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[updated] My stolen iPhone is Back!!!

In an age when identity theft is becoming a major problem the police may take stolen smart phones a little more seriously than they did a few years ago especially when someone is utilizing your service. It's not just the
physical phone being stolen that's the issue. It's also someone using your account illegally.

So ABSOLUTELY let the police handle it and don't contact anyone on his phone list. It may hinder your ability to give the police am open and shut case.

Interestingly, I wonder if a prosecutor can bring charges against him for stealing your "music". It's illegal to pirate music and there are stiff penalties for doing so. So I wonder if this could somehow fall under that staute's umbrella?
 
Call the parents and tell them that their son is a noob cos he's uploading his contacts to the Me account of an stolen iPhone. Then wait for the police ;)
 
michaelkam said:
So, I called back to his father. I said: it is a chance for your son to clean up. If he can return my cell phone, I will disclose the case. Otherwise, the police will continue do their job. and than I left the police case# to him.

He said he feel strange, because there is no way I can get his number. SO, l am waiting for their response.

BTW, I copied all his contacts on my Mobile Me.
Click to expand...

interesting thread! i would've given the police a few days but i gotta give you respect for having the balls to speak to the thief's father. if i was the thief, i'd throw away the evidence. kinda hard to prove something is stolen if it can't be recovered. and with the digital age, the MobileMe thing is as easy to understand for police as the DNA evidence for the jury in the OJ trial. you're taking a big risk, but i hope you get your iPhone back.
 
Well, unfortunately for you some people on here have given you really bad advice and you've already followed it. I dare say you've already ruined any chance the police had to sort this out for you.

Now you've called him he's got to assume that you're going to the police and he will have to get rid of your phone. Not only that, he now knows that the phone is sync'd to Mobile Me, so he knows how you were tracking him.

He gave an alibi which had he given to the police they could've easily disproved by either talking to his school or the gym to see where he was at the time. But now that he's told you it's just hearsay evidence. He's now got time to ask friends to cover for him, and the police won't find the phone if they search his home. You're screwed now. Perhaps the people who have you bad advice should all chip in and buy you a new one.

If there are avenues of investigation available in any case then the police have to investigate those. They may take a couple of days to get in touch with you because of their workload. Imagine how many phones get reported stolen every day, not to mention other thefts. Unfortunately what chance they did have to recover your phone is now gone.
 
Do update us on this outcome.

It's as good as saying that you left $500 on a bench and turned your back for a few seconds, and you see someone grabbing the cash and making off with it. That definitely constitutes a felony. Just because its an iPhone and not a wad of cash aint mean you should just let this blow over.

I'll be very interested to see how this all boils out.
 
Aurial said:
Well, unfortunately for you some people on here have given you really bad advice and you've already followed it. I dare say you've already ruined any chance the police had to sort this out for you.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was a horrible idea: "Hello? Yes, I know who you are and that you stole my phone. The police are investigating. I'm calling to warn you ahead of time so that you may ditch the evidence and come up with an alibi."

Any chance of recovering the phone is now gone.
 
michaelkam said:
Hey guys... thank you for all your excellent advices.

I was trying to wait for the detective, but I am not sure when they will contact me since it just a minor crime. The longer I wait, The more chance that the theft will sell my iPhone, which means it will be harder to get back.

So, I called his father. I even talked to the guy who might took my phone. But, unfortunately, the guy pretended he is clean. He said he didn't do it because he was in school. He also said that it might be someone who took his old SIM card and inserted to my iPhone. I know he is lying. Because there is no way to copy contact information from SIM card to iPhone. So, Who would type his parents phone # in iPhone?

So, I called back to his father. I said: it is a chance for your son to clean up. If he can return my cell phone, I will disclose the case. Otherwise, the police will continue do their job. and than I left the police case# to him.

He said he feel strange, because there is no way I can get his number. SO, l am waiting for their response.

BTW, I copied all his contacts on my Mobile Me.
Click to expand...

You should probably call the guy back and tell him that if someone stole his SIM card, they can't re-use it. So that in it itself, means that he's talking out of his ass.

Once a sim card has been deactivated (which I'm going to assume he did because why would you give someone your sim card/not deactivate a sim card that someone stole from you, cause then they have access to everything pretty much), it cannot be re-activated on a NEW account, only the current one.
 
Aurial said:
Well, unfortunately for you some people on here have given you really bad advice and you've already followed it. I dare say you've already ruined any chance the police had to sort this out for you.
Click to expand...

