iPhone Stolen, sort of...

[mergedown]

Happened to a friend of mine. He was at Wendy's and it fell out of his brand new Speck case. He didn't realize it was gone until about 10 minutes after he left.

After he noticed, he went back to Wendy's with the hope that someone found it and was kind enough to turn it in. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

He borrowed a friends phone and called his iPhone. First few tries, no answer. After a few more tries, they answered the phone. All they could talk about was how cool it was and demanded a reward to return it.

He made arrangements to pick it up, but they never showed. They continued to harass him with text messages and voicemails. At this point, he called the police.

The police told him that they couldn't do anything because it wasnt officially stolen, it had been found. He then called Apple and they told him they could flag the serial number, but there wasn't much they could do even at that point.

He called ATT, similar response. At this point, he decided to deactivate the phone and register his number to his old phone. This would lock down the iPhone for the thief. Although, they could easily activate it again.

Now, he has accepted the loss and is moving on. If anyone has any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them, he is pretty devistated.

 

[janey]

I would imagine contacting both Apple and AT&T, both fully knowing all serial and IMEI numbers involved, would be able to do something where the iPhone would be deactivated and unable to be reactivated again...making it effectively useless, even to be sold or used.

 

[defeated]

i found police's responce strange

 

[DaveGee]

I would imagine contacting both Apple and AT&T, both fully knowing all serial and IMEI numbers involved, would be able to do something where the iPhone would be deactivated and unable to be reactivated again...making it effectively useless, even to be sold or used.

Well if the phone was 'stolen' with a filed police report then *maybe* they'd be able to do something... but even then I'm not too sure...

Dave

 

[FreeState]

Sorry that is stolen

Call the police back. The phone was stolen - if you find property that is not yours and refuse to return it to the owner after the owner identifies himself that is stealing. Taking something that is not yours, even at Wendy's is stealing.

 

[The Prise]

i would try and meet up with the guy and say there is a cash reward of 100 bucks. and just be there at a certain time. i would also call the constables office to send out a unmarked car to wait in the parking lot with you and when the guy comes to claim the money thats when his bitch ass gets arrested.

chances are the phone is out of charge. but thats what i would do. or you could go to wendys there has got to be some sort of surveillance ad chances are the guy who found it left right away and was playing with it all the way out the door.

 

[The Prise]

ping the sim card. act as if its a missing report. they can track you with a sim if im not mistaken.

we are all being watched you do know this.

 

[dr_lha]

i found police's responce strange

Have you actually ever had to deal with the police when you're a victim of a crime?

I'm surprised they didn't just laugh at him, that's the kind of experience I've had with cops when I've had stuff stolen from me.

 

[libertyterran]

Seriously, your friend should report to the police that the phone was stolen. Yes, those bastards found it but they refused to return it to your friend. So they basically tried to own something that is not their. That is a stealing offense. Report it with the IMEI of the fone so they can lock it down...

GL,

 

[gr8tfly]

It wasn't "sorta" stolen. It was stolen. Period.

 

[glide]

How much help you get from the police with a stolen phone all depends on where you live. If you live in any relatively large city - forget about it.

 

[Annndy!]

I agree with glide. I hate to say it, but more than likely your friend will never see that phone again. Whoever stole it probably doesn't even have it anymore. They either ditched it or sold it when the battery ran out. Criminals are stupid, but most aren't stupid enough to have a stolen item on them for an extended period of time. The police won't help you with a stolen phone either. I said "bye-bye" to my Sidekick 3 when it was stolen from me (at gunpoint, no less) and used my Equipment Protection Plan to get another. Unfortunately, a quick glance at Apple's iPhone Warranty led me to believe that your friend's stolen phone is definitely not covered.

 

[aristobrat]

FWIW, some credit cards will cover purchases stolen within the first 90 days.

 

[mergedown]

Thanks for all of your input. He is working diligently on getting it back with all options, but knowing full well his chances are pretty low.

 

[Sobe]

just hope he doesn't get an email linking to a live feed of an iPhone in a blender demanding a ransom.

 

[kalamus]

i would try and meet up with the guy and say there is a cash reward of 100 bucks. and just be there at a certain time. i would also call the constables office to send out a unmarked car to wait in the parking lot with you and when the guy comes to claim the money thats when his bitch ass gets arrested.

Not a chance that a constable or any other law enforcement officer would take part in anything like this. Its a cell phone. Albeit, an expensive and awesome cell phone, but that has no bearing to a peace officer. You would be lucky if the police did anything at all.

 

[ianbeerent]

Call the police back. The phone was stolen - if you find property that is not yours and refuse to return it to the owner after the owner identifies himself that is steeling. Taking something that is not yours, even at Wendy's is steeling.

despite the spelling errors, this is totally true.

the rightful owner identified himself, and the people wouldn't give it back.That is stealing.

Also, how bout the fact they are stealing your plan? Texting / calling using the minutes / data that you paid for ... that is for sure stealing.

 

[chatster18]

Well if Apple Flagged the Serial number then they could tell iTunes to not allow it to activate, and AT&T can deactivate the IMEI on their network, making it a $600 paper weight....

 

[David R]

Just to be safe, he should change the password on his email account(s)

 

[chaos86]

tell him you'll pay him like $300 ransom at the same wendys "because it has all your important phone numbers on it," but then show up with three of your biggest, meanest friends at a nearby table and just take it from the guy. If he puts up a fight, beat the ____ out of him and call it an attempted robbery and you and your friends were doing it in self defence.

That what I'd do.

 

[boss1]

The police told him that they couldn't do anything because it wasnt officially stolen, it had been found.

ARE U Serious!? Holy mother of. I would have flipped. and started recording the conversation immediately. That is so horrible.

You should have told the police "btw A brand new police cruiser is going to be reported stolen in about an hour but don't bother looking for it because i found it."

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Well if Apple Flagged the Serial number then they could tell iTunes to not allow it to activate, and AT&T can deactivate the IMEI on their network, making it a $600 paper weight....

But corporate greed gets in the way, as well as situations between "friends" that go sourer.

"Phoning home" should be something that Apple and AT&T should tout as a security measure though IMO. It might not get the phone back - but would create a paperweight....

 

[Stampyhead]

Have you actually ever had to deal with the police when you're a victim of a crime?

I'm surprised they didn't just laugh at him, that's the kind of experience I've had with cops when I've had stuff stolen from me.

Yeah, dude. The police are a complete waste of space. It's good to know our tax dollars are being well spent for these lazy bastards to sit around and not solve crimes.

 

[iBlue]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/1A469a Safari/419.3)

tell him you'll pay him like $300 ransom at the same wendys "because it has all your important phone numbers on it," but then show up with three of your biggest, meanest friends at a nearby table and just take it from the guy. If he puts up a fight, beat the ____ out of him and call it an attempted robbery and you and your friends were doing it in self defence.

That what I'd do.

(it's basically what I would do too)

It might not be that bad of an idea. Perhaps (if you can find a willing one) bring a cop with you. It is stolen, make no mistake.

 

[ecks618]

ARE U Serious!? Holy mother of. I would have flipped. and started recording the conversation immediately. That is so horrible.

You should have told the police "btw A brand new police cruiser is going to be reported stolen in about an hour but don't bother looking for it because i found it."

Yep, thats the police. I had an ex-employee of mine who would harrass me constantly calling me and saying that its a shame Hitler didn't finish killing all of the Jews. This went on for days, and it is extremely inconvenient for me to change my number, but all the police did was make a report and keep it on file and because it was domestic, they would not do anything. I was forced to change my number, no other way.