Found an iPhone 5S, what to do?

[famoussasjohn]

I'd say either take it to the police, or take it to the carrier that it's activated on. Maybe they can find out info on the device and contact the owner to pick it up.

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The question there is: IS IT ILLEGAL, OR JUST NOT COOL TO SELL IT FOR PARTS?

I've already recommended that he give it to the police, but I know he's basically wondering that ^.

It's not your place to just up and sell it online. Clearly the owner wants the device back, hence the message on the screen.

 

[taptic]

I'd say either take it to the police, or take it to the carrier that it's activated on. Maybe they can find out info on the device and contact the owner to pick it up.
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It's not your place to just up and sell it online. Clearly the owner wants the device back, hence the message on the screen.

Yeah, that's my opinion. Btw, he said he found it in the grass at a park. I'll give him all the suggestions and try and help him get it back to whoever it belonged to.

Thanks to all of you! (except the dude that was being obnoxious, I won't name any names Defender2010 xD)

 

[Jalopybox]

 

[acfusion29]

Bingo. Stolen & lost property databases, which acfusion29 doesn't seem to comprehend. Turn in the phone, serial#/IMEI goes into database. Maybe person who lost it goes to police, maybe they find the info in the database. Like I said, not a big chance, but any chance is significantly greater than none.

LMFAO at thinking they have this database. they don't.. i would know

you are mistaken my friend.

 

[tvotony]

Take it to the apple store and let them deal with it

 

[7thson]

Hi,

A friend of mine said he found an iPhone 5s, but that it said it was locked and to call a number. The number wasn't any good. What should he do?

Have your friend ask Siri this, "who does this phone belong to?" With any luck Siri is activated and she will pull up the user phone # and email.

 

[RetiredInFl]

It's not your place to just up and sell it online. Clearly the owner wants the device back, hence the message on the screen.

LOL. maybe the "OWNER" accidentally on purpose lost it after he broke the screen and is now the owner of a new 5S paid by his insurance?

 

[lordofthereef]

The question there is: IS IT ILLEGAL, OR JUST NOT COOL TO SELL IT FOR PARTS?

I've already recommended that he give it to the police, but I know he's basically wondering that ^.

No, it is not legal to sell an item that you happened upon in the street (or wherever else you found it, unless it was discarded, in which case it was also discarded illegally lol).

Will you get in trouble (legally?) I sincerely doubt that. It's a much larger offense to pirate movies/music/games, technically speaking, but the number of people that actually get busted is so ridiculously small that the risk is almost nonexistent.

I do question the people that are giving you such a hard time for this, though. It's entirely likely that you try to drop the phone off nearest where it was found and it simply becomes someone else's property (at the establishment where you returned it because it never gets claimed). Morally, I would feel pretty comfortable having tried to call the number and not being able to get anywhere (unsure what you mean by the number not working, but maybe try a few more times). If you do feel bad about finding the phone, just do what someone else suggested and turn it into the police. Probably won't get you anywhere either, but at least your conscience is 100% clear.

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LMFAO at thinking they have this database. they don't.. i would know

you are mistaken my friend.

If you know what provider it is on, you can pretty easily take it to them. They certainly won't give the finder the information, but if the employee wants, he can pretty easily pull up all of that, assuming the IMIE or ICCID is still registered to whoever was last using it.

How often this happens, I am unsure, But the database absolutely exists (just maybe not via the police).

 

[Diana Prince]

As much as it seems to make sense to take it to the police, if you lost your cell phone...would you think to contact your local police station? I wouldn't. It would never really occur to me. I think most items are recovered when the person who finds the item makes a real effort to find the owner. (i.e. my sister in law had her kindle returned to her when the finder contacted Amazon)

Someone posted earlier to take the phone to Apple. If the finder doesn't care to make attempts to get it to the owner, I think taking the phone to Apple is a great idea. They may be able get more info from the phone.

 

[869639]

As much as it seems to make sense to take it to the police, if you lost your cell phone...would you think to contact your local police station? I wouldn't. It would never really occur to me. I think most items are recovered when the person who finds the item makes a real effort to find the owner. (i.e. my sister in law had her kindle returned to her when the finder contacted Amazon)

Someone posted earlier to take the phone to Apple. If the finder doesn't care to make attempts to get it to the owner, I think taking the phone to Apple is a great idea. They may be able get more info from the phone.

