What are the risks of buying a phone used in POGO companies?

The devices, mostly iPhones, are sold at a VERY cheap price.

Screenshots from Facebook post/group

Are these safe?

President Bongbong Marcos has announced that POGOs will be officially banned in the country. This came after issues that further questioned the operations of such companies in the Philippines.

Following this development, a netizen posted on Reddit about a Facebook group that is allegedly being used to sell pulled-out POGO items. The user said most of the items are smartphones which are being bought in bulk at a very cheap price.

The user warned these may have been used as burner or scam phones.

What are the risks of buying a phone used in POGO companies?

We also saw a post by a Facebook user selling iPhone 6 units for only PHP 1,749. The seller wrote in the caption "POGO PULL OUT" and claimed the units were all working, clouds had been cleared, and were factory unlocked.

In another group named "POGO PULLOUT BUY N SELL," a number of users are selling mobile phones, which are mostly iPhones as well. There were also computers and laptops being sold in the group although it was not stated whether they came from POGOs.

While these units are very affordable, we urge you guys to not patronize them as this could put your security at risk.

These are also the risks of purchasing such devices:

1. Depleted batteries - The device may be cheap but its batteries are most probably already worn out.

2. Out of warranty - Since these are already old models

3. No more software updates - There's a chance newer apps are no longer compatible and likely their security patches are already outdated.

4. Apps might not work anymore - Since the software is outdated, apps may not work or be compatible with it anymore.

Keep in mind it is still better to pay more for a device than to buy a cheaper one that you will later regret.

What do you think about this?

Via: Reddit