blocked iphone 7

[rence]

hello everyone, i got a big problem with iphone 7, i bougth it from young boy, very cheap, after couple of days his mom called me, and told what he is missing, and i just explained what he sold the phone, she said what i can keep this phone, but she wanted sim, i said what she can block the sim, yeah, she blocked the sim and phone too, and now she is saying what its not possible to unblock it, can someone help me?

[AnnS]

Hi @rence

This is going to be between you and the seller.

The young boy who sold you the phone may not even have been the rightful owner,  phones are not IMEI blocked without a valid reason, usually because they have been reported stolen or are the subject of an insurance claim.  From the sound of things, the phone was stolen with the owners SIM still in the phone and you could well be in possession of someone else's property.

If the phone has been IMEI blocked by the original owner, there won't be anything Vodafone will be able to do to remove the blocking, this can only be done by the person who requested the blacklisting.

[rence]

thanks mate i think what i can unblock it if ill go to vodafone shop with that person which have a this phone on the contract yeah? but that person saying me what even like that we cant unblock it

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @rence

If his mother is the Account holder then she can contact the network and have the Imei number un blacklisted. This will release it to be used again. 

It seems very unusual for someone to sell a mobile phone and not keep the SIM card !

Unfortunatley it seems your caught up in a family rift. 

The network wouldn't liaise with you and Apple wouldn't either. 

This sounds to me like a recent upgrade with the phone being sold on and then claimed on insurance. Of course I could be wrong. 

[rence]

anyway, we can go to the vodafone shop and fix it up yeah?

[Jenny]

@rence - Only the account holder can request that the phone is unblacklisted.

If the boy it was bought from is not the account holder, they won’t be able to request it.