Before you agree to meet
1. Ask for the IMEI
Message the seller: "Can you dial *#06# and send me a screenshot of the IMEI?" Their response tells you everything. Legit sellers send it in a minute. Scammers stall or refuse — that's your answer.
2. Run the IMEI on a stolen check
Drop it into our free phone check. Twenty seconds. If it comes back reported stolen, blacklisted, or with an outstanding financial block, you are done. If it comes back clean, keep going.
3. Reverse-image search the photos
Right-click the listing photos and drop them into Google Images. Photos scraped from a different listing are the loudest scam signal there is. It takes ten seconds and catches maybe 30% of fake listings on the spot.
4. Ask model-specific questions
"Which iPhone 15 storage size?" "Is it the Pro or the Pro Max?" "USB-C or Lightning?" A real seller with a real phone answers in seconds. A scammer running twenty fake listings has to guess.
5. Ask for the original receipt or box
Neither is proof of ownership, but sellers who have both are much more often legitimate. And the box gives you a second place to cross-check the IMEI.
At the meetup
6. Meet in a public, well-lit place — ideally a police station lobby
Most US police stations have designated "safe exchange zones" now, often with camera coverage. Sellers with clean phones don't care where you meet. Sellers with problem phones develop opinions.
7. Dial *#06# yourself
Take the phone in your hand and dial the code yourself. Confirm the IMEI matches what the seller messaged you and what's on the box or SIM tray. Any mismatch is the whole story.
8. Watch a fresh factory reset happen in front of you
On iPhone: Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPhone → Erase All Content and Settings. They enter the Apple ID password, the phone wipes, the phone reboots to the Hello screen. That is what "iCloud unlocked" actually looks like. If they hand you a phone already wiped, don't buy — an Activation Lock screen may appear the moment you connect Wi-Fi. See our iCloud locked explainer.
On Android: Settings → System → Reset → Factory data reset.Confirm the Google account is removed before setup begins.
9. Put your SIM in and make a real call
Not a Wi-Fi call. A cellular call. If the phone is blacklisted on the shared US carrier list, it may accept the SIM briefly then drop service within hours or days. Calling out and receiving a text back while you're still there is the fastest sanity check.
10. Test the basics in five minutes
Phone in your hand at the meetup:
- Front and rear cameras take photos and video.
- Touch ID / Face ID prompt appears at setup (means the sensor works and hasn't been swapped).
- All speakers audible, mic picks up your voice on a call.
- Charging port takes a cable snugly (not the seller's — bring your own).
- Battery health above 80% on iPhone: Settings → Battery → Battery Health.
- No "unknown parts" warning in the same menu on iPhone.
Paying — the step that decides recovery
11. Pay with a method that has buyer protection
Credit card (via a platform that supports it) or PayPal Goods & Services. Both give you a chargeback path if it turns out the phone was stolen. Zelle, Venmo Friends & Family, Cash App, and cash have effectively no recovery path — they exist to be irreversible.
If the seller insists on cash or Friends & Family, the risk is entirely on you. Discount the price you're willing to pay accordingly, or walk.
12. Save everything until the phone is up and running for a week
Screenshot the listing before you meet. Save the message thread. Photograph the IMEI at the meetup. Keep the payment record. If a blacklist block lands three days later — which is the classic timing, since carriers batch those checks — you have everything you need for a chargeback or a report.
If you're the seller instead
The exact same checklist protects you from being accused later. Get the buyer's payment before the erase, do the erase in front of them, hand them a phone that passes their check, and keep a copy of the IMEI plus receipt. If you want to make a clean sale even faster, run a stolen-phone check on your own phone before you list — clean-report screenshots are the best possible listing photo.