Android phones disabled remotly in Mexico

[IkeaGnome]

34 minutes ago, TexZeTech said:

5 years have passed and you are comfortable in you're home and actually like the light setup, you then get a notification on your phone that says "You're trial period for the SMART LIGHTS OF THE FUTURE LTD has ended. Thank you, To continue using your lights you must subscribe to one of the following packages."

You forgot a key part. You decide you want to put smart bulbs in your house. You go to the official site or an authorized seller. You see they're $40 per bulb, but on momandpopstore.com they're $30. You install them and get a notification that the lights weren't properly imported and will be shut off in 10 days. You ignore that warning/notification and in 10 days your lights go off.

 

Here's a more practical example. Lets say you buy a bike on FB marketplace. New that bike goes for $900. You see it's listed on FB as new, and does in fact come in the original packaging. It's being sold for $600. Does that not throw red flags?

A week later, someone with a receipt for that bike and the cops show up. You tell them you bought it second hand, but new. The confiscate the bike. Do you get reimbursed that $600? NO.

[CarlBar]

8 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

You forgot a key part. You decide you want to put smart bulbs in your house. You go to the official site or an authorized seller. You see they're $40 per bulb, but on momandpopstore.com they're $30. You install them and get a notification that the lights weren't properly imported and will be shut off in 10 days. You ignore that warning/notification and in 10 days your lights go off.

 

Here's a more practical example. Lets say you buy a bike on FB marketplace. New that bike goes for $900. You see it's listed on FB as new, and does in fact come in the original packaging. It's being sold for $600. Does that not throw red flags?

A week later, someone with a receipt for that bike and the cops show up. You tell them you bought it second hand, but new. The confiscate the bike. Do you get reimbursed that $600? NO.

 

Thats not what is happening, instead the guy with the receipt is the one that sold it to you.

 

Think of it like this, scalpers scalp all of the TX50XX cards when they first release. So you have to resort to buying from a scalper on Ebay or wherever. Then a few weeks later NVIDIA confirms no RTX 50XX cards where elgally sold and sends out a driver update that bricks them all. Is that ok?

[IkeaGnome]

Just now, CarlBar said:

Thats not what is happening, instead the guy with the receipt is the one that sold it to you.

So when the phones were illegally imported we're assuming import taxes were paid on them? If not, that's a form of stealing too.

[Mark Kaine]

2 hours ago, Senzelian said:

Someone is illegally importing devices and manufacturers want to stop that. What's the problem now? I don't get it.

yeah... but WHY is it illegal and WHERE? 

 

Something about this all seems really fishy....

 

 

if im mexico any company involved is not allowed to do any kind of business in my country anymore, STARTING TOMORROW. 

 

 

[Mark Kaine]

49 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

So when the phones were illegally imported we're assuming import taxes were paid on them? If not, that's a form of stealing too.

that's a good question,  but i doubt that importing by itself is illegal in mexico, so the manufacturers should have no say in any of this AT ALL  

[IkeaGnome]

27 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

that's a good question,  but i doubt that importing by itself is illegal in mexico, so the manufacturers should have no say in any of this AT ALL  

That's the point. They do have no say in it, and that's why this policy was turned back. 

The Mexican government told them to do this. The Mexican government, today, turned back that policy.

 

Samsung stops blocking illegally imported Galaxy phones in Mexico - Sammy Fans

Quote

Samsung stopped punishing illegally imported Galaxy phones in Mexico, following the local govt’s order. Recently, the government of Mexico asked smartphone makers including Samsung to stop blocking products purchased through Gray markets.

 

Earlier, reports popped up that Motorola and ZTE are remotely blocking illegally imported variants in Mexico. Moving on, Samsung has also announced to begin blocking such illegally imported smartphones. However, the govt’s order apparently saved importers and buyers of the devices.

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by IkeaGnome
Added a source and quote

[Mark Kaine]

35 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

That's the point. They do have no say in it, and that's why this policy was turned back. 

The Mexican government told them to do this. The Mexican government, today, turned back that policy.

 

Samsung stops blocking illegally imported Galaxy phones in Mexico - Sammy Fans

 

tldr: mexico gov has no idea what its doing...

 

2 hours ago, IkeaGnome said:

Does that not throw red flags?

No? it probably fell from a truck ~

 

or alternatively, 300 bucks off isnt that uncommon for something like a bike, even in stores. 

