Dreaming of an iPhone 17 Pro Max or Samsung S25 Ultra at a bargain price? Read this before you pay

You're scrolling through OLX. Your eyes stop: iPhone 15 Pro, "sealed", used for only two weeks. Price? 40% cheaper than in the store. The seller seems trustworthy, the phone looks impeccable, accepts any test. Bingo, right?

Stop.

You might be one click away from the most common scam on the second-hand (SH) market in Romania. One that leaves you with a 4,000 lei phone turned into an expensive brick. Let me show you how the scheme works and, more importantly, how to protect yourself.

The classic recipe for the modern scam

Here's how professional scammers operate:

Step 1: They get a flagship phone on a subscription plan (Orange, Vodafone, Telekom, Digi), paying only the minimum down payment.

Step 2: They immediately sell the phone on OLX or Facebook Marketplace, at a price "too good to be true" (but not so suspicious as to raise alarms).

Step 3: You buy the phone. You test it. It works perfectly. You insert your SIM card. Full signal. Everything seems OK.

Step 4: For 2-3 months, life is beautiful. The phone works like a charm.

Step 5 – the final blow: The scammer stops paying the subscription. The operator takes action and blocks the phone's IMEI (Blacklist).

Boom. Suddenly, your expensive acquisition has no signal. Zero. Can you make calls? No. Mobile data? Forget it. The phone only works on Wi-Fi – practically, a very expensive tablet that emptied your pockets.

And here's the bitter surprise: you cannot legally unlock the phone. Why? Because, technically, it still belongs to the operator until the contract is fully paid off.

Why the "standard" test won't save you

"But I check if it has signal when I buy it!"

Perfect. Except that the IMEI blocking doesn't happen instantly. When you test the phone at the meeting, everything seems fine because the operator doesn't yet know that the seller will disappear without paying.

The signal now guarantees nothing for next week.

The only real weapon: IMEI verification

This is where the difference lies between buyers who take risks and those who do things correctly.

How to proceed:

1. Find the IMEI code Dial *#06# on the phone. A unique 15-digit code will appear. Check if the code matches the one on the box and the one on the phone (if visible). They must be identical.

2. Check on Codat.ro – this is the difference

Free websites only show you the phone model. Great, they confirmed it's an iPhone. But you already knew that.

On Codat.ro, the verification goes much deeper:

✓ Blacklist Status – Is the phone reported as stolen or lost?
✓ Financial Status – Is it purchased on installments or a subscription? Are there active debts that could lead to blocking?
✓ Network Lock – Is it network unlocked (Neverlocked) or locked to a specific operator?

All this in a few seconds. It costs as much as a Starbucks coffee, but it can save you from a loss of thousands of lei.

Bottom line: 2 minutes or 3,000 lei lost

The second-hand market can be a goldmine. But also a minefield. Scammers rely on haste, on enthusiasm, on that "wow, what a price!" that blocks your self-preservation instinct.

Don't rely on the seller's "honest" face. Don't rely on the fact that they "seem decent". In the digital world, data doesn't lie. People do.

Buying a second-hand phone? Do this first:

👉 Check the IMEI on Codat.ro before taking money out of your wallet.

Two minutes now can mean the difference between an excellent deal and the most expensive tech regret of the year.

Your phone. Your money. Your decision – but make it an informed one.