craiglist buyer want a refund and threat to call the police

[mike7103582]

Hi i am in oregon. 2 days ago, i sold an iPhone on craigslist. I bought the phone not so long ago as an used phone, but i never ended up using it. i was unable to use it because it was locked through sprint, and I had Verizon. So i decided to sell it online again. We met in person and finished the transaction. However i saw some emails this morning, that they were unable to activate the phone through sprint, and she said the screen is coming off the phone, which I had no idea. (this could occurred after the transaction).She said she filed a police report, and the officer told her since its over 100 dollars, if they find me, i would be charged with theft. But when i sold her the phone, i told her and showed her the phone and sent her pictures through her email as well. I even ran an esn check on the phone to prove the current status of the phone to her during the transaction. Proving the phone is not stolen, under the current contract( which cause the phone to be unusable until the balance is paid off, again i have no idea). I would be happy to work something out with her, but I wasn't going to give her full refund back. Because i believe the screen was fine during the transaction. Also, not waiting for a reply on the email she sent me, and directly calling the police and threatening me saying they will find me and track me down kind of ticked me off. Again, i am just asking if I could be charged with a crime here or not? thanks

 

[justalayman]

Well you go ahead and be ticked off all you want. Unless you told her there was a balance owing to sprint you defrauded her. I suggest you just give her all the money back and walk quietly away.

 

[mike7103582]

I did show here everything on swappa, it clearly shows her what condition the phone is under.

 

[quincy]

I did show here everything on swappa, it clearly shows her what condition the phone is under.

You told the purchaser that the phone could not be activated until the past due balance that was owing Sprint was paid or because it might be a stolen phone?

 

[mike7103582]

I told her that it is still under a contract, and I also ran it on an online site, where it shows the status of the phone. Include if it was reported stolen, which its not. its still under an contract, which it is. and the history of the phone. I didnt even know the phone can not be used.

 

[not2cleverRed]

I think she (the buyer) is not being honest.

She claims the police will arrest you for THEFT if they find you.

(1) You did not steal the money; you did not snatch her purse and take money out of it. Rather, you advertised an item, and she gave you money for the item. If the item was inaccurately described, then somewhere along the way fraud may have been committed. I say "may" because I do not know the conditions and the specifics of the sale. I do not think a police officer would use the words "theft" when it is (at most) "fraud".

(2) Pretty sure she hasn't convinced the police that this merits a warrant for your arrest.

This sounds like a civil issue. Were she to ask advise here, I suspect most would advise that she contact you directly, attempt to get her money refunded, and if that were not possible, to attempt to take you to small claims court.

Whether or not she has a case depends on the details. After all, it's a used phone.

If she wants to return it, just give her a refund.

 

[quincy]

I told her that it is still under a contract, and I also ran it on an online site, where it shows the status of the phone. Include if it was reported stolen, which its not. its still under an contract, which it is. and the history of the phone. I didnt even know the phone can not be used.

"Still under contract" and "balance owing" are two different things. If the phone is unusable without paying off a past-due balance, this needed to be disclosed to the buyer. A phone is rather worthless if it cannot be activated.

I think you are probably best off providing a refund to the purchaser and having the purchaser return the phone to you.

Something seems very off with what you are describing as the history of the phone and your own inability to activate it prior to your sale of it on Craigslist.

Good luck.

 

[mike7103582]

Thanks for all the responses. Again i am not trying to scam anyone out of money or anything like that. I bought the phone used because i lost my phone, and right after i got back, I found my phone under my car seat. That's the back story. I have never tried to activated the phone, i just knew the phone is not stolen, and when i called sprint, they said the phone is still under contract. It sounds like the original owner is still paying off the phone. I will probably end up give back her money even tho i believe she might have broke the phone. I am just very mad that she is threatening with out even the intention to work something out. In my book tell someone they are a thief and they are going to find you and track you down and thing like that is not how to deal with things peacefully.

