Their argument is that it helps to combat fradulent purchases where criminals steal identities, buy phones on margin with the stolen identity and then ship them for sale overseas. As it stands, they are stuck holding the bill.

The carriers should be forced to absorb the consequences of not requiring payment upfront rather than forcing the rest of us to suffer from this absurd locking strategy. The entire situation was manufactured by them. If they required payment upfront, then this would be the credit card companies’ problem. They are much better equipped to deal with such things than carriers anyway.