It might pay to also add a specific review of Google’s failure and disinterest in researching doubtful advertisers.
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That is great news and well done for pursuing promptly.
In addition to Product Review (which is only Australian based), you can also post reviews on websites like
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After changing my phone service provider I found the new sim card wouldn’t work with my phone. Apparently it had been “locked” by Optus, although I’ve never had an Optus account (I bought the phone second hand because it’s just the sort I needed). Optus refused to unlock my phone because I don’t have an account with them.
Being nearly 80, disabled, deaf and arthritic, I not only need a working phone, I need one that I can manage, a simple one that does what I want it to when I want it to. In other words I need the one I’ve been using for the last 6 years.
So I searched the internet for inspiration and found ‘Mobile Unlocked’. I messaged them on their website and asked if they could unlock my phone even if it isn’t linked to the phone network due to the sim card problem. Their reply stated “Thank you for enquiring into our unlocking services, we guarantee all our unlocks and can unlock all models and networks.”
So I accepted their offer, first paid $7 for them to check that it was indeed Optus who’d locked my phone, then a further $53 to have it unlocked. After a few days they emailed me to say they were unable to unlock my phone because it’s ‘blocked’ whatever that means!
They went on to tell me they’d spent the money I paid them, but as a goodwill gesture they’d refund half of it! That was about a week ago, and of course they haven’t refunded anything.
If that’s not a blatant scam, what is?
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I have moved your post to and existing thread covering this topic.
Have a look at the posts in this thread and you will see others have encountered the same issue with differently named entities.
Short answer is yes it is a blatanat scam from go to whoa.
There is no point in trying to deal anymore with these people in my opinion, so if you payed by credit card or paypal, try and get a chargeback on the basis that you did not get the service you paid for.
Let us know how you get on.
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Who did you buy the phone off?
If it was through a retailer or second-hand dealer, you may have recourse under the Australian Consumer Law. If they sold you a phone which they indicated would work for you and you later found it was locked, it would be seen as misleading or deceptive conduct under the ACL and you would have the right to return the phone and ask for your money back.
It is a scam and I would be doing two things as soon as possible if you paid by credit card…
- Contacting your credit card provider and asking for a credit card chargeback.
- Advising your credit card provider that you have provided your credit card details accidentally to a scammer and the card potentially has been compromised. They may cancel the existing credit card and issue a new one. If they do, make sure you get them to help you transfer any recurring automatic payments on the old credit card to the new one.
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If it is also “Blocked” this would indicate that it is possibly stolen/lost property. Buying a cheap Optus SIM to test if it also “Blocked” might be advantageous in requesting the refund and also then able to report the case to the Police.
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I bought it from CashConmen years ago, and the receipt is long gone, so of course I’ve no proof of purchase.
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Thanks for the advice, I should have thought to do that right away. Must be getting senile. 
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If this is the case, then it will be outside the period where a chargeback will be possible…assuming the phone wasn’t sold out of a car boot or in a dark alleyway, using untraceable cash.
Make sure that you do as soon as possible for the phone unlocking scammers, if credit card details were provided for the ‘service’…
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If it is blocked when an Optus SIM is inserted the IMEI (phone network ID) has been reported lost or stolen and it is permanently disabled by the networks.
It appears the underlying problem is that CC, a pawn shop chain if I place your terminology, would have bought the phone from someone who may have stolen or found it, or from someone who may have bought it from a scammer themselves, then discovered it was blocked, and were able to pawn it to get some of their money back. If a timely approach to CC was made there should have been immediate recompense and a police report.
After having the phone ‘for years’ why are you just trying to get it unlocked now? Is the one in question 'the one [you have] been using for the last 6 years (how?), or ?
Re the locked phone, to avoid repetition,
Many consumers are not aware of this, making a profitable business for ‘unlock services’, a few that are legitimate and many that are less so, but even in the best of circumstances it is not always guaranteed…
A postscript to that post is that long enough ago in the very very early days of mobiles, far enough away (USA), and well before telcos were accommodating, I bought an unlock program that generated the 5 most likely unlock codes for a specific phone, with a warning that if the first 5 tries did not work, it was forever locked. One of the codes worked. Technology, law, and everything else has long since moved on but it influences my belief that with enough information probable unlock codes can still be generated. It would also not surprise me if ‘unlock services’ just rang the telco in question to get the code, and if they could not they refund.
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I bought it for use with Internode and had no problem with using their sim card in it for all those years. It’s only recently when I changed to a cheaper plan with Boost, that the problems started.
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I believe that Internode uses the Optus network whilst Boost uses the Telstra network.
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Thanks everyone for your advice and suggestions. I realise now that the phone must have been a ‘suspect’ one when I bought it, but didn’t know it at the time. And of course CashConverters don’t mention those minor drawbacks when they’re selling you something.
But then how could it have been locked by Optus yet still work okay with Internode? I wonder what network Internode were using before they were bought out by Vodafone.
As to the UnlockServices scam. I paid them using PayPal and have opened an ‘issue’ with PayPal regarding getting my money back. But scammers don’t usually give refunds do they!
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Ah! that explains a lot. Thanks Fred.
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Internode were bought by iiNet. They in turn were bought by TPG. They then took over Vodafone. So I believe the network used now for the whole group is the original Vodafone mobile network. But originally Optus.
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The way PayPal works is they assess the transaction and make a decision on whether a refund is warranted. It is PayPal that gives the refund and then either deducts the amount from the ‘scammers’ PayPal account if it is in credit, or takes part of the next deposit to cover the refund they have been made.
Hopefully, if enough customers report the company as a scam, their PayPal account may be frozen by PayPal.
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There are some which are quite genuine, I paid $3.50 for an unlock code for the Nokia 6120c I have. I was using it on the Telstra network but with prepaid, not on a plan. I had no intention of moving it from Telstra but I wanted the Telstra cruft gone. Worked for me, I was able to flash it with genuine Nokia (non Telstra) firmware. Of course I have no recollection of exactly who provided the code, I acquired the information regarding non-dodgy people from a reputable website.
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I didn’t want to complicate this saga any more but… it’s interesting to note that last year, around the time of the TPG takeover, Internode announced “an exciting new plan” for their phone clients, which was exactly the same as their old plan but required a new sim card. The sim they sent me didn’t work in my phone! So I told Internode I thought it might be defective and they sent me a new one. The new one worked fine in my phone, even though (unknown to me back then) the phone was locked.
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I’ve said it before but I will say it again: Talking about “unlock services” is missing the point. The problem is that the phone is locked.
Perhaps the government can legislate that all phones must automatically be unlocked after 2 years. So that can still accommodate a plan where the handset is provided at a subsidised cost and the subsidy is recovered from the monthly charges - forcing the provider to recover the subsidy in no more than 2 years.
That raises the question in this niche scenario as to what happens if a phone is stolen inside the 2 years and then laundered via a succession of transactions, ultimately ending up with an unsuspecting customer. Do we need the equivalent of a REVs check for phones? (REVs now known as PPSR.)
Is the register of stolen / encumbered IMEIs currently public? Are there reasons not to have it public?
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The AMTA has a service on their website amta.org.au that allows you to check if a phone’s IMEI has been blocked on Australian networks. Not to be confused with SIM locking.
Put in the 15 digit IMEI and you will be informed of the status. You can get the code by either looking through the phone settings or dialing *#06#
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