iPhone found in street - how do I return it?

[Help123]

Hi,

Not being an iPhone user myself I genuinely have no idea what i am doing with the bloody thing and I don't really understand the apple 'lingo' so please be gentle!

About 2 weeks ago I was walking through town when I noticed an iPhone lying on the floor. Now, I like to think that if I lost my phone someone would try to get it back to me so, I'd like to get it back to the owner. I thought it had been dropped or thrown cus the back of it is all smashed up (it is an iPhone 4s) and i tried to turn it on to call a number on it but it was dead. So after about half and hour fiddling with an earring my mate tried to take the sim out (HOW FIDDLY IS THAT THING?!!? I didn't even know where to LOOK for the bloody sim!!) so we could take it in to the service providers shop- but, THERE IS NO SIM IN IT. So, getting a bit fed up of the whole thing I took it up to a couple of policeman on the street later that day who basically laughed in my face and told me if it didn't come on, was smashed, with no sim in it and I found it in the middle of a road in Birmingham City Centre, I might as well just bin it.

I have since borrowed a charger and plugged it in and it just shows a little grey iTunes symbol and asks me to put a sim in it... I don't have a spare sim and I don't want anyone thinking I stole it by putting mine in it (plus my sim card seems like it might not fit?) I thought about putting up adverts but how would I ever know if anyone was telling the truth? it seems to have no discernible identifying features? To be honest I'm getting a bit tired of the whole thing - I wish I'd never picked the thing up!!


So now I'm stuck. I'm not here for a lecture or anything, i read some other forums and it always seems to descend into a moral debate about ownership - I KNOW its not mine and i really am trying to do the right thing by its owners!! I genuinely don't know what to do from this point or if there is some sort of thing you can do with iPhones or not? I mean, I don't know whether its been tossed after being stolen or whether its a phone someone didn't want anymore and they took the sim out and chucked it or what. All I know is that I have a broken, ownerless iPhone in my house and...I don't really know what to do with it?

 

[UltraInstinct]

Take it to the apple store? They might be able to find out who bought it.

 

[abz1981]

Okay here is my input to this story.

1. I don't understand why the policemen would laugh at you. However you can take it to your local police office and leave it with them. If someone has lost it. They would most likely come to the police station and see if anyone handed the phone in.

2. You can take it to your local apple store in Birmingham and tell them you found it and apple will then get the persons details (through apple's systems) and contact them directly.

Follow the above 2 options and the issue has been resolved for you. No point stressing about it.

 

[asleep]

Take it to an Apple store.

 

[zedzded]

I found one, took out sim card and too it to the respective provider - they would have the customer details.

 

[mknlb50]

^ just return it to its respective carrier. They'll take it from there.

 

[Fedmahn Kassad]

It sounds like it may be formatted, though. The only thing you can do is take it to an Apple store and see if they can pull the owner's information. Otherwise, pay $30 for a new back and you've got a new 4S.

 

[mattopotamus]

Okay here is my input to this story.

1. I don't understand why the policemen would laugh at you. However you can take it to your local police office and leave it with them. If someone has lost it. They would most likely come to the police station and see if anyone handed the phone in.

2. You can take it to your local apple store in Birmingham and tell them you found it and apple will then get the persons details (through apple's systems) and contact them directly.

Follow the above 2 options and the issue has been resolved for you. No point stressing about it.

b.c they are not going to have luck finding the owner, nor probably care....just saying.

 

[abz1981]

b.c they are not going to have luck finding the owner, nor probably care....just saying.

I am not saying that the police are going to go help and try and look for the owner. I am saying the police will probably just place the phone in the lost/found box and will hand it back to the owner if the owner turns up.

 

[mattopotamus]

I am not saying that the police are going to go help and try and look for the owner. I am saying the police will probably just place the phone in the lost/found box and will hand it back to the owner if the owner turns up.

Ahh. I know he is trying to do the right thing, but it sounds like a lost cause

 

[Night Spring]

Take it to the apple store? They might be able to find out who bought it.

2. You can take it to your local apple store in Birmingham and tell them you found it and apple will then get the persons details (through apple's systems) and contact them directly.

Take it to an Apple store.

Apple doesn't help locate and contact owners of found iOS devices. That would be a whole load of mess. People don't always register their devices, move after registering and don't update their contact info, pass on or sell their device and the new owner never registers it under their name...

So no, Apple doesn't help return lost devices to their owners. It'd be a huge undertaking needing its own subdivision.

 

[JaySoul]

It sounds like a burner to me.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

I once found an otherwise real looking iPhone 4 on the street and it turned out to be a knockoff. Someone apparently discarded it upon discovering it was a knockoff

 

[Mercenary]

It sounds like a burner to me.

Yeah bitch!

 

[JaySoul]

Yeah bitch!

Birmingham is like The Wire, I tell ya!

 

[EvilQueen]

Okay here is my input to this story.

1. I don't understand why the policemen would laugh at you. However you can take it to your local police office and leave it with them. If someone has lost it. They would most likely come to the police station and see if anyone handed the phone in.

I would never go to the police station looking for a phone.

 

[Mercenary]

Birmingham is like The Wire, I tell ya!

People stacking the Benjamin's until the rubber band pops?

 

[alent1234]

if its NYC then put it into airplane mode, wipe your prints and dump it in the trash

stupid cops like to leave "lost" stuff around and arrest you if you touch it

 

[*~Kim~*]

Take it to an Apple store. They should be able to find the IMEI of the phone and hopefully trace the owner.

 

[abz1981]

Apple doesn't help locate and contact owners of found iOS devices. That would be a whole load of mess. People don't always register their devices, move after registering and don't update their contact info, pass on or sell their device and the new owner never registers it under their name...

So no, Apple doesn't help return lost devices to their owners. It'd be a huge undertaking needing its own subdivision.

Oh okay I never knew that. I thought they might have helped.

----------

I would never go to the police station looking for a phone.

That may be your choice. However if I lost my phone and was in a particular area. I would go into the local police station in that area to see if someone handed in a phone maybe a Good Samaritan. But that's just me. Anyway each to there own I guess.

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Ahh. I know he is trying to do the right thing, but it sounds like a lost cause

Yeah guess your right lol.

 

[jonAppleSeed]

I would just bin it. The person probably already reported the phone lost or stolen and have received a new one. If they get the old one back they may need to return the new one or be charged for it.

 

[Help123]

update

Thanks for the replies guys -

So I took it to the apple store in bullring today and they advised me to take it back to a police station cus they don't track things like that? (It doesn't have some 'lost' screen on it or some such nonsense? So I guess I'll drop it off and then it can become their problem!

Thanks

 

[nebo1ss]

Okay here is my input to this story.

1. I don't understand why the policemen would laugh at you. However you can take it to your local police office and leave it with them. If someone has lost it. They would most likely come to the police station and see if anyone handed the phone in.

2. You can take it to your local apple store in Birmingham and tell them you found it and apple will then get the persons details (through apple's systems) and contact them directly.

Follow the above 2 options and the issue has been resolved for you. No point stressing about it.

I doubt anyone will do any follow up on it. Reminds me of an experience a friend of mine had a few years ago. He left his briefcase on the train in London and called the lost and found at Waterloo station every other day for a couple of weeks. He had a name tag on the briefcase with address and phone number. He eventually decided to pay a visit to the Lost and found at Waterloo and they very kindly took him around the back and shows him a shelf of briefcases and there on the shelf was his with name and address tag still intack. Moral of story don't expect public servants to go the extra mile.