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If I lost my iPhone I really hope that some honest person finding it would go to the ends of the Earth to re-unite me with it. Even if I had already had it replaced on insurance with a Sankiarola Turdo Z14. I'd quite happily return that to my insurers in return for my beloved iPhone. However, if that honest person had contacted my insurers rather than me, I doubt I'd ever hear of it.

(Except I'm one of those with no insurance on my phone, so maybe not)

Bet the OP's wishing he'd never bothered asking now

What kind of Mickey Mouse insurance company have you been using? You get the same phone as you had?
 
he wouldnt be lifted for finding a phone....The original owner will probably say hes lost his phone as opposed to saying his phone has been Stolen. If the phone was reported Stolen then yes it would be reguarded as a criminal act but if the owner has now recieved another device, its unlikely he would have even registered as missing with the police and just put it down to damn bad luck and moved on with his shiny new phone

on a side note wouldnt 02 have automatically blacklist the phones imei when the owner reported it

The phone will already be shown as lost on the NMPR so they would be nicked for Theft by Finding.

Trust.

The onus would then be on the person to prove that they had taken reasonable steps to locate the owner.
 
Hell with that. US cops don't give a **** so screw I say screw the owner keep it or give it to me. Come on PLEASE????:D
 
Idk but i wouldn't return it if he wouldn't reply! By now he is screwed. Give it to me! What the hell the thread starter already has an iphone. Be a good and generous man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:apple:
 
Give it to me! Send it to me! I need a Iphone! Come on, PLEASE?!?!?! :apple::rolleyes::(:eek:

Hell with that. US cops don't give a **** so screw I say screw the owner keep it or give it to me. Come on PLEASE????:D

Idk but i wouldn't return it if he wouldn't reply! By now he is screwed. Give it to me! What the hell the thread starter already has an iphone. Be a good and generous man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:apple:

Calm the hell down. :rolleyes:
 
I'm kidding dude! <('_')> LOL!!!!!!! My ipod touch broke and i have to take it to the apple store! I all wild because if it does turn on and they realize it's jailbroke i can't get a new one because it's still under warranty! Yeah but it does appear to be bricked!!!! :apple: :apple: :apple: :apple: :apple: :apple: :mad:
 
I'm kidding dude! <('_')> LOL!!!!!!! My ipod touch broke and i have to take it to the apple store! I all wild because if it does turn on and they realize it's jailbroke i can't get a new one because it's still under warranty! Yeah but it does appear to be bricked!!!! :apple: :apple: :apple: :apple: :apple: :apple: :mad:

Start a new thread about it and troll there.
 
I might be able to shed some light, and this would be true for UK mobile operators. Not sure about the US.

If the owner has reported it lost or stolen, then O2 will have barred the account (SIM too) and also blacklisted the device. Essentially, every night, mobile operators will sync blacklisted devices so that none of these blacklisted devices will work on any network. I actually think (if I remember correctly) this is legislation required by law. If stolen or lost phones don't get blacklisted then it makes the theft of phones a viable crime; if they stolen phones never work after stolen, then people won't get mugged for them as often as they can't be sold on. If that makes sense?

If a SIM is put into said blacklisted phone, O2 will have a record of all SIMs & MSISDNs which have ever been put into or used in that IMEI. So you could get linked to it, if they wanted link someone to it. It's not unheard of that a mobile operator will contact the owner of the next SIM placed into a stolen device as they are likely to be the mugger/thief, and said person may get a knock on their door from the local police. Mobile operators don't have the resources to make this happen in each case though I suspect.

So really, there's no gain from keeping the phone, and you're putting yourself at risk if you sell it as you're selling goods considered as lost/stolen by all the UK's mobile operators. I can bet you that O2 doesn't have any kind of process to take back lost/stolen handsets that get found.

The ONLY positive thing that can come of this, is to return the phone to the owner. It's within the power of O2 to unblacklist the device, but you can bet they won't do it for anyone but the original owner. If O2 were particularly clever, they would have a process in place to collect the found iPhone for refurbishing and putting back into the replacement supply chain.
 
I might be able to shed some light, and this would be true for UK mobile operators. Not sure about the US.

If the owner has reported it lost or stolen, then O2 will have barred the account (SIM too) and also blacklisted the device. Essentially, every night, mobile operators will sync blacklisted devices so that none of these devices will work on any network. I actually think (if I remember) this is a required action by law. If the phone isn't black listed then it makes theft of phones a viable crime, if they never work after stolen, then people won't get mugged for them as they can't be sold on. If that makes sense?

IF a SIM is put into said black listed phone, O2 will have a record of all SIMs & MSISDNs which have ever been put into or used in that IMEI. So you could get linked to it, if they wanted to. It's not unheard of that a mobile operator will contact the owner of the next SIM placed into a stolen device as they are likely to be the mugger/thief, and said person may get a knock on their door. Mobile operators don't have the sources to make this happen in each case though.

