The biggest steal ever! =]

[m3thodandr3d]

So, my friend found an iPhone at the mall yesterday. He was selling it for $150, so I decided to buy it. Mind you, I already have an iPhone. I then took that iPhone and traded it for an unlocked G1 . I kind of feel bad for the kid I traded

[apummell]

Why would you not turn it in to the mall so you ever lost it might have a chance of finding it ?!?!?!

[one1]

Steal would be a part of it, yes.

[FairLight]

Boy is that kid gonna be mad at you when the phone gets barred :b

[defmute]

Well if it was in the US, he has nothing to worry about because carriers here are lazy and don't bar phones.

[StealthBravo]

That sounds pretty crappy. Hope you never lose your G1.

[Hybridx24]

Haha, I bought mine off my friend for 60$, returned it and go a pretty much brand new one for free from the Apple Store...

[m3thodandr3d]

Well, I'm sure if any of you found an iPhone you would keep it. By the way, the phone was already unlocked, so I doubt T-Mobile would ever bother barring it. I took precautions as to make sure the IMEI doesn't get blacklisted if you know what I mean.

[FairLight]

Well, I'm sure if any of you found an iPhone you would keep it. By the way, the phone was already unlocked, so I doubt T-Mobile would ever bother barring it. I took precautions as to make sure the IMEI doesn't get blacklisted if you know what I mean.

How can you prevent an IMEI from getting blacklisted?

I thought it was like a special signal they send to fry the SIM along with the handset that it was in currently.

[m3thodandr3d]

well, you can always change the IMEI and then when a network sends a signal to the phone, it picks it up as being a different phone. You can't change it on 2.0+, but I changed it when the phone was on 1.1.3 before I updated it to 2.2

[redcard]

Hmm. An 'iphone developer' who seems to condone 'stealing'. Interesting to see how that goes when someone steal 'steals' your work!

[m3thodandr3d]

Well, the kid found it on a bench and left it there for a good 20minutes. No one came and picked it up, so he took it. Honestly you know you would do it too. I might be an iPhone developer, but I'm a normal person too. I don't support DRM protection or paying for applications when they cost more than they should. Seriously, name one person that has a music library with over 8000 songs that they paid for... It's not about supporting people that steal, it's just that I took an opportunity and ceased it.

[IvanPK]

Well, the kid found it on a bench and left it there for a good 20minutes. No one came and picked it up, so he took it. Honestly you know you would do it too. I might be an iPhone developer, but I'm a normal person too. I don't support DRM protection or paying for applications when they cost more than they should. Seriously, name one person that has a music library with over 8000 songs that they paid for... It's not about supporting people that steal, it's just that I took an opportunity and ceased it.

You didn't 'take an oppertunity'... you bought a stolen good and you knew it was stolen, and you were supporting stealing, one way or the other.
I know that if I had had an iPhone ALREADY, and a kid had offered one for 150 that was stolen, I wouldn't have bought it... but that's just me.
20 Minutes was not enough, what if you had your iPhone fallen out of your pocket and didn't realize till 30 minutes later... Then you run to the bench to find that it's gone, you'd be pretty disapointed i'd say.

btw, haha you say you 'ceased' the oppertunity, which would mean you ended it... aka turning the phone in to mall security. you probably meant 'seized'. lol

[cpjr]

Lets play nice guys....if this turns into a fist fight the thread will be closed.

[wePhone]

G1 sucks anyways. YOu got the bad end of the deal - he stole from you.

[jtesnani]

hum. don't be so quick to judge. i never keep what i find. it isn't mine. plus, i guess it was nice of your friend to wait 20 minutes to see if anyone comes back to pick it up but maybe the person didn't realize it till 30 minutes later. my sister left her iphone at the post office once and they held it for her over the weekend because by the time she realized she lost it the post office had already closed. she cried over the weekend but luckily got it back on monday.

and also, doesn't everything cost more than they should, so the middle person, or the manufacturer gets paid for their time and labor? isn't that the point of "business"? even when things are on sale it's never a steal. they're still making money off of you

[_ducky]

20 minutes in a mall? That's nothing. Someone could have walked around for an hour or more before realizing they had left their phone somewhere. "Being a normal person" is no excuse for stealing, especially when it comes to something so expensive. It's okay though. I assume you'll keep just as cool when other "normal people" steal from you.

[ALL DAY]

Do unto others... I have to disagree with this as well.

I know that if I lost my phone, I would like so much for someone to turn it in that I'd probably offer the person who found it and did the right thing something.

It's not like it's just their phone worth $150 you accepted, either, it's most likely a large part of their life with their music, pictures, contacts, messages, and possibly business information on. That would piss me off more than anything.

[gQstatus05]

I read this thread and it is ****** up. Some kid lost his phone and you never know someones situation. They could depend on that phone heavily. I've found so many phones from AT&T Tilts, MDA from sprint, a treo, etc. If I don't turn it in to mall security (because we all know they are corrupt as well and pocket it) I call the phone numbers in the phone and spend my own money to send it to them. At the end of the day I feel good that I helped someone. Anyway what goes around comes around. If it doesn't happen to your phone it may happen to your girlfriend.

[brett k]

I lost my iphone in a mall. It would have been nice if someone had turned it in or at least answered the 15 or so times I called it but they didn't so now they have a nice modded unlocked iphone, luckily I was in a position to buy another one. Then again I found $500 cash in an airport waited around for a bit then kept it so I can't complain too much. The things that pass through our hands can't be held onto, no sense crying about them.