Exactly. If the thief has any IQ, by this time the parent would have asked him about it, and he would be thinking how would the original owner got the numbers?
 
If you have his contacts and email info going through your iPhone and MobileMe, that's proof that he's been using your phone cause they'd be linked to your data account. (ISP) use that as proof for the local authorities.
 
Call the police back tell them the value of the phone and get the parents address and take them with you to there house with proof of his uploaded contacts :mad: seriously don't let this kid get away with it.
 
If your serious about this, you shouldn't call the police, you should make the effort to go down there and show them what you have. Phone calls are to easy to dismiss...
 
Consultant said:
Exactly. If the thief has any IQ, by this time the parent would have asked him about it, and he would be thinking how would the original owner got the numbers?
Click to expand...

Exactly why he should have left it up to the cops in the first place. You tell the cops what is going on, and they deal with it - the thief has no way of knowing how they found out (someone could have seen him steal it, someone could have ratted him out, etc). I hope the OP gets his phone back, but based on the advice that some people have given him I think it's far less likely now than it otherwise would have been.
 
Family Map

Setup family map and track your phone down! Read my earlier post!! Or google AT&T Family Map!
 
michaelkam said:
... He said he didn't do it because he was in school. He also said that it might be someone who took his old SIM card and inserted to my iPhone. I know he is lying. Because there is no way to copy contact information from SIM card to iPhone. So, Who would type his parents phone # in iPhone?

BTW, I copied all his contacts on my Mobile Me.
Click to expand...
You are wrong, there is an import utility to copy from an active or deactivated SIM to the iPhone. This was part of 2.0. You may have this confused with the lack of a utility to copy contact information from the iPhone to the SIM.

I know that you really want your iPhone back but you also need to be careful not to cross the line and then you become the criminal. Think stalking and harassment. :(

It sounds like you really jumped the gun by calling, now they can cover almost all of their tracks before the Police get around to checking out the case.

Dave
 
Totally agree with Dave006.

I think you may have blown your chances of getting the phone back and the culprit dealt with.

I hope I'm wrong.
 
[Updated]

The guy who took my phone haven't called me yet.

So, I wrote a letter and printed all his contacts this morning. I took it to nearby police station, hand over to the detective.
 
michaelkam said:
[Updated]

The guy who took my phone haven't called me yet.

So, I wrote a letter and printed all his contacts this morning. I took it to nearby police station, hand over to the detective.
Click to expand...

Simple solution...

1. Post the parent's number on the Internet
2. Let it get dugg up on Digg.com
3. Parents will receive thousands of phone calls
4. Parents/kid will eventually give up the phone to stop the calls
5. ???
6. Profit!!!
 
kwjohns said:
Simple solution...

1. Post the parent's number on the Internet
2. Let it get dugg up on Digg.com
3. Parents will receive thousands of phone calls
4. Parents/kid will eventually give up the phone to stop the calls
5. ???
6. Profit!!!
Click to expand...

I like the way you think.
 
I hope the Police helps you out. But they most likelly got real crimes to deal with than chasing a lost cellphone.
If they dont do anything about your case then post everywhere on the net all the info you have on him and his contacts.
 
Is it just me or are there more and more threads about iPhones being stolen at the gym?

The other week someone started a thread about their iPhone being stolen from a gym then apparently turning up on craiglist just with a different S/N???:confused: And I'm sure i have seen more. Now this.

People should stop leaving there iPhones or any valuables alone at the gym.
 
kwjohns said:
Simple solution...

1. Post the parent's number on the Internet
2. Let it get dugg up on Digg.com
3. Parents will receive thousands of phone calls
4. Parents/kid will eventually give up the phone to stop the calls
5. ???
6. Profit!!!
Click to expand...

honestly, I'd call lol.
 
Me too, but you just know that you'd get owned in the end and someone you'd wind up getting sued for publishing information about the guy who robbed you. :rolleyes:
 
All u vanilla faces aint kno how to handle this. Lemme show u how to roll.

First you call yo homeboi and tell him bout ol boi.

Next yall grab up errithang im talkin glocks, nines, all a that.

Finally you ride by and shoot up they crib till it look like some swiss cheese.

You hit him up and let em know next time you wont be so nice

Then when he starts trippin yall meet up in yo hood and after he gives it up knock him out and bury the evidence. jk.
 
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