So really, there's no gain from keeping the phone, and you're putting yourself at risk if you sell it as you're selling goods considered as lost/stolen by all the UK's mobile operators. I can bet you that O2 doesn't have any kind of process to take back lost/stolen handsets that get found.

The ONLY positive thing that can come of this, is to return the phone to the owner. It's within the power of O2 to unblacklist the device, but you can bet they won't do it for anyone but the original owner. If O2 were particularly clever, they would have a process in place to collect the found iPhone for refurbishing and putting back into the replacement supply chain.
Does this exist for AT&T and the US? If so, I would need to talk to my ATT guy again. My phone was stolen about two weeks ago.
 
Why couldn't the finder walk into an O2 store and say i've found this can you re-unite it with the owner?? I know the customer services can't give out address details and this is quite right but why couldn't the retail store find out and mail it back to them??
 
Does this exist for AT&T and the US? If so, I would need to talk to my ATT guy again. My phone was stolen about two weeks ago.

I'm not sure about the US, I'd imagine a similar process is in place.

In your case, even if AT&T did recover the device, or found out who is now in possession of it, I don't imagine they'd spend resource to retrieve it or get it back to you. It'd be a costly exercise and just be cheaper to blacklist it and forget about it - if that makes sense? In other words, I don't think you'll have anything to gain from the above process. They might even manage to flog you some insurance and replace your phone for you now (subject to you signing up to a further contract)!

Purely from a mobile operators perspective, it kind of makes sense to not blacklist phones. They spent considerable money to subsidize the device on the expectation they'll make a return on their investment through your usage of the device. If it gets stolen, that's sad, but if someone puts another AT&T SIM in it then they can still make money off that device - perhaps more than they might have when that SIM wasn't in use at all, or was in use in an older handset. At the same time though, many stolen handsets get used by Fraudsters and it promotes mobile phone theft as a viable crime, so I'd imagine the US mobile operators work in the same way as UK mobile operators.
 
Why couldn't the finder walk into an O2 store and say i've found this can you re-unite it with the owner?? I know the customer services can't give out address details and this is quite right but why couldn't the retail store find out and mail it back to them??

I don't imagine such a process would exist. Look at it from O2's point of view as a business. There will be costs and overhead associated with the time spent and resources used to find out who the owner is, and push it through the O2 pipeline to get it back to them. In a number of instances, the phone would likely be in poor condition if it's been on a rough ride, so the owner would probably be unhappy with the condition it was in.

By writing it off and blacklisting it, O2 can ad-hoc promote some insurance to this customer with a hefty admin charge and then send them a new refurb. Customer gets a replacement phone, O2 sold some insurance and they didn't have to fuss around.

There just wouldn't be a business case to justify the costs of building and sustaining such a process - especially one that would probably get used really rarely. I suspect in most cases like this the person who stole it or found it has no interest in reuniting it with the owner. I'd suspect it might also impact sales for their insurance products if such a solution/process ever existed in O2.
 
I don't imagine such a process would exist. Look at it from O2's point of view as a business. There will be costs and overhead associated with the time spent and resources used to find out who the owner is, and push it through the O2 pipeline to get it back to them. In a number of instances, the phone would likely be in poor condition if it's been on a rough ride, so the owner would probably be unhappy with the condition it was in.

By writing it off and blacklisting it, O2 can ad-hoc promote some insurance to this customer with a hefty admin charge and then send them a new refurb. Customer gets a replacement phone, O2 sold some insurance and they didn't have to fuss around.

There just wouldn't be a business case to justify the costs of building and sustaining such a process - especially one that would probably get used really rarely. I suspect in most cases like this the person who stole it or found it has no interest in reuniting it with the owner. I'd suspect it might also impact sales for their insurance products if such a solution/process ever existed in O2.

There might not be a process in place but surely it's just good customer service?!?
It would take an O2 employee about 10 mins to find out the address it belonged to and another couple of mins to plonk it in a jiffy bag in the post.

If that was my iphone and an o2 employee did that for me i'd be over the moon!!
 
There might not be a process in place but surely it's just good customer service?!?
It would take an O2 employee about 10 mins to find out the address it belonged to and another couple of mins to plonk it in a jiffy bag in the post.

If that was my iphone and an o2 employee did that for me i'd be over the moon!!

It absolutely is good customer service but it just wouldn't be worth it for O2. If someone did do that and take it into an O2 store, then I'd imagine that the sales assistance would end up doing it out of their own pocket, purely being nice and mail it back to them - completely outside of anything O2 or the processes the company has. I don't know though :). You may very well be right. I just don't imagine O2 would do such a thing. There's more reasons for them as a business not to.
 
