most of my high end IT stuff, i buy used, from ebay/Amazon.

from sellers with a reputation

i realise that may not be an option for some of us, but please consider this:

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF THE SOURCE OF THE ITEM FOR SALE?

by buying phones etal from dubious sources you may be unwittingly playing your own part in supporting armed robbers and thieves

there has been an upsurge in crime all over nigeria.

in lagos in particular, the items demanded by robbers are blackberry phones and laptops.

i'm sure we all remember the case of the businessman who bought the late cynthia okusogu's phone

the next time you are about to buy a blackberry or laptop on the cheap, think about it -

a person/people may have been robbed, maimed, ra--ped , or murdered for this item

do not be a supporter of armed robbery

I thought you were going to give us tips on how to identify the stolen items

@OP...pls re-construct ur grammar...what are u saying?

^-- You don't understand simple English?

@op Must you always add et all DEM JUST TEACH U ?

@OP, I was robbed about 3 weeks ago, in my house at the estate in Amuwo Odofin and I'd been thinking exactly of what you posted.
It is the buyers of these used phones, laptops that drive the supply, which in this case, is the crime of barging into peoples' houses. Everyone who buys used phones on the street, traffic is guilty. People should buy items like these from shops or places with an address and a receipt. I would suppose this is a business idea to some, to set up a parasecurity/recovery outfit, getting PINs of BBs and other details of stolen items and tracking them, recovering the phone and using the buyers as a lead to uncover the criminals. When these buyers are constantly haunted by security agents, there will be less demand for these products and this will force down the rate at which these crimes are committed.

Ayokunle07: @OP, I was robbed about 3 weeks ago, in my house at the estate in Amuwo Odofin and I'd been thinking exactly of what you posted.
It is the buyers of these used phones, laptops that drive the supply, which in this case, is the crime of barging into peoples' houses. Everyone who buys used phones on the street, traffic is guilty. People should buy items like these from shops or places with an address and a receipt. I would suppose this is a business idea to some, to set up a parasecurity/recovery outfit, getting PINs of BBs and other details of stolen items and tracking them, recovering the phone and using the buyers as a lead to uncover the criminals. When these buyers are constantly haunted by security agents, there will be less demand for these products and this will force down the rate at which these crimes are committed.

Sounds like a good business idea to me but I doubt if our police force will make it profitable for the owner. After recovering the phone for the actual owner, he will have to pay the recovery outfit for their service and settle the NPF, which must have been involved at the point of recovery. Save for few people with newest BB models and/or those who want back some data, who would be willing to pay, say 15k, for a phone whose second-hand price is below 25k.

Nice one there. But it sure can be real difficult in some instances to easily know such items were actually stolen.