I know it's not in any way related to this forum, but this is the only one I frequent anymore. :P

Do any of you have a way of getting a persons info from a phone number? I know there are things you can pay for to get it, but I don't have enough need to pay for it.

A girl friend of mine just bought a phone off CL (she couldn't wait for me to check it out first) and is now told that she can't activate it unless the owner deletes it from his account. Of course now he has disappeared and refuses to respond to emails/text/calls. Being naive, she didn't get a name or anything. I have the phone number and looked it up, so far only found a facebook profile but can't be sure it's him.

If he wants a war he'll get one. I'm thinking he bought it, couldn't activate it for the same reason so he pawned it off to the next sucker.

If you can help, please respond. If you have nothing constructive to say, just click the "back" button and go on to the next thread down the list.

Thanks

 

Go to the carrier and have them pull his info and have them contact him

 

It is pretty hard these days to take over a phone.
Droids, idk much about. Apple, it is really difficult to even get a jailbreak anymore.
I would google and you tube your phone and see what you can do.

"A war" is not what you want for a mistake. Laugh it off and move on.

 

it's not a mistake, he knowingly sold a phone that cannot be used. She is out $120 and has a paperweight. I want his info so I can ring his doorbell and tell him to refund it or fix the problem. She said he looked like a teenager, I'm hoping he just doesn't want his mommy to know he sold it because it is in her name. Then we could get somewhere.

it's an I4s. I've had Iphones for years and know all about them. My current I5s is jailbroken with the latest firmware. That's not the issue, the issue is now apple/att makes the previous owner remove it before the new owner can use it. That cannot happen if the previous owner ignores us.

 

sell it to best buy you should get your money back

 

whitepages has a reverse phone lookup.
Reverse Phone Lookup - WhitePages

 

all that tells me is it's Verizon in St. Joseph. Since it's a cell phone it's not that easy, thanks though.

Nobody will buy a locked phone (best buy, att, etc) because it can't be unlocked without the original purchasers login info. They also can't/won't share the info nor contact the owner for you. Everything I'm reading says it's now a paperweight, thus we need to find this guy so we can go after him.

 

I would try looking on CL for other ads from the same guy..

I'm sure he has or will have other items for sale

Then hook up with him looking to buy his latest item and then you can pounce on him when you meet up to buy

 

For the future, used Cel phone transactions should take place at a carrier retailer/corp store. If the exchange would have happened at a Verizon retailer, a check to see that the ESN was clean could have been performed before the transaction was completed. Unless VZW is willing to step up, which is very unlikely, the device may never be activated.

What is the make/model of the phone?

 

iPhone 4s

Have you tried anywho.com?

Here is a suggestion: Nine Ways to Find a Phone Number Online

 

does it have a sim card?
the easiest way if it has a sim card is to just switch the card.

 

If the OP has been told the ESN is bad from VZW, they are the only entity that can unlock it to the VZW network. These locks are typically placed because of loss, theft, or non payment of original owners account. The carrier that placed the lock might tell you why it was put in place. It'll take some time to work up the customer service tier.

The VZW and Sprint CDMA network authenticates the device itself(via ESN), whereas ATT and TMobile use GSM networks which use the SIM card for network authentication. It may be possible to reset the device, and activate it on another network, but you'll have to do your homework to be sure. Otherwise, its an iPod touch.

 

it's an apple issue, once a device is tied to a cloud account it must be deleted from that account before it can be used by someone else. It's not even an ipod right now, you can NOT get past the activation screen. There are no ways around it, service provider can't help, apple WON"T help so you are stuck with trying to find the original owner to delete it from their account. It's a new trick they added with the latest firmware to prevent stolen phones from being reactivated. Unfortunately it also prevents you from selling a phone to someone else without going through the deletion process.

I have tried everything listed so far with no luck. The only thing I can come up with using the number is a facebook page. It's got his name but nothing else to use.

 

Gotcha. I thought you were talking carrier network activation. If you can't find the guy, you might get a few bucks back by selling it for parts so its not a total loss.

 

Good advice so far. That sounds like a lot of hassle for a phone. I'd chalk it up as a hard life lesson learned and see if she could sell it to a used phone buying retailer.

FYI, you did not buy the phone, your girl friend did. So you in no legal way have any recourse to take on the situation. It would really be up to her to file a police report with all the details. The police could contact his phone to get a hold of him.

If your girl friend is a minor, then her parents/gaurdians would need to also get involved.

Have ya'll contacted Apple or the carrier to see if that phone is stolen? Who is the carrier?