I live in toronto and see people get ripped off on daily bases by fake iphones. So I made a note on market place to help people and will post a copy here , if I save even one person from buying a fake one, I have done my job , hopefully others can add to my check lists along the way.
if you are looking to buy iphone on market place or KiJiJi please spend few min reading this. Might save you 1.3k $ .
Generally three types of iphones are listed here,
1-iphone stores listing iphone for fraction of the price so others would list lower as well, and they try to buy these cheap real iphones for a lot less.
2- those who purchased fake iphones and now trying to pass their loss to you.
3- people who either sell fake iphones or they are ready to jump at you since you need to carry cash to pick iphone up.
RED FLAGS FOR FAKE IPHONES
1- seller won’t agree to meet up with you in apple store because they have to sit their dogs/ kids/watch after a patient / they have no car…
2- seller who won’t agree to let you open the box and check the iphone to verify
3- sellers who signed up for facebook from 2022 and after .
4- sellers with no profile picture, or normal Facebook page
5- those who insist that receipt is enough as a proof of authenticity ( you can order a fake receipt online with desired serial number)
6- those who ask for 20$ (insignificant ) to hold the iphone for you because millions of ppl are coming to pick it up.
7- if paypal comes up in conversation, walk away.
Let’s say you get the chance to test the iphone
1- assistive touch enabled from very first step? FAKE
2- does siri page come up on set up? No? Fake , yes? Test if it actually works with command .
3- insist on meeting not just in public but on the street! ( remember If some one has a real iphone, they don't want it to get stolen either, so they should insist on meeting in a safe place not you!)
4- after logged into iphone try and log into app-store with User /but wrong password! Did it log in ? Fake , now try your own real pass.
5 - if you are already an iphone user -> is font a little bit off? Fake
If person other than profile picture shows up , because iphone belongs to x-girlfriend. Fake
6- taking to apple store? Make sure you make appointment in advance or they will refuse to check it for you and seller might act all frustrated and put you in position to make the purchase.
apple agents usually just enter the serial number of the box or the one in setting to check if they don't have time!
SERIAL NUMBERS AND IMEI CAN BE ENTERED INTO SETTING OF A FAKE IPHONE! SERIAL NUMBER CAN COME UP ON APPLE AS GENUINE! BUT THAT SERIAL NUMBER BELONGS TO AN IPHONE IN SOMEONE ELSEs HAND! DO NOT TRUST SERIAL NUMBER!
7- always go in pair . Watch out for runners .
8 - if not apple store, best option is police station , second best option is their residence get their actual address and cellphone ! And meet them in their drive way not in a plaza !
9- iphones purchased with finance plans from ebay can be blocked if they stop paying their installments
10-iphone purchased from carrier is even worst , gets blocked from any carrier in North america yes they can do that. Same with stolen iPhone
11- serial number can be checked on apple website but!!! All fake iphones have a serial number of a real iphone so that means it is useless, specially if you check the serial of a sealed iphone and results come back as “iphone has been activated”
With start and end date for warranty. Sealed iphone has no active warranty till you turn it on for the first time.
12- much safer to buy from a cellphone store!100% of the time! But get them to write down the Serial and Imei on receipt or any sort of paper so later on if phone gets blocked you can go back to same store ,
Save this because apple tends to remove this type of ads as it does not comply with their policies . Even though my intention is to save you the hard earned money in this hard time we have.
I am not selling any iphone here, not asking you to but from me!
Have messaged more than 40 iphone sellers here on MP and 100% backed off from selling when mentioned apple store verification.
Please Keep in mind , if deal is too good to be true! It is,
You might also run into genuine sellers once in a while but Be careful.
I know there are tons of typos here, Sorry :)) typed it 2 AM because I was ****** at fake iphone sellers.
