Hi there,

I would like to ask here if anyone knows a way to check if an iMac was stolen?

A person I met on anibis.ch wants to sell me his iMac but he says he does not have the invoice for it anymore. He told me the computer was purchased from MediaMarkt - Geneva in mid-November 2010. I am not willing to pay any money without seeing the original invoice or a copy of it because I don't want to buy stolen property and get in troubles because of that.


I emailed MediaMarkt if they can issue a copy of an invoice if serial number and date of purchase are provided, but their answer was: “It is not possible to provide the invoce only with this informations.The date of purchase is not enought clear to search a copy of invoice. In the ticket the serial Number is not provided.”

What would you do? Thank you in advance.

Buy it without what you want because the price is good.

It is not reasonable/normal that the owner of a CHF2000+ item bought less than six months ago would have no invoice - or indeed want to sell the item, doubtless at a knock-down price.

I would walk away and not buy it...

If it could be a scam, it probably is.

I am not sure about an Imac, but i know by Ipods you can call apple and thy can tell you exactly where and when the ipod was bought !

Call the apples store and ask them

Apple Store
Bahnhofstrasse 77, 8001 Zürich
044 213 18 00

How much dose he want for the imac ?

Verify that the iMac actually exists and works as advertised.
See here:
http://guides.macrumors.com/Serial_Number
If the price (possible plus additional Apple-Car) is right, buy.

This KB-article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2526?viewlocale=en_US
states that they do not track the serial-numbers.
Thus, you should be able to apply for Apple-Care, even if the device was stolen.

your only protection is to ask for the guy's ID copy.
If police comes to you, you just need to show them who you bought it from.

Unfortunately buyers of stolen goods are not entitled to their money back if the goods are recovered by the police. You wouldn't be prosecuted as you bought the goods in good faith. If the police had doubts about that then they'd have to prove it--innocent until proven guilty.

If the price is too good to be true then I'd have serious doubts. If it's normal then for me there's no initial reason to suspect that it's stolen. You'd have to meet him I guess. Turning up to his house would be a good one. If he lives in the "Bronx" and he pulls it from his car trunk/garage then walk away--he's probably a PC type If you meet his family and they are welcoming... well.. whatever... use your instinct.

I bought a 3 year old MacbookPro off Ricardo 12 months ago. Paid CHF 1200. I met the guy... it had no receipt, but I had no reason to doubt him.

What's the price difference between this and a new one? Maybe you should consider buying it from Apple or wherever? Best to pay a few hundred francs extra on a couple of grand--you'd then have piece of mind.

I saw the iMac and tested it. The person who sells it doesn't look as criminal to me.

He wants 1100 francs for a model which costs 1799.

Offer him 750, or you'll grass him out to the pigs

Thanks to all for your replys they have been very helpful!

I think I am going to skip this deal for now and will look for some more secure opportunity.

The Sandy-Bridge-Models should come out in the June-timeframe.
Wait a bit and buy a new one.
Or wait some more and buy a quasi-new one from the Apple-Refurbished-Store.

Hi again!

There was an interesting development in the last few days.

As PaddyG recommended I offered to the guy to pay 750.- but he refused and he said that will try to get a copy of the receipt from the shop.

During the weekend I bought brand new iMac 27" Quad Core i7 and forgot about the one from anivis.ch. Yesterday the guy called me few times but I didn't answer, so he end up sent SMS saying that is ready to sell for 800.-

All this only confirms my fear that the computer was stolen.

If it's hot?

Ah, but did you also threaten to grass him up?

Nice result though

But now you know exactly how a criminal looks...