Amanda Starkey’s sister-in-law paid $640 in October for an iPhone 6s on popular Facebook page Wagga Wagga Buy Swap & Sell as a Christmas present for her son.

The buyer became suspicious when the seller’s profile page didn’t have many details on it.

“She got a hold of me when she became suspicious of the Facebook user’s name – Tom Jerry,” Ms Starkey said.

“We checked the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number, which came back clean.”

The IMEI is a security number that phone providers use to block the phone from being used when it is reported stolen.

Because the phone was not reported stolen, the purchase was made.

But when the phone was turned on and set up at Christmas, the family discovered the iCloud account was locked, which again raised Ms Starkey’s suspicions.

She has posted a message on Wagga Buy Swap & Sell to try to locate the original owner.

Ms Starkey – who has a background in IT –  spent four days bypassing the lock but the phone still can’t be used to capacity.

She stressed to make the appropriate moves to avoid getting ripped off.

“Check the IMEI number and check the iCloud activation lock status,” Ms Starkey said.

“A lot of people don’t erase the status until just before the phone is handed over, so when you are exchanging the phone check the status then.”

Ms Starkey said they were keeping the phone on in the hope the original owner would use the “Find my iPhone” feature and it could be returned to them.

“The person’s iCloud account starts with M and is a Gmail account,” Ms Starkey said.

Wagga Buy Swap and Sell co-founder Mark Swaffield said all measures were taken to weed out dodgy sellers, but some managed to get through.

“Phones are really difficult (to trace) because a lot of people don’t report them stolen,” Mr Swaffield said.

“You should always test anything electrical before buying it.”

Mr Swaffield said the purchaser often felt afraid to pull out of a sale if they became suspicious, and said administrators of the site sometimes had to act as mediators to resolve issues.

“Most are happy to refund a purchase, but you will get the odd person who refuses,” he said.

Administrators of the page have banned around 2800 people over the past six or seven years.

“Most of them are overseas or fake accounts,” Mr Swaffield said.

The administrator said a closed group for administrators of other Wagga-based Facebook pages existed to crosscheck profiles.

“We’ve also got police on the site constantly scanning for stolen items,” Mr Swaffield said.

“But it’s always good to remember that if it’s too good to be true, then it probably is.”

Mr Swaffield also warned against people using bank transfers to pay for items.