So in about a week I can get ahold of some dodgy PlayStation 3 consoles. They cost 100 pounds each. It's one of those friend-of-a-friend jobs. I don't know anything about these consoles, only that they come boxed and new. The friend-of-a-friend refuses to say where's getting them from.

If these things are stolen (and reported stolen), I assumed Sony will be able to somehow block them if I try to go online and they check the serial number or something.

My main concerns are:

1) Will Sony somehow "brick" my PS3 or something similar?

2) Can I expect a visit from the old bill from that? I'm not too worried about them actually prosecuting me or anything, but I don't want the cozzers showing up on my doorstep. I still live with my parents, they'd go fucking ballistic.

I'm only considering buying one, but if the thing is only going to be a pain in the arse I'd rather just buy one legitimately.

if your worried sell them on and buy a legit one

If you got caught you just say you bought it from someone who listed it for sale in a TV ad or something and had no idea it was stolen.

Plead ignorance, they cannot prove you know anything about it being stolen.

Yeah that's what I was thinking. I'm more concerned about splashing out on this thing only for Sony to come along and see it's stolen and block it from going on the internet or worse.

This.

this. I suspect your ps3 units could possibly be refurbished which is not illegal at all. (refurbished means it has been returned for some reason, meaning the original buyer could of returned the ps3 because he didn't like it , or it was broken , etc)

Possession of stolen property is illegal. Ignorance is not an excuse.

That being said I doubt they would arrest you but they would take the ps3 and want to know where you got it from. If you lie about where you got it from then they will probably be pissed enough to charge you.

As said above, if the cops show up, just plead ingorance....

Make sure you don't have the other 9000 PS3's in your house though. Store them at a friend's house or in a hole or something

Nah I only wanted one.

Say, hypothetially, I bought one and it was then traced back to me and then I received a knock at the door from the old bill, of course they'd know it was stolen but would me being in possession of it, would they be likely to charge me for it?

you could still be prosecuted if you didn't know the item is stolen