AIBU to think this is a well known scam?

[EvaRoad]

....or have I just been unlucky? (Name changed as too outing)

At the end of July my girlfriend dropped her phone and it broke "beyond repair". She was distraught, did not know what she was going to do and needed a new phone. I suggested she asked her friends or asked her family but ultimately she made it clear that if I didn't get her a phone then she would not be able to contact me anymore. I was in a difficult position, her birthday was coming up, so I eventually relented and purchased her a new phone on a contract. Anyway, I never got to see the phone, as she kept on making excuses not to see me, and then last week she said she had "got back with her ex", didn't want to see me again, and blocked me. Obviously she's still got the phone and I've now got to pay for the rest of the contract.

What really gets me is that this is the second time this has happened to me, my previous girlfriend did something similar, breaking up with me within a few weeks of getting her a new phone a couple of years back.

So is this a well known scam, or have I just been unlucky? Do girls really drop their phones as often as they say?

She sounds awful. Hope,you get you phone back

Off to bed now, will phone O2 first thing in the morning.

Why didn't you just pay for a screen repair?

I don't think they'll transfer the debt/credit agreement over to her on your say so like a op suggested. Maybe if her name was on the credit agreement you signed and you contact the company together but I've know so many people take out loans or credit in their own name for boyfriends/girlfriends or friends and family and then something happens and they think they shouldn't have to pay the repayments anymore.

The people who usually ask others to take credit out for them do so because their own crediting rating means they'll be refused a contract phone (which is a form of credit). I've been asked by various family members to either buying something on my store cards or to take out contracts and my answer is always no. I've seen these agreements go wrong and the person who signs the credit agreement always seems caught by surprise that they are responsible for paying it back.

I know enough from seeing friends choose to take credit for someone and then something happens and from watching Judge Rinder 😂 to know that I'll never take credit out for anyone

Definitely report it lost. She deserves nothing from you

If you report the phone as lost it will not blacklist the IMEI just put a bar on the sim in the event that you will ‘find’ it again. I know this as have worked for mobile phone companies.

You need to ask for the phone /IMEI to be blacklisted. You don’t need to go into detail and even saying it’s stolen doesn’t mean they’ll be sending the police round, it’ll just remain blocked until you tell them otherwise.

I got caught out by an ex BF - he was a dreadful user and I was too naive to realise it at the time.
I did pull out of signing my name up to a car deal (wise) and also to getting a loan (which gave me a black mark on my credit rating - I didn't realise before that declining a loan yourself after thinking about it was just as bad as a lender declining the loan!) but I got co-opted into paying for a phone for him in my name, because he had no credit rating and not enough money to get one. I didn't pay the bills though.

What made it really interesting was when I received a visit from detectives a few months after we split up, talking about the phone being used for fraudulent purposes (I never found out what) - they left when I said I'd only bought the phone but didn't have it, and gave them his address.

I got VERY lucky that the situation wasn't worse! And I've never been taken advantage of again in that way.

There are some people out there who really are well practised users. I can well believe that this did happen to the OP. It's not very nice to be troll hunting. Just because you wouldn't fall into such a trap doesn't mean that others don't.

I knew of someone like this. He uses people and then dumps them. He was asking me to give him money and he would do things like get a girlfriend to pay off the holiday that they were supposed to be going on together and then dump her before the holiday & still went.

People (especially men) asking me for money is something that puts me off them immediately. Personally But this sort of thing does work on some people.

Set the alarm, got up early, phoned O2 and asked for the IMEI to be blacklisted. Thanks everyone for the suggestion, I had not thought of that. I still have to pay off the balance of the contract though.

Not my finest moment, and I hope I have learnt my lesson.

It’s not a “girl thing” thank you very much.

Sounds like a scam. Why would you give in to blackmail like that? Why would you buy a phone for someone you’ve not been going out with for very long?

Well done, now next time someone says “if you loved me you’d do…” remember, if they loved you they wouldn’t ask for material possessions.

@EvaRoad

Set the alarm, got up early, phoned O2 and asked for the IMEI to be blacklisted. Thanks everyone for the suggestion, I had not thought of that. I still have to pay off the balance of the contract though.

Not my finest moment, and I hope I have learnt my lesson.

Well done! Is it blocked? Now it’s blacklisted, text her saying she can’t use the phone and for return it today or you will be calling the police.

Hope you're ok. Learning these lessons the hard way isnt easy. I learnt a few lessons the really hard way in my forties. There is no day, like 33 and 3 quarters where you suddenly wake up wise. Next time, see if somebody wants to be with you for your company. Leave her blocked so that you spare yourself her telling you all of your faults again.

@EvaRoad

Set the alarm, got up early, phoned O2 and asked for the IMEI to be blacklisted. Thanks everyone for the suggestion, I had not thought of that. I still have to pay off the balance of the contract though.

Not my finest moment, and I hope I have learnt my lesson.

You’re clearly a nice person but a gullible one. Learn from this mistake! She sounds like a really bad person and will get her comeuppance. No normal person behaves this way and certainly shouldn’t expect money from anyone else. We aren’t all like this by the way! If you report as stolen and they block the phone, can they send you a new handset or was it not insured?

Hopefully lessons learned OP. Please never give in to these girls again. Horrible, horrible, horrible.

Glad you managed to get it sorted out OP.

It is handy that the phone lines are open before 0800 because they never used to be.

@EvaRoad

I can't ask for it back as it was "a gift", freely given.

Stop whining then if you're happy to be taken as a mug. More money than sense clearly.

Well done @EvaRoad I’m really glad you’ve stopped this a-hole from getting what she wanted out of this.

In the future, don’t make it obvious if you’re financially solvent. Try to know that someone is with you for you before you splash out

Bright side is now that at least she won't be able to unblock and phone you to have a go at you.

Did you ever actually meet her in person?

Op I hope that this makes you think about future relationships as others have said. You don't prove your love to somebody by giving them money or buying them presents. And if they say otherwise then they aren't nice people.

Please keep your ex girlfriend blocked and don't contact her, however much you may want to.

Good luck.