Avoid unlock scams!

How to avoid and recognize unlock scam websites

How to recognize unlock scammers

In the recent years there are more and more fake unlock websites whom are destroying the trust of our customers in this business. So more and more real unlock companies are trying to educate the people on how to find these scammers. This is what we are trying to do also on this page. First you should understand that creating (programming) unlock solutions is a timely matter and costs a lot of money while researching the solution (buying phones, reverse engineering equipment etc). This is why you pay for real unlock & repair solutions.

Let us help you help yourself, so everybody wins (Except those cheaters of course).

The first and most important rule to recognize scam websites is; if it is too cheap (to good to be true) it is fake!. The most common scam websites all offer unlocking for 1.30euro to around 5 euros. No real site can realise these prices because it is just not possible due to development costs of the real unlock solutions. These websites sell free software called NokiaFree unlocker or Crux unlocker which only work on very old phones (like 3 - 4 years ago). When you complain to these websites they tell you to read the fine print and this states that you didn't pay for the software but for use of the bandwidth.

The 2nd most common scam websites offer 'unlock codes' which aren't really unlock codes. Some brands (mostly Samsung) can sometimes be unlocked using reset codes. However in 90% of the cases you will end up with a damaged phone ('phone freeze', 'phone locked, return for service') instead of an unlocked phone. Official unlock codes are unique per phone and will always costs more then 10 euros per phone (unless you are buying in bulk of a couple hundred).

Here are the guidelines on how to recognize fake unlock websites:

  1. Prices between 1 - 5 euros
  2. They say they can unlock EVERY phone with their software. This is impossible there is no software in the world that can unlock every brand and model
  3. There is no mention of which specific models can be unlocked per brand
  4. If it concerns a software to unlock (or repair), look for a blog / news site where you can read about recent updates. Unlocking techniques change super fast and if there are no recent updates you can be sure the solution is fake or out dated
  5. There is no way to contact the company via the website for support
  6. Google Adwords is present. If you see google ads you can be 90% sure the website is fake, a self respecting real company offering an unlock service will not polute their website with Google Ads
  7. Check user feedback, this is not the most reliable method to check a company (testimonials are easily faked) but can serve as some indication