As unfortunate as it is, most people only discover what a blacklisted phone is once they have become a victim of buying one.

A blacklisted phone is essentially a phone that has been reported lost or stolen. The phone may appear to work 100%, except it will not connect to the cell phone network.

This can happen to a phone at anytime, if the original owner calls into their cell phone provider a say the phone has been lost of stolen. This is an all to common insurance scam, when the individual will sell their device, then turn around and say it was lost and collect the insurance money. The phone is then useless to the unsuspecting purchaser.

Since this can happen at anytime, even weeks or months after the purchase, there is no way to 100% prevent this from happening to you. We can however provide a few tips to help minimize your risk.

1. Don’t risk buying from an unknown person on a site like craigslist.

2. Buy from a trusted person or a reputable used phone store like the Cell Clinic.

3. Make sure you get a guarantee and a receipt.

4. Check the blacklist before buying and test a phone call with a SIM card. This won’t guarantee it wont in the future, but will least prevent you from buying it already blacklisted.

5. You can check the blacklist status for free at https://www.devicecheck.ca/check-status-device-canada/

Once your phone has been blacklisted, there really isn’t anything you can do to fix this issue. You can try contacting a phone provider, but unless you are the one that reported it, it’s usually a lost cause.

About Cell Clinic 

Cell Clinic is British Columbia's premier pre-owned mobile sales and service company (with locations in Vancouver & Surrey) — a family-owned business with a dedicated team of professionals that have earned a solid reputation for delivering friendly and trusted service. Cell Clinic strives to provide the absolute highest level of service in the pre-owned mobile device (& more) repair/sales industry. Visit who we are to learn more.