If the iPhone has songs on it purchased from iTunes and the hard drive on the iPhone has been activated, you could use your computer to look for an iTunes track (it will have a security lock symbol on the file icon) and try to play it. When you do so, iTunes will ask you to authorize your computer to play the track. It will prompt you for a password while at the same time showing you the owner's email address. Maybe this email address will work and the other one you found is wrong or old. Worth a try.

If all else fails, why not turn it in to the Apple Store? They could figure out by the serial number who the owner is.
 
listen just text everyone on the contact list daily until you get a response. call people who sound important or are in the call log. stop complaining and do the right thing
 
Perhaps the previous 'owner' stole and doesn't want to be nicked...

In the UK failing to turn the phone in to the police is theft by finding. The phone should just be given in to them. I believe if nobody claims it after a certain time period (weeks), then you can claim it as yours. In any case, turning it in is the honest thing to do....
 
Update...

I finally got hold of the owner... or he got hold of me by replying to the emails i sent him....

He has already got a new iPhone and wasnt bothered about me returning the phone!!!!!

I was flabbergasted when i read this.... i have loads of friends who would want an iphone, even one so bashed and bruised as this one.

So now all that can happen is that i have a nice iPhone shaped brick sitting on my desk, doing nothing!

I looked the IMEI online and the phone is registered as lost/stolen so there goes any chance of selling it or even passing it on due to the whole 'handling stolen goods' situation that could arise, so I guess all i can do now is chuck it away or keep it locked away in a drawer or something....

...If only Find My iPhone was available to this guys a month or so earlier then this mess would not have occured.... but it seems like everything has worked out for the best anyway.

Would have loved some reward for my efforts to be honest but at least no one loses.

Thanks for all your input on this thread!

PS this thread is a prime example of how people do nt read the first few posts and then the game of chinese whispers begins.... to all those who have insulted me or accused me of stealing, or complaining or anything but asking advice on how to del with the situation then have a read back over the thread and enjoy the laughter that ensues.....!
 
Wirelessly posted (iPod touch 32GB: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A341 Safari/528.16)

If he's had the phone replaced on insurance, then I think it now belongs to the insurance company. Of you contact them they may give you a reward for finding it.
 
Can the original owner 'unbrick' it for you?

Update...

I finally got hold of the owner... or he got hold of me by replying to the emails i sent him....

He has already got a new iPhone and wasnt bothered about me returning the phone!!!!!

I was flabbergasted when i read this.... i have loads of friends who would want an iphone, even one so bashed and bruised as this one.

So now all that can happen is that i have a nice iPhone shaped brick sitting on my desk, doing nothing!

I looked the IMEI online and the phone is registered as lost/stolen so there goes any chance of selling it or even passing it on due to the whole 'handling stolen goods' situation that could arise, so I guess all i can do now is chuck it away or keep it locked away in a drawer or something....

...If only Find My iPhone was available to this guys a month or so earlier then this mess would not have occured.... but it seems like everything has worked out for the best anyway.

Would have loved some reward for my efforts to be honest but at least no one loses.

Thanks for all your input on this thread!

PS this thread is a prime example of how people do nt read the first few posts and then the game of chinese whispers begins.... to all those who have insulted me or accused me of stealing, or complaining or anything but asking advice on how to del with the situation then have a read back over the thread and enjoy the laughter that ensues.....!

I know this is a long shot, but, since the original owner wants nothing to do with the phone, can you ask him to 'unbrick' the phone by him calling customer service and reporting his previously lost phone now found?

I find the original owner very nonchalant! You are lucky you can insure your phones in the UK. Here in the US, you would have to pay through the nose for a replacement iPhone!
 
I know this is a long shot, but, since the original owner wants nothing to do with the phone, can you ask him to 'unbrick' the phone by him calling customer service and reporting his previously lost phone now found?

I find the original owner very nonchalant! You are lucky you can insure your phones in the UK. Here in the US, you would have to pay through the nose for a replacement iPhone!

Most of the UK is nonchalant.

And, I would call O2 and explain that I can't use it but he said I could have it. Preferably in writing from him. The original owner is an idiot and rich off his ass I bet.
 
have to say...

think Aurial got this correct. In normal circumstances, the owner would want and be happy to get it back.

In this case, the insurance company that replaced it is the current owner.
Would just call O2 and tell them to provide the insurance carrier's info.

If the insurance carrier declines to accept the device, then it's yours.
But not if O2 declines.

Police? Sounds like the Scotland police have deep pockets when reaching for the iPhone evidence bags. ;)
 
Worst case scenario, sell it for parts. The screen alone is worth a pretty penny to the repair shops.
 
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