Is this really possible (phone scam)!

[phredog]

I was at the swap meet, and well you can buy knockoffs of anything. You want a Rolex, Nikes, or maybe Oakleys.

Anyway, there was a rumor that someone was selling activated cell phones with unlimited local service for 6 months for $125, and something like 1 year for $200. Being curious, I looked for the booth, but didn’t find it. Someone told me there was a guy selling phones there last weekend. But in that location was a different vendor selling car accessories.

Anyway, I wonder how that scam works. I can think of several possibilities:

1. They are cricket phones with two months service ($60 including the phone). He is selling tem with the cricket banner removed. So you are only getting two months for your $125. So he is making 50%.

2. They are prepaid phones, with the banner removed. He has put something like 500 min on it. It will run out in a few days. His investment is probably about $80.

3. They are some account that has been cloned that might work until you get home.

4. They are legit accounts purchased on a stolen credit card.

Please enlighten me.

[rip]

all of the above.

[joestedman]

Where's the swap meet located?

Thanks

[walkguru]

yeah, i want one. sounds like its too good to be true. he he.

[eimajuno]

Wirelessly posted (eimajuno's: NokiaN-Gage/1.0 SymbianOS/6.1 Series60/1.2 Profile/MIDP-1.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.0 UP.Link/1.1)

Its sounds like those phones are chipped.

[phredog]

Originally posted by joestedman
Where's the swap meet located?

Thanks

40th St and Washington - Hit and miss. If you go regular you can spot the scams. The management has been cracking down, but there are still a few around.

The one that is about 80% electronics is at McDowel and the 101 on the South/West side across from the huge white building that used to be Motorola (Third sunday of every month). If you catch them at the right time, people are selling Blackbirds, stuff to program your phones. There used to be a guy that sold Hu programmers before DTV changed to the P4. Some sell cable boxes. Some guy was selling pirate movies on CD-R. I don't know if they are cracking down.

There is another one up in Prescott (I was there the weekend before last). I saw fake oakleys, and Rolex from Mexico. Some guy was selling guns as well. No crackdowns there.

[Bumpon10s]

Around 95% of merchandise at swap meets is stolen or counterfeit. I know someone who bought a 1200 watt sony amp at one, when he wasn't sure why it was sounding so low, it got opened up and here was a little circuit board just channeling the battery power to the subs.

[phredog]

Originally posted by Bumpon10s
Around 95% of merchandise at swap meets is stolen or counterfeit.

I thought so. I have noted that a lot of the vendors have three or four family members running them. Only one usually speaks any English. So I suspect that most of them are illegal.

Often they have some really expensive home theatre components with no remotes, boxes, or owners manuals.

I saw my old 1989 GMC truck there. Some guy was selling tools out of the back of it, but he didn't speak much English. I asked him about it, and the only thing he could say was, "The truck is not for sale".

It had some unique features about it, that where not hard to spot. I wrecked it back in 1993, but kept driving it until 1996 when I finished school. I was surprised to see it still driving. He replaced the drivers side door. It has a lot of new dents, and he still has not re-painted it. It must have 250k miles by now. I thought it unlikely that I would see my old truck. There must be a 1/4 million trucks in Phoneix.

Maybe he stole that too.

[gq_fuzion]

sounds like a ghostline

[peaches]

It's called a ghost line. Too lazy to go into specifics, but it's an account that's created by somone working for the company that bypasses a lot of the billing and other acct info and whatnot to make an acct that's not owned by anyone and it can stay activated till someone or the system notices it. Highly illegal and usually gets turned off within a month.

Lannie

[DiscoJoey]

all sound good

Thanxs,
Joey

[TelecomZombie]

Wirelessly posted (Killed By Death: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320))

Originally posted by gq_fuzion
sounds like a ghostline

Exactly! They are available in all jurisdictions . Best used for outgoing calls only.

[TelecomZombie]

Wirelessly posted (Killed By Death: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320))

Definitely a Scam somewhere .

[walkguru]

yep scam that.

[gq_fuzion]

they can also receive incoming