Are you thinking about purchasing a used iPhone? Have you perhaps already bought one? Well, you can now check if it was stolen and save yourself heap loads of trouble later on.
How? Simply ask the person your are purchasing it from and trust in the good in humanity. Just kidding. Wireless trading body CTI has created a free online tool that will let anyone to check if the device they are trying to purchase — or have already purchased — was used or stolen.
All you need is the device’s IMEI number and you are good to go. The numbers are usually printed on the back of the iPhones. You can otherwise find them by going to Settings > General > About > IMEI. Once you have the number, pop into CTIA’a online resource and put it in to discover whether the particular iPhone is listed as in-use or stolen.
The service provides the wireless industry with the definitive, single source of real-time lost or stolen mobile device data. Using multiple source databases, the Stolen Phone Checker helps consumers, commercial organizations and law enforcement agencies in the US to know if a mobile device has been reported lost or stolen. This information is useful to anyone thinking of buying a used mobile device; simply check before you buy at www.stolenphonechecker.org.
Regular users can check up to five iPhones a day. Law enforcement agencies on the other hand can check an unlimited number of devices.
