How to tell a genuine iPhone from a clone.

Nigeria has one of the busiest secondary phone markets in the world, and most of it is honest. But the clones have got good — good enough that a convincing fake will boot to something that looks like iOS, show an Apple logo, and pass a casual glance in a shop with bad lighting. The checks below take about five minutes and will catch almost all of them.

1. Read the serial number back to Apple

Settings, General, About. Note the serial number, then type it into Apple's own coverage checker on a separate device. A genuine handset returns a model name, a purchase date, and a warranty status. A clone returns nothing, or returns a model that does not match the phone in your hand — a "16 Pro" that reports back as an iPhone 11 is the single most common tell.

2. Check the IMEI in two places

Dial *#06# to display the IMEI, then compare it against the number printed on the SIM tray and the one in Settings. All three must match exactly. While you are there, run the IMEI through a blacklist checker: a genuine phone that was reported stolen abroad is a different problem from a clone, but it is just as unusable once the carrier catches up.

3. Open the App Store, not just the home screen

Clones run Android skinned to look like iOS. The illusion holds on the home screen and breaks the moment you go one level deeper. Open the App Store and search for something specific. Then open Settings and scroll to the very bottom. Android underneath will show itself in a font that shifts, a settings list in the wrong order, or a keyboard that does not match.

4. Test Face ID and the cameras properly

Enrol a face rather than accepting that the feature "works". Then open the camera and cycle every lens, including the ultra wide and the telephoto if the model has one. Fakes commonly ship with fewer real sensors than the lens cluster suggests, so switching to 3x produces a digital crop rather than a genuine optical change.

5. Look at the battery health screen

Settings, Battery, Battery Health & Charging. A genuine device shows a maximum capacity percentage and a peak performance message. If the menu is missing entirely, or reports exactly 100% on a phone that is visibly a few years old, treat both as warnings. On a used handset, anything above 85% is reasonable; below 80% you should be negotiating on price or planning a replacement.

6. Ask for the box, and then ignore it

Boxes, cables and even printed receipts are trivially reproduced, so packaging proves very little on its own. What it is useful for is cross-checking: the model and storage printed on the box should match what the phone reports in Settings. A mismatch means someone has swapped something, and you should walk away.

If you are buying privately

• Meet in daylight, somewhere with reliable network coverage — you cannot verify an IMEI without data.
• Insist on inserting your own SIM and making a call before paying.
• Confirm Find My is switched off and the previous owner has signed out of iCloud. An activation-locked phone is a brick.
• Pay on delivery of the device, not before. No genuine seller needs the money first.