[TexZeTech]

1 minute ago, Mark Kaine said:

tldr: mexico gov has no idea what its doing...

 

No? it probably fell from a truck ~

 

or alternatively, 300 bucks off isnt that uncommon for something like a bike, even in stores. 

And this is exactly the point manufactures how ZERO right to do what they did and the government told them so.

As a consumer I just look at this and go. Well I won't be giving these companies any of my business because they have already tipped their hand to the world what they think they can get away with until they get slapped for it & if that's what they THINK they can get away with I shudder to think what they want to get away with.

Then there is the security issue. If a phone can be remotely locked like this then all it would take is one breach just one on Samsung's servers to really mess with the world, others who did the same or similar are in the same boat.

and ya things on the new/used market places of the world. I've seen some things that are a steal but are most likely explained by the most benign of reasons.

eg; "My husband bought this then died. I have no idea what the hell it is or what the value is."

[Mark Kaine]

3 hours ago, Senzelian said:

Someone is illegally importing devices and manufacturers want to stop that. What's the problem now? I don't get it.

well, technically,  manufacturers have no right whatsoever to do this... but in this case, it seems the very wise and reasonable mexican government asked them to do this, and they happily obliged (since they had "government backing")

Lol...

[TexZeTech]

2 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

well, technically,  manufacturers have no right whatsoever to do this... but in this case, it seems the very wise and reasonable mexican government asked them to do this, and they happily obliged (since they had "government backing")

Lol...

I mean fair, still and issue of what they did though and the fact they can do it to begin with.

[Mark Kaine]

8 minutes ago, TexZeTech said:

I mean fair, still and issue of what they did though and the fact they can do it to begin with.

i mean i get you, i would feel similarly, however *all* phone manufacturers have the option to do this , its built in and a "feature" aka "find my phone"...

 

[IkeaGnome]

49 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

tldr: mexico gov has no idea what its doing...

Sorry, had to work while I was working on an edit to that post.

 

It's the companies that started disabling phones. I read an article that made it sound like the MXN government told them to in the first place. They didn't. The companies started this policy. Started enforcing it and the Mexican government stepped in and told them not to.

46 minutes ago, TexZeTech said:

Then there is the security issue. If a phone can be remotely locked like this then all it would take is one breach just one on Samsung's servers to really mess with the world, others who did the same or similar are in the same boat.

What kind of phone do you plan to get that can't be remotely locked? Please don't say iPhone. They have the ability to remotely lock phones as well. 

[Mark Kaine]

2 hours ago, IkeaGnome said:

Sorry, had to work while I was working on an edit to that post.

 

It's the companies that started disabling phones. I read an article that made it sound like the MXN government told them to in the first place. They didn't. The companies started this policy. Started enforcing it and the Mexican government stepped in and told them not to.

ok, well i understood that wasn't 100% proven info - but it somehow made sense... lol.

 

 

well, still i don't see how these companies actually have a right to do this... 

 

its not like the phones are stolen (i guess?) 

[Quackers101]

this is going too far.
I can agree with the importance of legit devices and not stolen ones. as in a feature to lock down your stolen phone's data to sim card, but disable it in other ways is just outright dangerous. not being able to use the device you paid for, be it the battery, new or old OS, wifi chip/hardware that isn't private or really "owned" by a brand. else they could pull so much BS, stealing data, removing, putting you in dangerous situations etc. like if you didnt have a tool to call for help or needed real life services be it transport or other things.

 

it is nice however if one could return it and get your stuff back and a "real phone", I guess?

[Kisai]

8 hours ago, HenrySalayne said:

Illegally imported?

If these devices are not of an illicit origin (stolen) and the manufacturer has been paid, this should be fine. If this is a tax or customs evasion problem, it should certainly not be resolved by the manufacturer.

Google "parallel imports"

 

This is a thing that Luxury products pull. They authorize some branch of their company to sell in X country, thus other branches of the company are forbidden from selling X to the same country. This ALL imports are considered "counterfeit" even though they are not. 

 

This really seems like it's being done by Samsung itself, and has nothing to do with Mexico. So if "Samsung Mexico" wants to block all imports of "Samsung" products not sold by them, and not activated on foreign carriers, they pretty much have a software means to do so.

