Tried that. I aborted when I saw NO RETURNS.
The seller appears to have lots and lots of positive feedback. It's possible the seller is unknowingly selling stolen property?
Here's the auction: http://www.ebay.com/itm/380774895932?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
I haven't received the phone yet (just got it a few hours ago), but I will definitely bear this in mind.
I should at least contact the seller to ask where this came from. It's conceivable that the user who sold or gave this phone to the seller forgot to disable this security measure.
I've read reports of people rendering the phone useless, where no fowl play was involved at all (but rather an unfortunate mistake coupled with forgetting one's password or other information), so maybe this is one of those cases?
Unless I can prove with absolute certainty that this phone was stolen, I will try giving the seller the benefit of the doubt.
As a last resort, is it possible to take another phone of the same model and swap the logic board? It would be a TON of work, but if I can source a known working and UNENCUMBERED/ACTIVATABLE board for a reasonable price, I should be able to reuse its body.
Although, I should probably just face the fact that I wasted $80 on an iPaperweight 4s :-/ :-/ :-/
c