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Found an iPhone in a taxi.... owner will not reply?

anim8or

anim8or

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 16, 2006
1,362
9
Scotland, UK
Hello all...

My mum found an iPhone in a taxi a couple of weeks ago and I have tried contacting the owner using the email address in the settings menu but have had nothing in reply form him?

I emailed him simply saying that we had found his iphone and to let us know how he wants it returned to him.....?

The sim is locked so i assume the guy has cancelled the sim or something, maybe he has already got a new one so doesnt care??? I dunno.....

What do i do now.... ? We all have iphones already so not really in need of a new one...

If he doesnt respond then do i get to keep it? I wouldnt mind using it as a holiday iphone when i go to the States in a month.... but if i attach it to my mac will it send some sorta message back to Apple or something?

Any thoughts?
 
I am fairly knowledgeable when it comes to macs and iphones etc... but not enough to know the definitive answer as to whether the IMEI or whatever is associated with his O2 account and therefor would i get into trouble for doing this?
 
Hi

O2 can still block the IMEI number and if you were to sell it on and the buyer reports you, you could face a handling stolen goods charge.

If it is blocked then you would not be able to use it yourself either.

If you want to do the right thing, then call O2 and explain the situation and take it from there.

MP
 
manorpark said:
Hi

O2 can still block the IMEI number and if you were to sell it on and the buyer reports you, you could face a handling stolen goods charge.

If it is blocked then you would not be able to use it yourself either.

If you want to do the right thing, then call O2 and explain the situation and take it from there.

MP
Click to expand...

The UK law says if you find something and keep it, it is theft UNLESS you go to reasonable lengths to ascertain the owner. It sounds like you have done this, so there would be no criminal issue. However, as mentioned, o2 may have blocked the phone. I agree that calling o2 would be a wise move, as a last measure to track down the owner, and if that's no good, to hopefully make sure the phone isn't blocked.
 
NightFox said:
The UK law says if you find something and keep it, it is theft UNLESS you go to reasonable lengths to ascertain the owner. It sounds like you have done this, so there would be no criminal issue. However, as mentioned, o2 may have blocked the phone. I agree that calling o2 would be a wise move, as a last measure to track down the owner, and if that's no good, to hopefully make sure the phone isn't blocked.
Click to expand...

NightFox

That is correct in certain circumstances but if you tried to sell it on straight away on ebay or whatever and the buyer found it blocked you would have a hard job explaining "how hard" you tried.

I know there is ways to get round the lock if you are into that type of thing but calling O2 is the right thing to do and what I would do as i know how gutted I would be if I lost mine.

MP
 
NightFox said:
The UK law says if you find something and keep it, it is theft UNLESS you go to reasonable lengths to ascertain the owner. It sounds like you have done this, so there would be no criminal issue.
Click to expand...

Though this true to an extent, reasonable lengths involve handing said object (iPhone or otherwise) to your local police station. If the police still have it after x amount of time (3 months I think) then you can keep the device. Simply emailing the owner yourself but not receiving a reply will not not be considered reasonable lengths.

Additionally, due to the nature of iPhone contracts, the device will indoubtably be linked with an account. If the owner has blocked the SIM then the phone attached to the device will be blocked and the IMEI blacklisted. Therefore, if you keep or sell the phone this is tantamount to theft.

Phoning O2 will not be of great use as they will not reveal the owners details to anyone else unless you can confirm details (Usually name, first line of address, postcode and name of bank, or a password). They will most likely give you the same advice I'll give you now....

Hand the phone into your local police station!
 
Ok so i have now called O2 and as advised they could not give out any address for the owner but did tell me that he has since reported it to them and has been sent a new sim and phone........ Not an iphone probably but thats all i could squeeze out of the re on the phone.

The honest part of me says to go to the police station and hand it in now but the realistic part of me knows that the chance of my local station being this person's local station is slim..... the taxi my mum found it in was at the airport!

For all we know the person may not live in my home town or even in Scotland!?

I will email the owner again and see what happens.... after all its just sitting on my desk everyday accumulating dust.....
 
You are not trying hard enough.

Open his addressbook and email people in his contact list. I bet at least one of them will answer. If not just open Mail, and find an email that was directly addressed to him and reply back.
 
Hand it in to the police, then if the owner isn't found they will give you it back - then it is officially yours and you can do as you please with it.
 
anim8or said:
Hello all...

My mum found an iPhone in a taxi a couple of weeks ago and I have tried contacting the owner using the email address in the settings menu but have had nothing in reply form him?

I emailed him simply saying that we had found his iphone and to let us know how he wants it returned to him.....?

The sim is locked so i assume the guy has cancelled the sim or something, maybe he has already got a new one so doesnt care??? I dunno.....

What do i do now.... ? We all have iphones already so not really in need of a new one...

If he doesnt respond then do i get to keep it? I wouldnt mind using it as a holiday iphone when i go to the States in a month.... but if i attach it to my mac will it send some sorta message back to Apple or something?

