T-Mobile Wins Judgment Against Pre-Paid Traffickers
Mar 10, 2009, 8:19 AM by Eric M. Zeman
T-Mobile has won a final judgment and permanent injunction against pre-paid phone traffickers working out of Brooklyn, N.Y. The traffickers would buy T-Mobile pre-paid phones in bulk, open them, unlock them, and then sell them at a higher cost to unsuspecting customers. A federal judge has permanently barred the defendants — Ajay Mehta, Wireless Touch, Talk2Me, and IA Communications — from the bulk purchase, unlocking and resale of T-Mobile phones. T-Mobile was awarded $5 million in damages. T-Mobile still has similar on-going cases in other markets.
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Comments
So I can't...
go into TMO, Buy a phone, and unlock it, then go to ATT? Personally, I don't see the infatuation with buying a bottom line prepaid phone and going through the hassle anyway. It's not like they're state of the art devices. In fact, most prepaids are almost the same models on a different network. Just buy one from the company your with and activate it. I guess I am old school and don't understand it.
Yes, you can. It's perfectly legal.
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OWNED!!!
damn lol, poor dealers hahaah....it isn't surprising...a lot of dealers were buying tons of these prepaid packaged phones in Walmart and stores like this and selling the Sim Kit at around $25 which was the cost of the whole package then sell the phone on the side....
I guess it took T-Mobile long enough to catch these few guys but there are still tons out there.
I guess it took T-Mobile long enough to catch these few guys but there are still tons out there.
I'm curious as to what they lost on? Resale is not illegal, and neither is unlocking phones.
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Figures that Mongrels operating out of Brooklyn NY finally get busted. They have stores all over the place that resell un-locked pre-paids for sky-high prices on a profit. 🤣
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Been a few back and forths on here about this case. I have to side with Roadkill on this one. I dont really understand what T-Mobile based thier case on. Yes, they was losing money (was they really? they are making profit still on the phones people DI...
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Congrats T-Mobile!!!
Wow, you got a whole $5 million outta it...and in turn, potentially lost that amount or more in prepaid and postpaid customers being offered a different service at these dealer locations.
Bravo 🙄
Bravo 🙄
"Unsuspecting?"
"The traffickers would buy T-Mobile
pre-paid phones in bulk, open them,
unlock them, and then sell them at a
higher cost to unsuspecting customers."
What kind of delusion is this author under? The buyers KNOW what they are getting. They are getting an unlocked phone for less than the inflated no-contract price all carriers try to charge.
This text is making it sound like the end-users are somehow getting tricked.
pre-paid phones in bulk, open them,
unlock them, and then sell them at a
higher cost to unsuspecting customers."
What kind of delusion is this author under? The buyers KNOW what they are getting. They are getting an unlocked phone for less than the inflated no-contract price all carriers try to charge.
This text is making it sound like the end-users are somehow getting tricked.
What it comes down to is another company is making profit off of T-mobile and they don't like it. It's just somebody abusing the system to benefit themselves.
But please don't presume that EVERYONE who purchased phones from them knew they were ori...
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But please don't presume that EVERYONE who purchased phones from them knew they were ori...
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hmm
so, had they spent a minimal amount, they could have put a new "generic" housing on the units so they don't bear the T-Mobile name. Problem solved for the guys in NY.
Here's the missing information
Consumers are harmed and may be misled about the source and origin of their mobile phones, and they are sold phones without their manufacturer's warranties, accessories or user manuals. Because the phones may still carry T-Mobile's brand, consumers may believe they are purchasing handsets manufactured for T-Mobile and covered by original warranties.
So basically T-Mobile won the judgement not because their phones were being purchased and resold, but because their brand was still being associated with the resold phones.
It appears to be a case of harming the brand name, which is pretty much what I figured it had to be since the buying and reselling is perfectly legal if done properly.
Why don't...
Why don't we all go buy a $10 prepaid phone and smash it?
$10 loss to you, but about $30-50 loss to the fascist carriers. That's a good chunk (maybe even all) of your monthly bill they will lose.
$10 loss to you, but about $30-50 loss to the fascist carriers. That's a good chunk (maybe even all) of your monthly bill they will lose.
