“Thinking of buying a second-hand iPhone or iPad? Here’s a quick and simple way to check to see if the device you are being offered has been stolen,” Adrian Kingsley-Hughes reports for ZDNet.
“First off, ask the seller for the serial number and/or IMEI of the device. Ideally, get the seller to send you a photo of the information you need because it’s much tougher to fake a photo,” Kingsley-Hughes reports. “If the seller doesn’t want to give you this information, walk on by, because it’s not like there’s a shortage of iPhone and iPads out there.”
“Next, armed with this information, go to Apple’s Check Activation Lock Status page and enter the information. This will tell you if the device is activation locked. If it is, ask the seller to unlock it and try again,” Kingsley-Hughes reports. “If that doesn’t happen, walk away from the sale, because if the seller can’t unlock it, something’s up for sure.”
More info and links in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: This works for devices running iOS 7 and higher.