[newguy1234]

I used to do this awhile back and yes it is true. You could make around $1,000-$2,000 per month in gift cards doing it with maybe 50-70 phones. Most apps being used were 100% passive. The only thing you needed to do was restart the phone every 24 hours. The apps would run and show ads to you and just loop over and over. So what about electricity costs? for running 70 phones 24/7 in a month, that was about $10 more in power. Each phone cost around $20 which I bought off ebay. These were phones where the screen was cracked, the IMEID was blacklisted and some I think were reported stolen as well. This was maybe 3-4 years back though. Over the years, the whole thing has come tumbling down. Now you'll make maybe $100/month and it isn't passive anymore, so not worth doing it but back in the day....we were banking it no doubt about it. Also, yes I would pay tax on all of it. The companies would send a 1099.

This was the guy who showed me how to do it. I just basically copied his routine exactly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLYNgUdZfmc

[nothrabannosir]

You have my support for bleeding advertisers (and paying taxes ;) ) but I do want to point out one thing which is sometimes overlooked:

> some I think were reported stolen as well

If true, that incentivises phone theft. The only reason people steal phones is because there's a market. Every purchase of a stolen good directly incentivises that thief to steal once more. It's a very direct link. If you've ever had anything stolen, please break the chain and consider verifying somehow, some way, that your next purchase wasn't originally lifted off someone else. It can suck, especially if you've been a victim yourself and it's just unfair.

Other than that thanks for doing your part in poisoning the advertising well :)

[kennywinker]

> The only reason people steal phones is because there's a market.

From what I can tell, the protections put on newer phones by the vendors has massively crushed the stolen phone market. Modern phones are locked to a google or apple account and basically only usable as a) parts for repair or b) if you can phish the password from the original owner, you can unlock them.

Basically, discouraging people from buying used phones, lest they be stolen, is a way less effective mechanism for reducing theft than this kind of structural change.

[mandelbrotwurst]

The person you are replying to wasn't discouraging people from buying used phones generally, just ones that you have reason to believe are stolen.

[Moru]

There are often howto's on the net how to bypass the protections even of the latest phones. Last one I saw was over the settings for disabilities on the lockscreen.

[Zenst]

I bet many wished they had done this, thing is when you see stuff like this, you kinda default to Akbar mode - it's a trap, due to the amount of spam and scams we get exposed to. Which in this case - reminds me of this fantastic comedy clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsYoeoEE3ww .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzrDT50_IK8 Sums up the end of that era, same chap.

[Scoundreller]

We’re you able to re-sell the phones later on? At a loss, break even or even a profit?

Or was the ultra-low-end phone market only existent because of buyers for this market?

[newguy1234]

No. Most of the phones were completely destroyed. The problem is that lithium ion batteries will bloat up after a while. Keep in mind, these phones were pulled in 24/7/365 basically which destroys the battery over time. To me, it was a cost of doing business so to speak. Toss 'em and swap 'em is the saying.