[SprintTouch08]

yes but the typical rah rah Sprint expected answer is ridiculous becaise the OP did not do anything wrong here. Furthermore, its SPRINT'S policy/loophole that is the issue here which caused this problem. If this is happening then DONT ship Assurion phones unactivated! VERY simply solution, but Sprint puts too much faith in its customers. Obviously there are people out there pulling this scam this isnt a first time a bad ESN refurb was sold, it happens more than you think. Simple answer is if the phone was reported lost/stolen, theres no reason at all the new one cant be shipped activated as the old phone should in theory be dead or lost/stolen if the customer made an honest claim. Therefore shipping activated would solve problems across the board really and prevent this from happening to honest people.