Who is tempted to be offered a high specification cellphone at a really cheap price? For example, you are offered the original iPhone X at a price of not up to IDR 5 million. Surely you really want to buy, right? That’s what happened with Black Market phones. Products that are actually really expensive can be sold at a much cheaper price, even if it doesn’t make sense.
The advantage of buying a BM cellphone is that you can get original products at low prices. You can even get products that have not been released in Indonesia through the Black Market. However, before buying a BM cellphone, you must know the losses you will get. well see the following review.
Black Market cellphones or commonly called BM phones are cellphone products circulating on the black market. So the product illegally enters a country without going through customs.
Currently, BM cell phones are widely available in Indonesia and are usually sold online at attractive prices. But of course there are downsides if you decide to buy a BM cellphone. What are you doing? Come on, see.
1. Uncertain Authenticity
Although BM cellphones are generally original products imported from abroad, there are people who actually sell replica products. If someone is still layman and does not really understand shopping at the Black Market, then the possibility of getting a fake product will be greater. In fact, there are products sold on the Black Market which are factory goods that have failed the test and there are also damaged items that are repaired as smoothly as possible.
2. There is no official warranty
Because Black Market products do not pass customs and can be said to be illegal goods, then of course you will not get an official guarantee if you buy a BM cellphone. This is of course very risky, because the official guarantee is very important for buyers to guarantee the goods purchased.
The absence of an official guarantee makes it difficult for you to claim a warranty because you have to go to the country where the product is made. The seller will not be responsible if anything happens when you use the BM cellphone that you bought.
3. Risk of Getting Mobile Bundling
Cellphone Bundling is the name for cellphone products that are contractually bound with certain cellular operators. In the Black Market, it turns out that many cellphones have been bundled so that their use is regulated by the operators who are bound by the contract with the cellphone product.
Maybe it’s not a big problem if the operator is an operator from within the country, but BM cell phones that are bundled are bound by contracts with operators from abroad or the country where the cellphone originates. If you get a cell phone like this, you won’t be able to use the SIM card and fully access the phone.
4. Threat Block
Since the proliferation of BM cellphones in Indonesia, the government has started to try to minimize the entry of illegal cellphones with various actions such as conducting raids on the cellphone trade and others. However, this has not been effective because until now there are still many BM cellphones being traded.
Therefore, the government is working with Kominfo and cellular operators to block IMEI on BM cellphones. This is of course detrimental to BM cellphone users because at any time their cellphones can no longer be used because they have been blocked by the government.
5. Risk of Damage
Even though BM cellphones are said to be quality goods, that doesn’t mean you are safe from the threat of damage. Anything can happen, your BM cellphone could be damaged due to certain factors. For example, because of you or because the cellphone is not of high quality.
Well, if your BM cellphone is damaged, repairing it is not as easy as repairing an officially purchased cellphone. As said before, BM phones have no warranty and are generally products from abroad. So, fixing it will be very difficult, even at the risk of not being repaired at all.
Those are the 5 dangers of buying a Black Market cell phone. If you have ever been or maybe are being tempted by cheap cell phones on the Black Market, then you should first consider before buying
