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iPhone lost/stolen..so what do you thik the guy that finds it will do?

N

Notebooks

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 7, 2008
4
0
San Francisco
So my iPhone went missing either at dinner or in the cab ride home. Restaurant didn't find it. Cab company nearly laughed when I told them I was looking for an iPhone and didn't have the cab number....
Obviously this sucks, but on the upside it's a good excuse to "have to" get an iPhone 3g. Spending cash unexpectedly always hurts, but I'm actually more concerned about my data/email.
I've already changed all of my passwords, but there's some sensitive info in the actual text of some of the emails. I'm kinda freaking out. What do you think the average person that finds an iPhone will do?

a) Try to make the iPhone their own?
b) Scour the device for info they can use to commit identity theft or mess up with my banking accounts.
 
depends on who the person is.
id suggest at least monitoring your bank accounts just to make sure.
hopefully they will just try and make it their own.
 
Wirelessly posted (PPC; 240x320; HTC_TyTN/1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.7))

It really depends on what kinda person he/she is. If it was stolen then there is a higher chance of that person going through your data, if it was found it might get handed in at a police station (slim chance) or wiped and sold/kept.
Its situations like this where the new wipe feature would come in really useful. Sorry to hear about the loss/theft, and good luck.
 
I don't know about America, but in Australia, when we loose mobile phones, we ring the service provide (eg. AT&T) and they send a block out to the phone so nothing can be used, even with another sim in it. So your data and everything will be safe. If this can be done in the US i would recommend doing it. Hope nothing bad happens
 
Option (c) Check out the pictures to see if you've taken any sexy shots.

Option (d) ring the last few people in the call/sms log to find out whose phone it is. I've done that with a couple of phones that I've found. The good karma worked when I left mine at a cafe.
 
Why didn't you put a 4-digit password on the phone?

Only seems to make sense if you know there's sensitive info. on there.

I put mine so that it asks for it everytime the phone goes into standby.
 
D3lta said:
Why didn't you put a 4-digit password on the phone?

Only seems to make sense if you know there's sensitive info. on there.

I put mine so that it asks for it everytime the phone goes into standby.
Click to expand...
but sometime that is a pain in the rear if you constantly use your phone.
 
You can also call att or tmobile depending if it was unlocked and tell them it was stolen and give the IMEI code and they will blacklist the phone so whoever has it wont be able to really make it their own.
 
i think the average person who finds an iphone will try to get it working for themselves first. if they can't figure it out, they may try to sell it "as is" and make some money off of it. most people who leave their houses at least periodically will have heard of the iphone, and know that it could be worth some money. they might take a cursory look at what's on it, and may take advantage of any blatant information (full credit card numbers and such stored in the Notes app, for example, which i doubt you left on there), but unless an experienced thief happened upon your iphone, i don't think they would go much further on that path...

i hope the person who finds it is honest and does try to get it back to you, but i think that is unlikely. :(
 
I know that if I found a phone, my first instinct would be to try to track down the person who owns it. Not hard to do generally. More than likely, their own address and email is in the phone...so that part should be easy.

But that's me. I imagine the "average" person would try to benefit from the find somehow. This is why I don't like the average person! :rolleyes:
 
I agree with Samiwas. I would call the last person that was dialed from the phone, or look up Mom, Dad, Home, etc. and try to let them know that I found the phone. This happened to me in New Orleans and the person that found my phone called my friend and I met them to pick up the phone and bought them a huge drink as a thanks...of course that was just cheap Samsung phone from Verizon.
 
Have AT&T disable the SIM card and that should be the end of your concerns. Changing your passwords will resolve your sensitive email issues. Someone is probably selling it right about now. Consider the iPhone as stolen and file a police report ASAP! Sorry to hear about your loss.:(
 
If I found an iPhone I would be very tempted to take it and sell it. But then again, if you return it to the person, they might reward you very handsomely. So I say, always return it to the owner by dialing a few numbers in the phone.
 
