Korean Job Discussion Forums

littletelly94 · Joined: 02 Dec 2012 Location: Korea

So, I finally bought a pre-paid sim card from KT after waiting a long time for my ARC.

I took that sim card to a subway station that had a lot of used phone dealers underground. I looked at a Galaxy S smartphone with one of the dealers and he inserted the card. The card seemingly took forever just to "register" on the network. I show them the business card where I purchased the sim, and they called KT, who said that everything was okay, but I had to wait until 2 pm for it to work. Since I work at that time, I couldn't stay. Since KT said it was ok, and the phone displayed "Olleh" as the network, I went ahead and purchased the phone and walked out.

Long story short, after 2 it still didn't work, I took it to KT, who then said that the phone was locked to SK and that's why it didn't work.

Then, I took it to SK, who then informed me that they can't unlock it because it was reported stolen.

I'll try to take it back to the dealer to get a KT phone, but I don't expect many results if I was basically scammed.

While looking for phones, what are ways to tell if they're locked or stolen? I've been fighting for a cell phone since I got here, and it's been a nightmare every step of the way. I'm about to turn to the arrival store but I've been told many times that they are a rip off.

Is there a way to report a company/person that scammed you?

berniebennybernard · Joined: 19 Dec 2012

Nope, you're shit out of luck.

Usually with prepaid SIMs here in Korea (I use the freeC one) is that it takes a day or two to fully activate.

Since your SIM card is already activated, as long as you get signal in any other future phones, it should be fine.

Of course, you can also look up a specific model online and find out the model code. Many phones have a suffix after the base code. Then double check that the model is the right one for your network.

e.g. Vega Racer 2 = IM-830L, IM-830K, IM-830S

L for LG, K for KT/olleh, and S for SK.

atwood · Joined: 26 Dec 2009

Word is that most of the used phones for sale are stolen. I wouldn't buy one for that reason.