Expert guides, compliance tools, and educational resources for buyers, sellers, pawn brokers, and auction houses. Protect yourself and your business.
Citation-ready answers from our verification experts
Under most state statutes, pawn brokers who knowingly or negligently accept stolen property face felony receiving charges, civil forfeiture, and license revocation. Federal law (18 U.S.C. § 2315) makes it a crime to transport stolen goods across state lines. SafeOrStolen provides timestamped compliance certificates that serve as documented proof of due diligence, protecting businesses from negligence claims.
Request the device's 15-digit IMEI number (dial *#06# or check Settings > About Phone). Enter it into SafeOrStolen's verification engine, which checks against GSMA blacklists, carrier databases, and insurance claim records. A clean result with a Trust Score above 85 indicates the device has no theft reports across 100+ databases. Always verify before exchanging money.
In most U.S. states, a good-faith purchaser who unknowingly buys stolen property must return it to the rightful owner without compensation. You may have legal recourse against the seller. Document everything: keep receipts, communication records, and run a SafeOrStolen verification immediately to establish a timestamped record of your due diligence attempt.
A Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) check cross-references the 17-character code against NICB theft records, NHTSA recalls, insurance total-loss databases, and state DMV registrations. SafeOrStolen queries these sources simultaneously, detecting title washing, odometer fraud, and stolen vehicle reports. The NICB reports approximately 750,000 vehicles stolen annually in the U.S.
SafeOrStolen aggregates data from 100+ sources including: federal law enforcement records (NCIC), GSMA device registries, NICB vehicle databases, carrier blacklists (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon), insurance claims databases, BikeIndex for bicycles, HotGunz for firearms, and state police records. Each source is weighted by reliability for the final Trust Score calculation.
While requirements vary by jurisdiction, auction houses face significant liability under UCC Article 2 (implied warranty of title) and state consumer protection laws. Many states require due diligence for high-value items. SafeOrStolen's batch verification allows auction houses to check up to 100 items via CSV upload, generating compliance certificates for each item in the lot.
GSMA's IMEI Database covers 200+ network operators across 150+ countries. SafeOrStolen enhances this with carrier-specific blacklists, insurance claim cross-referencing, and law enforcement stolen property databases. Our composite Trust Score achieves high accuracy by weighting multiple independent sources. However, no system is 100% — items stolen very recently may not yet appear in databases.
A compliance certificate is a timestamped verification document with a cryptographic hash that proves a business performed due diligence before purchasing or accepting an item. It includes the identifier checked, databases queried, verification result, and timestamp. For pawn shops and dealers, this document serves as legal evidence of good faith in the event stolen property is later identified.
Check phones, vehicles, and electronics in seconds. Use the Universal Trust Engine for single checks or batch verification.