 

Otherwise if it was at the behest of a carrier, they would simply not activate the device. Remember SIM Locks? Remember how much that prevented imports and using other carriers devices? This is just another version of that. And given the message, it seems like this is very much the intent. It's the assumption that any Samsung device bought and sold in Mexico that was not sold through the official Samsung Mexico branch (or perhaps the carriers themselves, I don't know if Mexico has Samsung stores) means that someone in Mexico doesn't get their sales commission.

 

At any rate, this is stupid, and I would just tell people to not buy phones that you intend to activate in Mexico. There's likely a large grey market of official, counterfeit and stolen Samsung devices and people likely won't know what to expect if they don't buy it from the Samsung Store or the Wireless Carrier themselves. So anything you buy on eBay? Suspect.

 

[williamcll]

If I change the OS to another build like Lineage would it still get caught?

[Dracarris]

1 hour ago, williamcll said:

If I change the OS to another build like Lineage would it still get caught?

After all it's Android, so hack the hell out of it, fake the IMEI, whatever. Lets tackle this from the technical angle.

[Dracarris]

13 hours ago, Levent said:

Over here in this shithole, we have strict import rules on anything that connects to cell network. If its a phone, you cant import it through online resellers abroad, you can only bring one phone with you every 5 years and have register it within 90 days of first connecting to local network and also have to pay stupid amounts of fees so that it will keep connecting to cell network using a local sim. This seems like a tax move too.

 

EITHER WAY, there are ways to raise your middle finger in both cases.

How exactly is all this implemented? Where do you have to register what and pay fees? How is the ban implemented, all carriers will block your IMEI? What if you buy a carrier unlocked phone in the great US and A and then activate it there (first connect to a network), simply exchange the SIM once back in Mexico?

[Levent]

17 minutes ago, Dracarris said:

How exactly is all this implemented? Where do you have to register what and pay fees? How is the ban implemented, all carriers will block your IMEI? What if you buy a carrier unlocked phone in the great US and A and then activate it there (first connect to a network), simply exchange the SIM once back in Mexico?

I am not in NA. I am not sure about the specifics but IMEI is indeed checked by a master database before it is allowed to connect to cell network. Career unlocks dont matter, you have to register your phone to a passport and have to visit abroad in the last 6 months and once you want to register your phone you use the egovernment website to register it.

[porina]

On the grey imports thing, it's called grey because it isn't black and white. It can be legal or illegal depending on the specific details. The legality of it may not be down to the product itself, but the collateral: stuff that comes with it such as documents.

 

I can give an example from where I use to work. The products in question were professional voice headsets. Models are sold worldwide. Company noticed US models were getting sold in EU. The importer tried to act correctly, and they put the appropriate documents with the products sold to comply with local law. Externally the products look the same. The problem was, the US product was internally different from the EU product. US has different telecoms standards and in particular, sound level protection regulations than EU. US product does not meet EU safety requirements. The product could not be legally sold on that basis.

 

While I'm all for the principle of right to repair, this was also a problem for "refurbished" units. Some companies bought up used headset stock to get parts to cobble together "working" headsets on the cheap. Product design can vary over time. Mix and matching parts salvaged from different times could easily result in a product without correctly working protection.

[05032-Mendicant-Bias]

A manufacturer disabled remotely a device, because according to the manufacturer, the client didn't buy it from the "right" place.

This is an unjustifyiable over reach and herald to the things to come.

Manufacturers don't have the right to ransomware their own devices.

Once it's sold, it's the customer's device, not the manufacturer's device anymore.

 

At most, there could be argument to cut those devices from ongoing updates, since that uses manufacturer's infrastructure.

[Arika]

2 hours ago, 05032-Mendicant-Bias said:

A manufacturer was forced to disable remotely a device, because according to the manufacturer government, the client didn't buy it from the "right" place.

ftfy

[Mark Kaine]

4 minutes ago, Arika said:

ftfy

yeah, except if you read the thread that still isnt clear who did what... the article linked doesn't really support this theory... (they say it was the manufacturers own choice/will)

 

but i don't think im willing to believe either lol.

[Arika]

3 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

but i don't think im willing to believe either lol.

agreed.

 

i re-read the article (though short) and it is quite vague as to what happened and what instigated the blocking in the first place.

[Dracarris]

3 hours ago, Levent said:

you have to register your phone to a passport and have to visit abroad in the last 6 months and once you want to register your phone you use the egovernment website to register it.

Excuse me, WHAT THE FUCK?? What is it the bloody governments business what or how many phones I activate?