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I cannot see how would his be profitable. Usually when a customer receives a new cellphone at a lower price, that comes with a 12-24 month extension of a propor

I cannot see how would his be profitable. Usually when a customer receives a new cellphone at a lower price, that comes with a 12-24 month extension of a proportionally expensive contract. After said contract expires, AT&T has already made its profit. Even if someone would want to take the device and use another company's SIM card, they would still have to honour the contract with AT&T. The only "free money" scenario I can think of, is stealing AT&T devices, and reselling them in the black market/ebay/etc and thus pocketing all the $$$ without having the customers signing contracts. Ps: this is why a large company needs a large Internal Audit department. Edit: removed an off-topic NSA-AT&T comment, added the Ps

londons_explore 7y ago
Not all contracts with AT&T get fully paid off. A large number end up in collections or written off. AT&T doesn't want to issue unlock codes in those cases, because it severely reduces the chances of them getting paid.
mcpherrinm 7y ago
Use a stolen credit card/identity to buy an iPhone on contract. You can walk out of the store with the phone that day and never pay AT&T another dime. Use this shady service to unlock without paying off the contract, and resell on the second-hand market. If an iPhone costs $1k, maybe you paid $100 to get it out the door, then you can still make hundreds of dollars selling it.
- JCharante 7y ago
  AT&T also asks for your ID, so since they're using a stolen credit card I presume they're also committing identity fraud. Is this really wide spread issue though? Since they must be on the CCTV how many times can a scammer use the same human agent?
thatguy0900 7y ago
I used to work at a att store. You would be very surprised how often people open consumer or business accounts with new 4 new iPhones and just never make a payment on it. Just find someone willing to destroy their credit for 1000$ cash and sell the phones for 2000$

londons_explore 7y ago

Not all contracts with AT&T get fully paid off. A large number end up in collections or written off. AT&T doesn't want to issue unlock codes in those cases, because it severely reduces the chances of them getting paid.

mcpherrinm 7y ago

Use a stolen credit card/identity to buy an iPhone on contract. You can walk out of the store with the phone that day and never pay AT&T another dime. Use this shady service to unlock without paying off the contract, and resell on the second-hand market. If an iPhone costs $1k, maybe you paid $100 to get it out the door, then you can still make hundreds of dollars selling it.

JCharante 7y ago
AT&T also asks for your ID, so since they're using a stolen credit card I presume they're also committing identity fraud. Is this really wide spread issue though? Since they must be on the CCTV how many times can a scammer use the same human agent?

thatguy0900 7y ago

I used to work at a att store. You would be very surprised how often people open consumer or business accounts with new 4 new iPhones and just never make a payment on it. Just find someone willing to destroy their credit for 1000$ cash and sell the phones for 2000$