]

i have been on this side of the fence with lost phones ive found 2 cell phones simply opened up the phone book called anything that said mom or dad and made arrangements to get them their phone back if i was on the other side i would appreciate somebody doing the RIGHT thing you have a 800 dollar brick do the right thing return it to a verizon store if there is indeed no contacts to tell you the truth this whole post looks like you trying to get over and activate a new iphone for yourself

 

[englishsoup#IM]

Not to piss on the original posters party, just because you found it does not make it theft if you fail to carry out "due diligence". This means that you must exhaust all avenues to attempt to find the owner the property. This means contacting the carrier, you have a way of doing this, the phone will still go through to the carrier and you have already mentioned you have used *611 already and gotten through.

I think you know that it has a bad ESN because I think that, no I am 100% sure, because of what you said, that Customer Service have told you that it has been reported missing to them and they have blocked the phone temporarily. I am also pretty sure that they asked you to return it to the nearest Verizon store, just from what you have already said!

Myself and I know others are already blatantly aware from what you said that you feel that because you "picked it up" that it is you phone now. It doesn't work that way.

Any bets that your next avenue would be to try and sell it on ebay or craigslist on the basis that you bought it and didn't like it and try and palm it off onto some sucker.

You really did come to the wrong place for advice on activated a lost or stolen iphone. Just the same as it would to go to a crackberry forum for a lost or stolen Blackberry.

People pay money for their phones and you should at least make a whole hearted attempt at returning it to them and you don't live a million miles away from a verizon store. If you are uncomfortable about too many questions at the verizon store then put it an envelope with a note saying you found it and couldn't locate the owner and mail it to the local store. At least then you will have a clear conscience that you have tried!

What you have already said makes it blatant that you haven't even tried and believe that opportunity has knocked!

I'm sorry for you. Not as sorry as I am for the person that lost (or ???) the iphone!

 

[BryanTheRed]

Not that I agree with him keeping it, but honestly, we dont do anything with it either, unless a police report is filed. If no report is filed, it sits in LaF bin waiting for 45 days before its burned or thrown out. Most people dont file cases on phones. We are lucky if we get 1-2 a year. Best case scenario would have been to leave it at the BigBox store.

You're exactly right!

You all can sit here and claim to take the moral high road if you want, if he reported it to CS at the place he found it and no one claims it it's his to keep. At least that is how it is here. Every state is different in regards to these laws, I wouldn't go around generally applying what you think is right to this situation. If he feels like he has done what he needs to try and find the owner and can live with the decision he makes then it is none of your business. Just answer his question and move along or don't comment.

To the OP, to answer your question, if the ESN is bad then no there is no way you can activate it on Verizon's network. You still may be able to sell it on eBay with a disclaimer that the ESN is bad, some of those people don't care and will buy it for various reasons. Just a thought...

 

[Elaine5006]

I found a lost Iphone and would like to activate it. I am sure the ESN will be bad. Is there a way activate it on Verizon?

Try to find the owner. That would be the right thing to do.

 

[scorpiodsu]

The OP didn't even attempt to contact VZW to see is the ESN is bad. If they made it bad then they would know who the owner is of the device. So what did he do, tell Walmart that he found a phone and gave them his number? Ummm ok. I know when I find something I leave it at place I found it so they can do what they need to not keep it for myself and then try to activate it. What's the worst that can happen if he calls Verizon? They either say yes, the ESN is bad and can track down the original owner or the ESN is good and it hasn't been reported stolen so then the OP can activate it. Don't see what's so hard about that.

 

[CalifJewls]

Uhhhh really?? Honestly?? I can think of several things I would have done and none of them included logging onto a forum, where others bought and paid for their iPhones, and then proceed to post a douche bag question... Karma is a *itch, wait for yours it's coming!!

 

[JakePleasants]

that will be the day. the law can't punish the real crooks are they really going to punish honest people. i don't think so. well, maybe that's exactly what they would do.

If you're an honest person, I'd hate to see what a dishonest person would do.

You're exactly right!

You all can sit here and claim to take the moral high road if you want, if he reported it to CS at the place he found it and no one claims it it's his to keep. At least that is how it is here. Every state is different in regards to these laws, I wouldn't go around generally applying what you think is right to this situation. If he feels like he has done what he needs to try and find the owner and can live with the decision he makes then it is none of your business. Just answer his question and move along or don't comment.

To the OP, to answer your question, if the ESN is bad then no there is no way you can activate it on Verizon's network. You still may be able to sell it on eBay with a disclaimer that the ESN is bad, some of those people don't care and will buy it for various reasons. Just a thought...

Did you miss the part where he asked us to assist him in his criminal endeavors? He wanted to clone the ESN of another phone and transfer it to the iPhone. That's illegal in EVERY state.

 

[anon(1733)]

You should turn it in to Verizon. Walmart won't do anything. Why would you think letting them know would do any good. And yes not turn the phone in is theft. You know you have something that can easily be traced back to the owner. That is why you won't contact verizon only Walmart. Personally I hope Verizon finds out you have it and notify the police. Yes that does happen. Just turn the phone in to verizon.

 

[debo6052]

You should turn it in to Verizon. Walmart won't do anything. Why would you think letting them know would do any good. And yes not turn the phone in is theft. You know you have something that can easily be traced back to the owner. That is why you won't contact verizon only Walmart. Personally I hope Verizon finds out you have it and notify the police. Yes that does happen. Just turn the phone in to verizon.

couldn't have said it any better!!! totally agree

 

[rshackleford]

If the owner has reported it lost or stolen will they be able to tell verizon or at&t that it is found and get the ESN reverted to "good" status?

if they can't then what is the point in returning it. it is still a brick.

 

[Darth-gamer]

If the owner has reported it lost or stolen will they be able to tell verizon or at&t that it is not found and get the ESN reverted to "good" status?

if they can't then what is the point in returning it. it is still a brick.

What? Your first sentence is confusing. When the owner reports that phone as stolen the ESN is put into the BAD list forever. The ONLY way for it to come off is for the owner to report it as "found".

 

[rshackleford]

after having read these posts my awareness has been raised on laws relating to esn's. i have found this link:

FCC: Wireless Services: Cellular Services: Operations: Fraud

the information at this link does make it very clear that it is not legal to perform such a transfer of esn's as i was inquiring about.

 

[Elaine5006]

after having read these posts my awareness has been raised on laws relating to esn's. i have found this link:

FCC: Wireless Services: Cellular Services: Operations: Fraud

the information at this link does make it very clear that it is not legal to perform such a transfer of esn's as i was inquiring about.

So now that your awareness has been raised on laws. What are you going to do with the phone?

 

[rshackleford]

I never had the phone.

An employee came to me with this question and offered to sell me the phone. It seemed easier to place myself in his position than to go through the effort of explaining things second hand. I embellished some details in effort to get the question answered as to if there was a way to do what I just now found out is a federal offense. He did claim to have found the phone at Walmart and speak to customer service, but I have no idea if he actually looked through the contacts. I also later learned that is was an AT&T Iphone 3g.

I have made a strong plea to the employee that he should turn the phone on and look for contact information for the owner.

The phone was supposedly found in Williston, North Dakota.