 

[not2cleverRed]

Thanks for all the responses. Again i am not trying to scam anyone out of money or anything like that. I bought the phone used because i lost my phone, and right after i got back, I found my phone under my car seat. That's the back story. I have never tried to activated the phone, i just knew the phone is not stolen, and when i called sprint, they said the phone is still under contract. It sounds like the original owner is still paying off the phone. I will probably end up give back her money even tho i believe she might have broke the phone. I am just very mad that she is threatening with out even the intention to work something out. In my book tell someone they are a thief and they are going to find you and track you down and thing like that is not how to deal with things peacefully.

Depending on how long ago "not so long ago" is, you might try contacting the party who sold you the phone.

 

[quincy]

Thanks for all the responses. Again i am not trying to scam anyone out of money or anything like that. I bought the phone used because i lost my phone, and right after i got back, I found my phone under my car seat. That's the back story. I have never tried to activated the phone, i just knew the phone is not stolen, and when i called sprint, they said the phone is still under contract. It sounds like the original owner is still paying off the phone. I will probably end up give back her money even tho i believe she might have broke the phone. I am just very mad that she is threatening with out even the intention to work something out. In my book tell someone they are a thief and they are going to find you and track you down and thing like that is not how to deal with things peacefully.

Again, what you are saying sounds just suspicious enough that I would be of the same mind as the purchaser in considering your sale of the cell phone a scam, this even if everything you are saying is 100% true.

If you do not want to be reported and investigated, your best action is probably to refund the money paid by the purchaser and, before attempting to sell it again, pay off the past-due balance owing to Sprint and make sure the phone can be activated.

Good luck.

 

[mike7103582]

okay i bought the phone 10 days ago, i will try to contact him.

 

[quincy]

okay i bought the phone 10 days ago, i will try to contact him.

That's a fast turnaround for the phone.

I recommend you refund the purchaser, retrieve the phone, and then, if it is possible, contact the person you purchased the phone from. If you didn't intend to scam the purchaser, perhaps you were scammed by the person from whom you purchased the phone.

Again, though, the story you tell of the phone raises a lot of questions.

 

[single317dad]

Without testing my theory, I'd imagine a quick Google search for "dirty ESN" will produce about a billion results. Anyone who buys a phone on a CDMA carrier knowing it doesn't have a clean ESN has made a basic failure of due diligence. It's akin to being presented with an auto title that says "SALVAGE" and claiming you had no way to know it was totaled.

Morally, I'd follow quincy's advice and refund the buyer, and attempt to get my money back from the original seller. Legally, I'm not sure you have any obligation at all.

 

[mike7103582]

Ya, i contacted the original owner, never got a response, which is cool, i learned my lesson. Refund her money. Its funny she sent her daughter to meet me because the phone was purchased for her. I explained to her it was a mistake on my part and that im sorry that this has happened. But she was calling me a liar and thief and that i am lucky she is nice enough to drop all the charges against me. After this, I am regretting giving her money back, but once again, i learned my lesson.

 

[quincy]

Ya, i contacted the original owner, never got a response, which is cool, i learned my lesson. Refund her money. Its funny she sent her daughter to meet me because the phone was purchased for her. I explained to her it was a mistake on my part and that im sorry that this has happened. But she was calling me a liar and thief and that i am lucky she is nice enough to drop all the charges against me. After this, I am regretting giving her money back, but once again, i learned my lesson.

I am sorry to hear that the purchaser's daughter was not more gracious when you refunded her money but she was obviously of the opinion that you tried to scam her. At any rate, I think it was smart for you to refund the money.

I am also sorry (but not surprised) to hear that you could not reach the person from whom you purchased the phone.

As a note: The daughter and her mom would not be the ones dropping any charges. They could report the cell phone sale to the police and the police would investigate and, depending on what was discovered, the police might turn the matter over to the prosecutor. The prosecutor decides whether to pursue charges or not.