This is one reason I'm looking forward to the 3g. If this happens you can enable the remote wipe, get a new phone, and move the data to the new one. You'd have to pay for a new phone, but at least they didn't get any of your info (assuming you put a code on it).
 
If I came across it, I'd probably look through the contacts and try to get a hold of someone that knows who's phone it is, or call ATT to see if they can find out the owner some how.

It really depends on the person. And I got a more embarrassing story to prove it.

Years ago on a trip with friends to San Francisco, we took BART from Pleasanton. After arriving in San Francisco and getting off the train I noticed something was missing, my WALLET! It must have slipped out of my back pocket, and the train is gone!!! About $80 in there, but more important, all my CC and ID. We waited for the supposed same train, looking under all the seats as it could have slid around the cabin.

I didn't have much hope. Then on the station intercom it was announced a wallet had been turned in two stations down. Relieved we get on a train and find the little office there and got it. All the cash was there and nothing was missing.
 
onlycopunk said:
You can also call att or tmobile depending if it was unlocked and tell them it was stolen and give the IMEI code and they will blacklist the phone so whoever has it wont be able to really make it their own.
Click to expand...

That is completely untrue. There is no such thing as an IEMI block and the service provider can't do anything, but thanks for playing.

tsice19 said:
Ring the phone and see if anyone answers...
Click to expand...

Best suggestion - I got a stolen blackberry back when the girl who had taken it answered the phone. She panicked and started talking, I called her parents and got it back.
 
taylorwilsdon said:
That is completely untrue. There is no such thing as an IEMI block and the service provider can't do anything, but thanks for playing.
Click to expand...


Really? It doesn't seem like it's that hard to pull up one's IMEI number and add it to a list of IMEI's that can't be registered for anyone else.. in fact, I'd say it makes <b>more sense</b> that a cellphone carrier would have a system like that..no need for you to be condescending about it.
 
It really pisses me off that options outside of
A) Figure out who the phone belongs to and return it to them

even exist. I've found two phones lying on the ground, both of which I have returned to the rightful owner.
 
magiic said:
It really pisses me off that options outside of
A) Figure out who the phone belongs to and return it to them

even exist. I've found two phones lying on the ground, both of which I have returned to the rightful owner.
Click to expand...

Not everyone is righteously minded.

If there are people who will steal phones, there are plenty who will find them and not return them.

@OP: Report to Apple and AT&T that you lost the phone and they will blacklist it.
 
As someone else suggested, call the number. I left my cell-phone in a London cab a few years ago. After about the 5th try (going to voicemail because the driver couldn't hear it ring in the back set) he answered and said he would bring it back to me. An hour or so later it was back in my hands, and he got a much bigger tip than the first time.

In another case my daughter's school backpack was stolen when we were in Portland. We gave it up for lost, but about an hour into our drive home a security guard from one of the Portland high-rises called my cell phone to say they had recovered the backpack (the phone was the only item in the backpack that gave any clue to our identity).

So yes, there are honest people out there. Just not the crack-head who stole a kid's backpack and left my laptop.

Mike
 
I left mine in a black cab a couple weeks ago and the cabbie sent it back to me! His son had looked at my emails and got in touch that way...how pleased was I??
 
When I stole my iPhone from some sucker, I called AT&T right away and explained a friend of mine, or ex-friend really, was mad at me because I broke up with his sister, and he vowed to get me back and said he was going to call AT&T and pretend like he was me and get the phone canceled as being stolen.

I told them not to fall for his tricks and that because of his threats I was having to move in with my uncle so this crazed lunatic can not find me. I told them I could send them a copy of the police report and restraining order if they like.

I also asked them to start sending the bill to my uncle's address (really just my home address), so I could keep paying the bill and use the service.

HAHA. I bet that poor guy wrote out some crazy post on a forum somewhere documenting how AT&T didn't believe him and would not get his phone back.



;)
 
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