Is there any hope to bypassing an activation screen on the iphone6?

Please hold back any negative judgement. LESSON LEARNED!
I purchased a Iphone 6 off a man off craigslist. Paid him and went about my way. When I got home I am stuck at what would be the screen to log into his email & password. I tried many times to contact this man and he deleted his account through craigslist. Yes, I know leads me to think the phone was stolen also. So, I take out the sim card and says Tmobile. I call Tmobile and explain to them the same situation. I give her the IMEI number on the phone. She clears with me that the phone is not on any type of block with them. The phone is not reported stolen, nor does anyone owe money on it etc. I asked her if its possible to track down the person who owns it to get this removed, She tells me there is no way for them to do so. UGHHH! She says to me that she can direct me to APPLE and speak to someone on there end about seeing if there is a way to bypass it since there is no block on this phone with tmobile. I speak to APPLE and the man pretty much tells me, This was a hard lesson learned for me and that I should pretty much be smarter the next time around. I guess I now have one expensive paper weight. I see all these sites online to pay to have it bypassed, but who knows whats scams anymore or not. Is there even a company that will do this so I can take it there and pay for it to be done and know I am not being scammed. This really sucks! And shame on someone for taken someones hard earned money and leaving them!

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