somebody posted a complaint about GnG on DSD

[furiousTaher]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dsdb...5353642249616/

I am just posting this to raise awareness. I used apple products all my life and I still do. I live in Los Angeles, California, United States of America. Was back in Bangladesh when the iPhone 6s released. Being an Apple fanboy, I couldn't wait to come back here in LA so bought my iPhone 6s Plus from Gadget&Gear. Used it for a year and as usual no complaints about apple products. Recently when I entered US after 3 months yesterday the police came to me and said I was being arrested for using a stolen or unpaid phone. I gave them the receipt and they let me go. So basically gadget and gear bought an iPhone from store's like Verizon or T- Mobile and didn't pay the bills. Instead they brought this to Bangladesh and sold it for twice the money. They know the US police won't be able to do anything because Bangladesh is not in their jurisdiction. So this is our favorite Gadget&Gear.

how did lapd find that phone? from IMEI number+IMEI matched sim tracking?

also... what exactly happened? was it actually stolen or broken contract phone?

[Ahnaf_i7X]

How did GnG get away with not "paying the bills"?

[lotorpotor]

There are plenty of ways of doing it but just so you know the the new iphones you are buying unless it says inactive ..im pretty sure your going to get used phone or a phone that was under contract ..still new but unlocked via ebay and I am pretty sure the accessories you will get are not original . 1 Out of 10 is original and unopened.

In one sentence all the phones you are buying right now have been repackaged with no exception .

[aayman]

how did lapd find that phone? from IMEI number+IMEI matched sim tracking?

also... what exactly happened? was it actually stolen or broken contract phone?

They probably found it based on IMEI, it was definitely blacklisted by the carrier when the phone was reported stolen. Blacklists are unified amongst all US carriers but it doesn't transfer to other countries.

In addition to "not paying the bills" it is possible that it's an insurance scam where the original buyer reports the phone stolen, sells the phone to BD importer and collects money from his insurance company + sale commission.

I would assume that is the more likely scenario because not paying bills/ breaking contracts affects the individual who signed for it. If the signer is a US citizen/permanent resident, then he/she has a SSN that's also tied to all bills. Failure to pay/breaking contracts will affect his/her future financing options for everything.

If a foreign resident (such as myself) buys a phone on contract, then he/she will have to give a security deposit for the full purchase price of the phone. After the completion of the contract, the deposit is refunded.

A foreign resident can also join a US citizen/permanent resident's family plan, but the "signer" is the original plan member and will face the same SSN issues.

[Fox Mulder]

^ The insurance fraud is a common phenomenon among the South Asians living abroad. They go into the Subway, switch their phones off, packs it up and.. then make an insurance claim after notifying the proper authorities about a possible theft/lost phone. Thus, I can vouch for what he said. G & G can't be blamed entirely for this.

[furiousTaher]

^ The insurance fraud is a common phenomenon among the South Asians living abroad. They go into the Subway, switch their phones off, packs it up and.. then make an insurance claim after notifying the proper authorities about a possible theft/lost phone. Thus, I can vouch for what he said. G & G can't be blamed entirely for this.

if i know about GnG's business policy they usually never tells anyone our phone is refurbished or contract broken seller or something, they act like it's brand new bought from website or any foreign store in package.
but i will admit i don't know if GnG told that guy while selling it 'this is not brand new', we got it from another measure/luggage party watever

[sensei]

arent they have been already accused by rab and police couples of month ago for illegal business issue ?

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if i know about GnG's business policy they usually never tells anyone our phone is refurbished or contract broken seller or something, they act like it's brand new bought from website or any foreign store in package.
but i will admit i don't know if GnG told that guy while selling it 'this is not brand new', we got it from another measure/luggage party watever

not a single shop in bashundhara sells legal phones as they cant give any warranty with every purchase , a mere memo cant guarantee any official warranty which makes them no less than buying other chinese phones , this is why everyone should buy phones from the showrooms even if they costs more but at least they can ensure the safety of the product along with providing official warranty with every purchase

[Sybaris Caesar]

^why should they? you know the risks when buying from the gray market. official importer/distributor doesn't bring the particular model of your liking or too slow in bringing after doing all the paperworks, bam! back to gray market. 90% of cars in our streets, all of the motorola/nexus/xiaomi and other off brands without showroom, 20-30k cheaper TVs we suggest people to buy from chowdhury electronics, hell even all the makeup kits/pc electronics/gadgets/gizmos people orfer via amazon.bd, bring me and whatnot is to be considered gray market since officially they're not available. And if he's such a apple fanatic, why not wait to buy from official apple store? Surely the prospect of a product you'll eventually own doesn't make you forego common sense. most likely caught before he could sell ot off to another person.

[aayman]

if i know about GnG's business policy they usually never tells anyone our phone is refurbished or contract broken seller or something, they act like it's brand new bought from website or any foreign store in package.

What he meant was even GnG might not know if the phones were stolen or not. There's no way to tell until things go wrong. Plus, Apple refurbs are not a problem really (I wouldn't trust other manufacturers as much) and are generally considered good as new.

Whether phones are new or not, the buyer has to be able to tell the difference. Unfortunately, given how methodical this can be, I'm sure the original owners make every effort to keep the phones intact. I've seen legit users keep the plastic shielding that comes with new phones, can't expect anything less from scammers.

[furiousTaher]

What he meant was even GnG might not know if the phones were stolen or not. There's no way to tell until things go wrong.scammers.

ok GnG might not know. but they have to tell us how they get their phones, buying package deals from apple UK/ other country or buying package from a foreign shop. it's possible GnG just 'collects' stuff through some 'other' measures- like luggage party. and luggage party can always go wrong. most importantly, they have to say they got the phone via luggage party. and you bet, if they openly says we got these phones through luggage party then their customer count will reduce drastically.

[Sybaris Caesar]

ok GnG might not know. but they have to tell us how they get their phones, buying package deals from apple UK/ other country or buying package from a foreign shop. it's possible GnG just 'collects' stuff through some 'other' measures- like luggage party. and luggage party can always go wrong. most importantly, they have to say they got the phone via luggage party. and you bet, if they openly says we got these phones through luggage party then their customer count will reduce drastically.

that's the thing about gray market. GNG might or might not be the culprit. afaik they're not bound by any law to regulate to do so. most likely Apple's official distributor iirc executive motors can only compel the police to do a raid on their warehouse like rangs did for their sony phones. end of the story is that as long as there's a market, there'll be others like GnG.

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btw @aayman don't contract phones have lazer imprints of the carrier on the set or is it not applicable for apple phones?

[furiousTaher]

afaik they're not bound by any law to regulate to do so.

i think somebody better come with a law that if you are a shop selling gadgets you have to tell us from which measures you got them.

about exclusivity deal- i think in western countries there is no law that prevents a shop from selling apple products etc.
if apple has exclusive regional deal with 1 shop then apple just sell their products to that shop, doesn't prevent other people/shop from selling apple products. i am not a lawyer

[aayman]

btw @aayman don't contract phones have lazer imprints of the carrier on the set or is it not applicable for apple phones?

Not sure about other phones, but iPhones don't have carrier branding.

[furiousTaher]

Not sure about other phones, but iPhones don't have carrier branding.

so that created a problem in our country?

about other phones, samsung and htc always had carrier branding, but i dont know about now.