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gobbledygook
Joined: 18 Feb 2012
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 Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 2:49 am Post subject: Buying a second hand phone and sim (legal issue) |
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Hey guys,
So I've just landed in Seoul, and it turns out that my gsm phone is absolutely useless in this country. I'm thinking of getting a second hand phone and a sim here, and have found someone that wants to sell them. The problem is that the pre-paid number is registered under another person's ARC, apparently, the seller's friend who's a student here and has left the country. But I have no idea who he/she is, what he/she did and why he/she left the country. Will buying a sim off someone get me into any trouble?i.e who knows if it's a stolen phone..etc. |
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schmoove
Joined: 31 Oct 2008
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 4:24 am Post subject: Re: Buying a second hand phone and sim (legal issue) |
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| gobbledygook wrote: |
| Will buying a sim off someone get me into any trouble?i.e who knows if it's a stolen phone..etc. |
Probably not.
Worse thing that could happen to you if it is stolen is that you lose out on the cash you paid for it.
Nowadays a KT SIM card costs 8000 won, not exactly expensive, so not worth risking much cash by buying someone else's SIM and phone from a third party.
A problem you may encounter is if you are buying more pre-paid credit in the shop and they ask for the SIM owner's ID number. With LG it happened to me once in the time I was using my girlfriend's phone.
Also be aware that some older phones won't receive the new kind of long text messages anymore. I have my (no longer used) five year old, still registered pre-paid here that has that exact problem. I also know a few people who have the same problem, so I have to be aware to keep texts below 80 characters or the message just bounces back to me. I think it is the way they can't handle MMS messages or something. You know the kind of phones - those battered old ones that have been passed around from foreigner to foreigner down the years. |
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Drew10
Joined: 31 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 7:23 pm Post subject: |
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The big problem that stands out to me is this:
Since the phone and account are registered to another person's ID number, when their visa runs out, the phone company may cancel service.
I would go ahead and buy the phone, but get a new sim card under your name and have it activated that way. |
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SeoulFinn
Joined: 27 Feb 2006
Location: 1h from Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 9:42 pm Post subject: |
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Did they tell you the reason why your phone doesn't work? I'd guess your phone is an older model and doesn't support the correct frequency.
Anyhoo, as soon as I land tomorrow (Thu) I'll visit "GS Books" at the airport and try to buy a prepaid SIM from them. Will post here if it works or not.
ADDITION: Went to GS Books (near exit 7 or  and was told that the prepaid SIM cards were sold out. I'm sure my Nokia e7 would have worked ust fine as I could roam on KT network. From now on I'll just use my friend's 2nd phone. |
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Kimchifart
Joined: 15 Sep 2010
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| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 7:00 am Post subject: |
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I'm thinking of buying a phone second hand in a few days off a guy in seoul (he's not Korean and broken English in the correspondence). Thing is, it seems a fair bit under market price, and I've noticed the guys profile and he is selling phones on various forums and such like.
I'm guessing that at best he's a guy doing a bit of private phone dealing on the side and at worst it's stolen.
The phone is apparently registered with LG.
My question is, is there a way to verify at an lg phone shop a. if he's the registered owner and b. if it is stolen. Have they any way of knowing in the shop if this is the case?
I really don't want to buy a stolen phone and my gut is telling me something is up. Maybe I'm answering my own question here. |
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Drew10
Joined: 31 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 6:39 pm Post subject: |
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Most shops won't give you those kinds of answers.
You're going to have to convince him to go into a shop and prove that he's the owner of the phone somehow. |
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