Carrier, and iCloud activation lock removal

Unless you can provide original proof of purchase, you cannot remove the iCloud lock if you are not the original owner. The iCloud lock is an anti-theft protection that cannot be removed by jailbreaking or flashing.

To remove Carrier lock, most carriers will only unlock for free it if it has been verified the original owner paid off the phone. Otherwise, depending on the carrier, ebay sellers can unlock it from as little as $6 to as much as $120.

I would return this phone to save yourself headache.

Look to swappa.com for legitimate resellers with unlocked and paid off phones, or keep an eye out on woot.com and groupon.com for refurbished phones that are guaranteed unlocked.

That is a different scenario as the request here does not include the ability to keep and access existing data (as far as I know). There are ways to remove it however it involves disconnecting the phone from apples servers and I don’t believe you’ll be able to get software updates and who knows what the other repercussions are.

If the the seller will not respond to you it should be clear they don’t know the username/password and it’s probably stolen. To get your money back I would file a police report and contact your credit card company or bank and file a report with the USPS Inspector’s office if it was sent via USPS mail. The police will do nothing but the Inspectors office will. Apparently this is not an agency you want coming after you.

As proof of ownership Apple wants the original bill of sale or something from a carrier which makes no sense. Essentially they want people to buy a new iPad from them.