Bought phone from friend - VW

[kasai23]

Greetings everyone!

Ok, so i'm sure you all have seen posts like this and are probably tired of them, but I cannot find an actual answer to this questions.
Well, I bought an iPhone 4 from one of my friends at work because he said he had lost it and then obtained a new one through his insurance. So I got home and reset it to factory settings and did a lengthy search of "lost/stolen" iPhones, and to my surprise there was no real answer on how to tell if it's blacklisted. I chatted with one the people on the verizon wireless site to see if there was anything I could do before going to the store just to find out it's locked or whatever and he said to contact support (I plan on doing that anyways).

But I was wondering if there is anyway around doing that?
Should I have my friend contact his insurance/verizon and say that the phone is no longer lost?

I am 100% sure this phone did not belong to anyone other than my friend so it's not like i'm a bad guy in this situation.

Any information would be greatly appreciated, and I apologize if this is just another annoying thread about activating a "stolen" iPhone.

Best regards,
Kasai23


Edit- spelling errors

 

[kch50428]

Here's the deal... the phone you got that was lost, and replaced by the insurance company, once found, should have been sent to the insurance company - as they covered for its "loss". It's in the fine print of the policy terms and conditions agreed to in taking insurance in the first place. Trying to activate and use the phone is, in my opinion, dishonest... get your money back from your friend, tell them to do the right thing, and send the phone to the insurance company so they (the insurance company) can recoup any value out of it they can, because it's their phone.

 

[dictoresno]

not to mention, any lost/stolen phones should have their ESN flagged by verizon. chances are, it wont be able to be activated on their network. calling customer service, giving them the ESN and serial number, should be able to give you the green light or not. i did this when i bought a used phone for my gf. the seller sent me the about screen and i called verizon and asked them to verify if it was all legit or not.