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Three-Quarters Of Second-Hand Phones ‘Are Rip-Offs’, British Study Finds

Bargain-hunters often look to auction sites as a good way to pick up phones second-hand but the goods on offer are often seriously lacking, a study has found.

Up to two-thirds are falsely advertised, a study by O2 found - analysing 52 phones bought on popular auction and resale sites.

One in seven are professional scams - with the electronics from older, cheaper phones placed inside the casings of newer models.

A third - 34% - of handsets on sale are actually broken, and with 12% having broken screens and 12% having cameras or buttons that didn’t work.

Expert Dominic Littlewood said, ‘If you smell a rat, you’re probably dealing with one. Not only were a lot of the phones I looked at fake, or broken, some didn’t even turn up.

‘If you’re buying a second hand phone, you are far better buying from a trusted operator where you can get a guarantee, rather than a stranger off the internet. You wouldn’t buy a phone from Del Boy, would you?’