Phone stolen, bill of £11,600.

[Laize]

Why the hell wouldn't he report it stolen? That was a colossal mistake and he is probably under contract to pay that bill.

He can probably talk it down a significant amount but I'd be surprised if he doesn't wind up paying at least 1000 GBP.

[Tekkommo]

He also said when he asked 'is there anything that can be done?', that they couldn't speak to him about it entirely since his name/bank account isn't on the bill.

So do his parents pay for his phone?

Then his parents are gonna kill him.

[drwelfare]

He was a dumbass for not calling and getting it reported. Let him take the credit hit and learn his lesson I say.

Someone must have downloaded a lot of stuff or called the jerk off line.

[Pum]

Well thanks for all your help guys, apart from of course the ones trying to be smart and deliberately unhelpful.

Some guy PM'ed me and I'm gonna tell my friend to follow what he says. In case anyone has any similar issues, I'll copy & paste his advice here:

Hey,

First of all, I am providing this as a PM so that it may get your attention. I worked for the SIS before as a criminologist, you check @Hwarlord on twitter for reference.

I have a suggestion to your friend over the lost phone topic. Tell him to go to the police, explain what has happened, and they will track the phone down, or track the last called phone number/listen to the conversations..etc which will enable him to find the girl.

Then he will have to file a stolen property case at the police station against that girl that stole his phone. He may then forward that case to the Phone Service Provider and they will drop the charges on his phone OR the court will just make the girl that stole the phone pay for the bill AFTER the date of which the phone was stolen.

This will be easy to track, but hard to prove.

Good luck.

Focker out.

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

I gathered that, but you were absolving him for the charges. It is not entirely his fault the phone was stolen, but it is his fault that the thief was able to make these charges. If he had reported it stolen the phone would have been de-activated or at the very least a clear paper trail showing his innocence. But he didn't do that.

It is his fault though.

If your phone is stolen and you don't report it, you are the one left responsible to pay the phone bill.

It's a tough lesson for this guy, but he was dumb not to report it.

If the thief was caught, they would have to pay the charges entirely. The only reason he has to pay them is because the phone company won't allow itself to become the victim instead. It is not your fault if somebody steals your phone and uses it to rack up a huge bill, regardless of whether you report it missing. That isn't to say that you shouldn't report it missing, as cutting such criminal acts short will save you money and prevent drama such as this.

People who say otherwise are blaming the victim. You don't blame the victim as long as the criminal has a choice to make, unless there are specific circumstances where the victim willfully empowered the criminal to victimize them knowing that they would be victimized. For example, if a man told you he was going to use your phone to create such a large bill and you handed him the phone. In a case such as that, the victim would share the blame. In cases where the property is accidentally lost and the criminal retrieves it, the victim is not to blame.

[Deleted]

He didnt report it stolen?
Ohlord, thats not smart.. Ofcourse he has to pay the bill if he didnt report it.
If everyone could just call their network provider and say their phone was stolen every time they got a huge phonebill they would be out of business.