Im thinking the drone was found by someone , and that the account was locked by the original owner. . What you would need to do is contact DJI on the chat , give them the serial an ask them if you have any options available.
Tell the pawnshop that they need to get the original owner to unlock it from his account.
I think most of us have our contact information on the drone. Just call the owner, if there is a contact. If not, I'm not sure what I would do.
Is that someone you? Is that a DJI fee, or your fee for hacking it (not that there is anything wrong with that, if it is the latter)?
In Australia it's called "theft by finding"
This account binding is relatively new. Certainly was not in existence in 2017. Back then, if you found or stole a drone, you could fly it with any controller you wanted, as many times as you wanted, after pairing it. Same with any person that bought said found or pawned or stolen drone from anyone else. Once activated, it was like cash.
It's another problem of buying used vs refurbished. I bought a M3 open box (used) and it was linked to another account. Then, I bought a RC Pro and I could not bind the two together. It would let me fly a few flights then nothing. So, if you buy used and it's linked to someone else's account, it'll only work with the remote it came with. No way around it as it's a safety feature that started with the M3. Thankfully, I was able to send it back. Refurbished on the other hand will not be bound to another account. I bought one of those and the RC Pro binded to the drone no problem.
If you are buying from a private seller:
