I think this has been a thing since at lest S10. If you search up a 2-year old Samsung phone on ebay or swappa, chances are you can find some mint-conditioned ones advertised as unlocked, but IMEI search will bring up Verizon. The phone visually have no signs of being used.
Where do those phones come from? Why are they always Verizon? Are they safe to buy?
I got my a53 last year sealed on ebay. It had been a tracfone device but the time had expired making it unlocked. I'll bet that's what a lot of them are.
