How to Avoid Buying Stolen Goods

Updated

Before you pay for anything used, get its serial number, IMEI or VIN and check it on SafeOrStolen, make sure the number on the item matches the listing, and have the seller sign out of any account on it. Those three steps catch most stolen items. Your first 2 checks are free.

This page covers the three times it matters to you: buying used, selling your own things, and when something of yours gets stolen.

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When you're buying

Each kind of item has a number to check and one thing to confirm in person. The full routine, from reading the listing to writing the receipt, is in how to verify a used item.

Used phone

Check the IMEI (dial *#06#). A paid check adds the carrier blacklist. Watch the seller sign out of their Apple ID or Google account.

Used car or motorcycle

Check the VIN from the windshield and door jamb. You also get the year, make, model and open recalls. Read the title against the seller's ID.

Laptop

Check the serial from the bottom label and the About screen. Make sure Find My or the Microsoft account is removed.

Bike or e-bike

Check the frame serial under the bottom bracket. Bike checks include a national stolen-bicycle registry.

Game console

Check the serial on the console sticker and in the system settings, and have the seller sign out.

Power tools

Check the nameplate serial on the tool and each battery. Walk away from scrubbed nameplates.

Warning signs in a listing or at a meetup

  • The seller won't send a photo of the serial number, IMEI or VIN before you meet
  • The serial label is scratched, painted over, cut or covered with a new sticker
  • The number on the item is different from the one in the photo
  • A phone or laptop still signed in to an account the seller "will remove later"
  • A price far below what the same thing sells for used, with a reason to sell today
  • Several of the same new-looking item, no box, no receipt, cash only

When you're selling

Buyers who have read this page will ask you for the serial number. Send a clear photo of it with the listing. If you want to go further, check your own item and add a $1.99 verification certificate, a dated record with its own link, and put the link in the listing. Signing out of your accounts and resetting the device before the buyer arrives saves everyone time. More on this for sellers.

When something of yours is stolen

  1. Find the serial number, IMEI or VIN: on the box, the receipt, your Apple or Google account's device list, or your insurance paperwork.
  2. File a police report and make sure that number is written into it.
  3. For a phone, call your carrier to blacklist it and mark it lost in Find My or Find My Device.
  4. Report it on SafeOrStolen. It's free, and anyone who checks that number before buying sees your report.
  5. Search local listings for your item. If you find it, give the listing to the police rather than meeting the seller yourself.

Write down the serial numbers of things you own now, while you still have them. Owners who can't give a number are the main reason stolen items never turn up in any check.

What it costs

2 free checks with a free account, no credit card. Then $0.99 for a single check, or $10 a month for unlimited checks, cancel anytime, with a 30-day refund on the monthly plan. See pricing.

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