I might have fallen into a scam while trading my iPhone. I'm located in Canada and did a swap where I gave away my iPhone 15 along with $400 cash for an iPhone 17 that was listed for $1100. Before we met, the seller sent me an IMEI number, which I suspect was fake, and a screen recording showing the iCloud account was signed out. The IMEI I checked online showed that the phone was unlocked, giving me a false sense of security. In hindsight, I should have requested the seller to show the IMEI directly from the phone settings to confirm it was legitimate.
When we met, the atmosphere felt rushed. I was late, and the seller said he had to leave quickly, which put me under pressure. I wanted to transfer my eSIM on the spot, but he insisted it would take too long and claimed he had done it before. Since I wasn't familiar with the process, I let it go without checking for carrier lock details in Settings > General > About.
After getting home, I discovered that the phone is carrier locked. I attempted to reach out to the seller, but he blocked me immediately and vanished from the chat. The phone connects to Wi-Fi and has no Activation Lock, but my Telus eSIM simply won't activate.
I reached out to Apple, and they confirmed it's locked to Bell Canada. When contacting Bell, I received conflicting information. One representative suggested creating a Bell account to possibly request an unlock, while another said only the original account holder can initiate this request.
I'm now left with this Bell-locked phone and no way to contact the seller. Has anyone experienced this before? Is there any legitimate way to unlock the phone without the original owner, or any helpful approach within Canada?
2 Answers
Just to give you a heads up, Bell has a policy where they lock all phones for 90 days after purchase. You might need to just wait it out unless you find a way to contact the original owner, which seems unlikely now.
Unfortunately, it sounds like you're in a tough spot. When buying used phones, it's a good idea to stick to reputable stores with return policies. Meeting strangers off the internet can be risky, especially if they're in a hurry. Sorry to say, but you might just have to wait it out until the lock lifts after 90 days.
So just to clarify, is it definitely 90 days to get it unlocked?