Two people that won't do anything about a lost device:

1) Police [It is highly pointless because they are 100% not going to waste their time and effort to reunite a iPhone with its owner as they have way more important things to do]
2) Apple Store [Apple Store will not do anything for you or on behalf of the original owner, they will not crack into the iPhone just to find the original owner].

Only way a lost iPhone can return to owners hands is:

a) the owner is very much interested in finding his/her device and is willing to keep trying through rain or shine
b) if owner is trying, the finder is just as interested in returning the device. Only two good souls with same amount of effort can return a lost item, otherwise its never going to get returned and basically finders keepers [Is this the right thing to do? I don't know, but I do know turning it into 1) or 2) as mentioned above is definitely the farthest thing anyone can do if they are trying to be helpful in anyway at all].

jus my two cents

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Something doesn't add up about the OP is that, why would someone happen to put a lost message on their lost device with a number that doesn't even work....I mean the person obviously is knowledgable enough to actually go into iCloud.com and post the message...I would think that person would read it twice before pressing send....and that just goes to show that the original owner truly is interested in getting their device back....now cooperation from the finder is what thats going to make all the difference.

 

[I7guy]

To me the moral thing is to turn the phone into the police or carrier. Assuming owner wants it back there is some probability greater than zero this will happen. I wonder how you all would feel if it was your wallet that was lost. Finders keepers for the cash and throw away the credit cards.

 

[taptic]

UPDATE:

The friend was overwhelmed by the various ways of trying to find the original owner, so he dropped it off at my place this morning and said I could try whatever I wanted to.

I first tried tracking him through the IMEI number, but that proved unsuccessful. I only found out that he had gotten it blacklisted. After various trials and errors I happened upon the brilliantly obvious idea of googling the number the phone said to contact. It brought up a facebook name. When I had plugged the phone into iTunes, it showed parts of the email address of the person's Apple ID. The email on the Facebook page matched those parts, and from there it was relatively easy to contact him. We met at a Target and justice reigns.

 

[Señor]

UPDATE:

The friend was overwhelmed by the various ways of trying to find the original owner, so he dropped it off at my place this morning and said I could try whatever I wanted to.

I first tried tracking him through the IMEI number, but that proved unsuccessful. I only found out that he had gotten it blacklisted. After various trials and errors I happened upon the brilliantly obvious idea of googling the number the phone said to contact. It brought up a facebook name. When I had plugged the phone into iTunes, it showed parts of the email address of the person's Apple ID. The email on the Facebook page matched those parts, and from there it was relatively easy to contact him. We met at a Target and justice reigns.

Good for you OP! Glad everything worked out in the end.

 

[itricks.org]

UPDATE:

The friend was overwhelmed by the various ways of trying to find the original owner, so he dropped it off at my place this morning and said I could try whatever I wanted to.

I first tried tracking him through the IMEI number, but that proved unsuccessful. I only found out that he had gotten it blacklisted. After various trials and errors I happened upon the brilliantly obvious idea of googling the number the phone said to contact. It brought up a facebook name. When I had plugged the phone into iTunes, it showed parts of the email address of the person's Apple ID. The email on the Facebook page matched those parts, and from there it was relatively easy to contact him. We met at a Target and justice reigns.

i'm so glad things like this still happen, kudos to op! when I lost my iPhone I tracked it down but it was probably on a boat in the middle of the sea.. thank god for insurance

 

[nebo1ss]

Have your friend ask Siri this, "who does this phone belong to?" With any luck Siri is activated and she will pull up the user phone # and email.

So much faith in SIRI. Just for the hell of it I tried that on my phone here is the exact response.

Me. Who does this phone belong too?

Siri. Checking on that.

Siri. Here's What i found on the Web.


Then provides a list of web sites like. (1) Who does a phone number belong
too. (2) Have you ever tried to find out who a phone number belong too.

LOL

 

[Lucille Carter]

the old should get into the stage of knowing the police WON'T DO ANYTHING

old people = know it alls

Thousands of phones are lost and stolen each day. Police are not going to do anything, call them and they will tell you. I would rather turn it in to Apple or the carrier than give it to the police who I would trust to try to turn it into profit for themselves.