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Call someone on his/her favorites?
 
Once I found a phone in a park and I contact that person's 'Dad', they thanked me SOOOOO much and brought me a bottle of red wine (good wine) :)
 
Keep emailing. Your one email could be sitting in this person's SPAM section where most people rarely look or where many people have it preset to delete such email after a time period.

Keep emailing...once a day for several weeks. :D
 
anim8or said:
Ok so i have now called O2 and as advised they could not give out any address for the owner but did tell me that he has since reported it to them and has been sent a new sim and phone........ Not an iphone probably but thats all i could squeeze out of the re on the phone.
Click to expand...

Call those idiots back and tell them to contact there customer on your behalf.

Im sure they will be thrilled to have it back either way.
 
Compile 'em all said:
You are not trying hard enough.

Open his addressbook and email people in his contact list. I bet at least one of them will answer. If not just open Mail, and find an email that was directly addressed to him and reply back.
Click to expand...

The emails i have been sending are to his email, the one listed in settings under mail.

rednano74 said:
Keep emailing. Your one email could be sitting in this person's SPAM section where most people rarely look or where many people have it preset to delete such email after a time period.

Keep emailing...once a day for several weeks. :D
Click to expand...

At which point did i say i only sent 1 email? I said "i have emailed him...." not i emailed him once....

I do not want to sell the phone if i never hear from him, and have no ill motive for keeping it, but to be honest i have tried to return it and have taken time to do so..... if he doesn't want it then i am happy to keep it... its not a bad spare to have (lol).....

Like i said before i am of the opinion that if i do hand it in to my local police station who is to say that it wont sit there for a few months unclaimed then someone down the station takes it home for themselves.... selfish i know but i would rather keep trying to return it until what is considered a reasonable time and then keep it myself.

Berate me if you wish but i am sure i am not the only person who thinks this way.
 
I agree personally, if you've made the effort to return it and he hasn't replied then keep it.
 
Don't stop until you make contact with him. If I lost my iPhone it would make me so happy for somebody to contact me, I would probably give them a reward too.
Keep emailing him, call people in his favourites, search his email on Facebook and try contacting him through there, etc. etc. Don't stop. It can't be that hard to contact him!
 
To me it sounds as though you're using the thread to justify you keeping the phone.

I'd call the numbers in his phone(home, maybe recent calls, etc?)

That doesn't work, I'd give it to the police. Doubt they'll take it...and this way it would be yours if no one claims it.
 
anim8or said:
The emails i have been sending are to his email, the one listed in settings under mail.



At which point did i say i only sent 1 email? I said "i have emailed him...." not i emailed him once....

I do not want to sell the phone if i never hear from him, and have no ill motive for keeping it, but to be honest i have tried to return it and have taken time to do so..... if he doesn't want it then i am happy to keep it... its not a bad spare to have (lol).....

Like i said before i am of the opinion that if i do hand it in to my local police station who is to say that it wont sit there for a few months unclaimed then someone down the station takes it home for themselves.... selfish i know but i would rather keep trying to return it until what is considered a reasonable time and then keep it myself.

Berate me if you wish but i am sure i am not the only person who thinks this way.
Click to expand...


Sorry but i wouldnt take it to the Police station, not here in Scotland anyway. You or the original owner most likely will never see it again (especially in Glasgow):D. I would try 02 again though and try to istigate they contact the owner on your behalf.
 
You're all going about it all wrong now.

OP: You've spoken to O2 and they've told you that the owner has had a replacement phone and SIM card. The phone therefore no longer belongs to him, it belongs to the insurance company.

Exactly the same situation arises if you have your car stolen. If the insurance company replace your car, and it is subsiquently recovered by the police you do not get your original car back. The insurance company own it, and will sell it to recoup their loses.

Really you need to speak to O2 again, or the insurance company if you know who it is. If they don't want the phone returned to them then it's yours.

In terms of the police taking it for themselves, have you not heard that the police in the UK are utterly bogged down with beuracracy and form filling? From the second you hand it over there is a paper trail which cannot dissappear. They are not allowed to claim property handed in.
 
zap2 said:
To me it sounds as though you're using the thread to justify you keeping the phone.

I'd call the numbers in his phone(home, maybe recent calls, etc?)
Click to expand...

This has been my impression while reading this thread, just waited for someone else to say something first. :)

You keep sending emails to an email address that the owner isn't responding to... yet, no mention of trying to CALL the PHONE NUMBERS on the PHONE?

Why even ask anyone here for help? :rolleyes: There's plenty of options you can use to try and contact. SMS, Phone numbers, etc.
 
Call "MOM" in his contact list. That's what we do when we find phones, which happens often since my mom works at the airport. Calling someone like Mom, Dad, etc, is the best way to contact the person. Not through email.
 
Sell it on eBay, duh, lol. At least you tried to contact the owner.
 
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