This article is more than 1 year old

Apple tool: Buying an iPhone in a carpark? Find out if it's STOLEN

Check IMEI number? Bloke said not to open box until he leaves

Apple has rolled out a new service allowing buyers to check if the iPhone they're about to purchase is actually stolen.

All you need to do is place the phone's IMEI or serial number into this website to be politely informed as to whether or not that dodgy bloke down the market (who generally avoids direct eye contact) has ripped you off.

The new website is particularly handy for anyone who wants to buy a phone from eBay or Gumtree, and is concerned that a mobe might actually, at one point, have belonged to someone else (and in fact still does).

Cynics among you might think this is all a bit unnecessary, because Apple already allows people whose iPhone has gone walkies to shut it down remotely and delete its contents using a feature called Activation Lock.

But there have been various attempts to bypass this feature and companies such as DoulCi offer the owners of iPhones locked to someone else's iCloud (or fanbois who've forgotten their iCloud password) the chance to unlock their device.

So the new Apple "clobber the robber" tool could actually end up being quite useful. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like