I gues I am a little older than most hear but it does not take much smarts to realize that police are not what they used to be and that their unions changed what we used to know as police. The youngest do NOT know better, they are a product of the union educational system!

 

[iamMacPerson]

So much faith in SIRI. Just for the hell of it I tried that on my phone here is the exact response.

Me. Who does this phone belong too?

Siri. Checking on that.

Siri. Here's What i found on the Web.


Then provides a list of web sites like. (1) Who does a phone number belong
too. (2) Have you ever tried to find out who a phone number belong too.

LOL

You have to remember Siri still needs help. The correct way to word it for Siri would be "Who am I?".

 

[Jambalaya]

OP glad to hear how things turned out. I'm surprised one suggested just keeping the phone charged as if the owner had "find my phone" switched on he'd be able to track it.

 

[lordofthereef]

UPDATE:

The friend was overwhelmed by the various ways of trying to find the original owner, so he dropped it off at my place this morning and said I could try whatever I wanted to.

I first tried tracking him through the IMEI number, but that proved unsuccessful. I only found out that he had gotten it blacklisted. After various trials and errors I happened upon the brilliantly obvious idea of googling the number the phone said to contact. It brought up a facebook name. When I had plugged the phone into iTunes, it showed parts of the email address of the person's Apple ID. The email on the Facebook page matched those parts, and from there it was relatively easy to contact him. We met at a Target and justice reigns.

Now all the classy folks who were making assumptions about your character can eat crow!

 

[I7guy]

Now all the classy folks who were making assumptions about your character can eat crow!

Right and maybe some of the feedback helped the moral compass.

 

[lordofthereef]

Right and maybe some of the feedback helped the moral compass.

From the sound of it, the guy was trying to contact the owner from the getgo. But sure, Yes, implying he was dishonest and shaming his home state was probably helpful too...

Some people (especially internet people) seem to want to assume the worst in all situations.

 

[deeddawg]

they don't.. i would know

yes, because you of course are the authority knowing the workings of all agencies across the world and can say for sure that there would be zero chance of anything positive coming from the suggestion. sure thing, friend.

As much as it seems to make sense to take it to the police, if you lost your cell phone...would you think to contact your local police station? I wouldn't.

At least some cell phone insurance policies require the person to file a police report regarding the lost phone as part of the claim process. This creates a possibility (albeit small) that the local agency might have a record of the lost phone. I wouldn't have a high expectation that it'd accomplish much, but unlike some cynics here I see a small chance as better than nothing.

After various trials and errors I happened upon the brilliantly obvious idea of googling the number the phone said to contact. [...] We met at a Target and justice reigns.

Sweet. Thanks for posting the follow up, good to see the phone found its way home.

 

[I7guy]

From the sound of it, the guy was trying to contact the owner from the getgo. But sure, Yes, implying he was dishonest and shaming his home state was probably helpful too...

Some people (especially internet people) seem to want to assume the worst in all situations.

Maybe it was due to the original QUESTION that was asked. Maybe it's just me, but except for buried treasure I always turn over lost property to the police if there are no alternatives. My first thought is not how much money I can make selling it.

 

[lordofthereef]

Maybe it was due to the original QUESTION that was asked. Maybe it's just me, but except for buried treasure I always turn over lost property to the police if there are no alternatives. My first thought is not how much money I can make selling it.

Listen, I am not going to get into this (again) with you. If you want to think you or others in the thread helped steer this dude's moral compass, suit yourself.

I was merely commenting about the nature of the forum and the assumptions people are so ready to make about another person's character, whom they have never met. I find it rather fascinating.

 

[I7guy]

Listen, I am not going to get into this (again) with you. If you want to think you or others in the thread helped steer this dude's moral compass, suit yourself.

I was merely commenting about the nature of the forum and the assumptions people are so ready to make about another person's character, whom they have never met. I find it rather fascinating.

I personally don't need to believe it was my post that was the moral police. On another question, do you talk to your wife, girl friend or friends like that? I really don't care for this is the internet and you can be as pejorative as you want. Over and out.