Unexpected Phone Trouble: My Rollercoaster Experience with a Stolen S23 Ultra

Today, I want to share a rather shocking experience I faced recently involving a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra that I purchased two months ago. Everything seemed fine until I returned home from work this evening and was greeted by an alarming notification on my screen:

“This device has been reported as lost or stolen and must be returned to Amazon.”

The message included a passkey and an IMEI number, along with a prompt to call a specific number for further details. Naturally, I was taken aback. Just moments before, I was under the impression that I had scored a great deal.

Feeling anxious, I took to Google for answers and stumbled upon a thread where multiple individuals shared similar experiences, suggesting the whole situation could be a scam. Interestingly, the phone number directed me to someone with a thick accent who seemed difficult to understand, raising more red flags. At this point, I was terrified that I might have unknowingly purchased a stolen device for $800.

In an attempt to resolve this, I contacted the seller via email, hoping for clarification. After a short while, he responded, expressing confusion regarding the issue and offered either a replacement phone or a full refund. While this seemed promising, I couldn’t shake off my skepticism and anxiety about the entire situation.

As I was writing this post, I wasn’t able to bypass the alert screen on the phone, despite trying a factory reset and other methods. Every time I thought I was free from the alert, it reappeared after the initial setup, leaving me feeling utterly helpless.

In a surprising turn of events, the seller called me and claimed he would consult with a tech-savvy friend for solutions. Shortly thereafter, he returned with another S23 Ultra, this time in even better condition. I made it clear that if any issues arose again, I would prefer a full refund. He agreed, but something still felt off.

As I was driving home, the seller called again and offered to refund my money right away to relieve me of any stress. Skeptical but willing to meet him, I arrived at the agreed location and was astonished to receive not only my money back but also some extra for the inconvenience.

His explanations about how he sources these phones were vague and confusing, but he genuinely seemed to want to help. After this experience, I found it hard to believe that a scam artist would compensate me like that.