iPhone 4s unlock

[keyser666]

My sister bought a second hand device off of ebay some time ago for her sons birthday today but it will not dial out or send or receive texts nor give a signal on O2. I have had a look at it today and my sim is fine (voda) but it says it needs to be activated but I cannot do it.

I have had a further google and ended up doing a checkmend on it and it has the following:

Ever blocked - CheckMEND has a record of this item having been reported LOST or STOLEN to a mobile
network operator in its lifetime.
Currently blocked - CheckMEND has a record that this item is CURRENTLY reported as LOST or STOLEN to at
least one mobile network operator.
Lost - CheckMEND - has no record of this item being reported lost to Police, Immobilise or-
Stolen - CheckMEND has no record of this item being reported stolen to Police or Immobilise
Insurance claim - CheckMEND has no record that this item has been subject to an insurance claim
Possible counterfeit - CheckMEND has no records that this identifier has been used in counterfeit products
Previous use - CheckMEND has no records indicating this is a used item.
Possible clone - CheckMEND has no records that this identifier has been used in cloned products
Recycled - CheckMEND has no records that this item has been recycled or refurbished
Contract - status CheckMEND has no records relating to this items network contract status
Warranty - CheckMEND has no records that this item has been subject to a warranty claim
Finance - CheckMEND has no records that this item is subject to a current finance agreement

Looking at the above seems it has been reported lost to a network, seems likely to be O2. Now she bought this over like 6 months ago so is way out on lodging a claim and I asked her did she check it at the time and she said yes and it was all working and not a problem with an O2 sim as she had used her own in it and then put it away. The ebay user upon looking is no longer a registered user so what are her options here?

Could it be unlocked and my nephew use it on Voda? Any other options?

[DejaVu]

You have no chance of ever getting it unlocked and should have checked the IMEI number through Checkmend before buying it.

Unfortunately, your sister has been scammed into buying a stolen phone - very, very common on eBay I'm afraid.
You could try reporting it to eBay, but they will just refer you to the police. They may do something about it, they probably won't.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Happens alot.

[keyser666]

Yeah was thinking that was the case DejaVu, feel for her because I know she was saving for it for some time, just that reading on google that it could be unlocked and used on another carrier as it is likely only blocked on O2. Pain in the arse. If it was their own phone they sold and blocked it for money chances are a LBA wont have any effect or a MCOL. Thing is it is marked as lost and not stolen, so think it must have been the owner who sold and reported it.

[Bald Bouncer]

Any actions she takes other than handing it in would be illegal now she is aware just saying......

[keyser666]

Yeah, would agree especially as I done the Checkmend in my name. Waiting for her to finish work at 21:30 and will bung her some money for a new one and let her pay me back. Lesson learnt for her, me personally I wouldn't touch a phone off of ebay. Will see if I can track down the original seller before she hands it in and she can hand that info in too.

[GTI]

Is there any mileage in contact the network and seeing if they'll sell it to you for write off value (and obviously unblock it)?

[eurofones]

Gti's suggestion probably best so far. Slim chance though, could be lucky and get someone at o2 or the insurer to cooperate. Not much you can do with it otherwise, it will only activate with sim from o2, even if you can get someone to unlock it, it will almost certainly be blocked off all UK networks. (As far as I'm aware, they work the same as over here, they share the database of barred imei's. Usually only a matter of time before it's barred from all, not just it's home network.) If you decide to spend money on an unlock, be aware, third party unlocks on these phone's (third party) result in not being able to update/restore, as it will usually result in it being bricked by Apple.
Suggest buying a phone you know to have a clean history,with screen damage/shit battery etc. but with a working board,(all you need is a working motherboard) and scrap the one you have to rebuild it.