I don't understand why dish doesn't just activate the receivers. I had to do the dance twice with dish over the years with receivers. One from eBay that the seller still had on his account and one from radio shack that was a demo .I had to call several times to get them activated. I guess they don't want customers that don't pay there bill to sign up a new account with the same receivers. But if you have a long time customer that wants to add to there account it seems it would be a win for both the customer and dish . Customer gets a new receiver and it doesn't cost dish a dime . Dish adds receiver fees 7 to 17 dollars depending on the model.
Perhaps it's a matter of principle. Maybe DISH doesn't want to see a thief benefit from his misdeeds, or to encourage others to do the same.