Someone stole my phone and I "found" it, now what?

[serenka]

police obviously, there is a chance they won't care or say there is nothing they can do about a stolen phone. but the police are not solving murders/rapes all day every day. tell them you think you know who stole it and that you tracked it.

also, since its an iphone you can lock them remotely if you know your apple Id/password, if you haven't locked it yet, do that!

[Deleted]

but how will he call the cops without his phone?

really though, just call them.

[serenka]

approaching the house by yourself is a bad idea aswell, at best they will just deny they stole it and shut the door on you, at worst it could be some drug den.

[mmines]

I don't see it going well whether you get police along with you or not. They simply have to deny they even have it and then there's nothing the police can even do, they're not gonna get a warrant just for a stolen iphone unless something about the place seems really fishy to them. And if you go there with some friends and threaten to call the cops and they're smart enough they wont care. Now if you can trigger that loud sound when you guys get there and let the police know about being able to do that and they hear it in the house then they can do something and you can get your phone back. You could also call the phone and try to get it back that way but probably best to go there with police then trigger the sound from the phone.

[dense]

I've been wondering about tracking thieves too. I have an android phone and the avast anti theft app installed.

From what i gathered, the police can track the phone via IMEI- code (should be on the phone's box / manual)

But with just the apps - can the thief not just turn the phone off, remove the sim-card, install a custom firmware and make it untracable? Does IMEI-tracking work then?

[Deleted]

Police have helped people here, but you need to be absolutely sure in regards to the location. If it's located inside a 10 story appartment building you're best bet is call to the phone and hope whomever took your phone is an honest person that only took it by mistake. If no answer, send a text with your contact info and then get the phone company to annual the subscription.

[Deleted]

but how will he call the cops without his phone?

really though, just call them.

I know you are joking, but it reminds me of the time my internet went down and I had to call the company for help, their answer? Log onto the website from your computer and it will update itself......

[rhandric]

The answer should be obvious: find a hitter, hacker, grifter, thief, and mastermind, and have them run a con on the perp

Or, just call the police.

[serenka]

I know you are joking, but it reminds me of the time my internet went down and I had to call the company for help, their answer? Log onto the website from your computer and it will update itself......

was it talktalk? they did this to me


our landline stopped working so we phoned from a mobile, and they said they can only help us if we phone from a talktalk landline.

[Sialanne]

Someone took my bag while I was swimming at the pool, which had my phone in it. I found it and by found I mean I tracked it down with an app. Its an iPhone and between several different find my iPhone apps I tracked it down. It gave me coordinates and another app gave me an address. They all match up and the house is in a good subdivision.

Problem is I don't just want to walk up to their house and be like, give me my phone please. That will be awkward. I don't want to call the cops they have murders to solve. What should I do?

If you don't call the cops, and just show up yourself, the next murder the police solve could very well be your own. So do yourself a favor, report it stolen, tell em what you know, and let them take it from there.

[Yunru]

It is posible that you are not the only person whos phone got stolen by same thief. Telling the police where to find it is the best thing to do.

[Christan]

If it was stolen then calling cops is a good idea, but if you lost it and someone found it, maybe offer them reward.

you did check the pool for another bag that looks like yours?
i've had that happen lol..they got my address from my wallet and i had their bag...worked myself out swimming so didn't notice the difference in weight just picked it up and went home.

call the cops...if it was a mistake it will be obvious after a bit of investigating and he won't be charged (his bag will most likely be in the lost n found)

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

If nothing else, you need a police report for any insurance policy to pay out.

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I've been wondering about tracking thieves too. I have an android phone and the avast anti theft app installed.

From what i gathered, the police can track the phone via IMEI- code (should be on the phone's box / manual)

But with just the apps - can the thief not just turn the phone off, remove the sim-card, install a custom firmware and make it untracable? Does IMEI-tracking work then?

Can't do that with iPhones.

[oxymoronic]

I hate to say it, but it's either walk up to the house and knock on the door, call the police (but they likely won't do anything), or just ignore it and buy a new phone. I had a coworker once who tracked down her iPad this way once upon a time, called the local police, and they told her they weren't going to knock on peoples' doors and accuse them of stealing or get search warrants for houses based on a gps location for the stolen device. That it simply wasn't worth the amount of effort or legal hassle for something only worth $800 at the most, when there are far more pressing crimes for them to be taking care of, especially when the GPS locations can sometimes be off by a house or two.

Sad part is they really don't have more pressing things to do. To them that includes sitting in their car while it idles and eating. Police officer is about one of the easiest jobs you'll ever have until you get that 1 criminal that wants to make trouble. Guess thats why they get the big bucks (50k+ here just to start).

[Christan]

Cops can't do squat in this case.

They won't get a warrant for a stolen iPhone, and in a courtroom they're not going to take your 'app' as legal evidence.

they can take the GPS from his phone as legal evidence, they will use their own "app" to find an address. just saying

[Fugus]

Call the cops and pray they get off their bum asses and do their damn jobs.

Called the cops here before when I ran a shop and a guy stole an Xbox that was for sale. We let the guy out cause we had his name, phone number, witnesses, him on camera, even knew the carrier of his cellphone service and everything as he was an old repeat customer and the fact we was about 6 and a half feet talk and weighed in at about 280 pounds and was built like Michael Clarke Duncan and we weren't sure if he was armed or not by his clothing. After talking to them, the cops refused to even assign it to the officer and actually told us that unless he stole something worth over $1,000, it wasn't worth their time even if he was standing right in front of us still. Guess I should have just shot him.....

Also had a time when I was house sitting for a friend and had a guy try and break in, scared him away so fast he dropped the crowbar he was trying to pry the door open with. Cops came out, refused to get more than 5 feet from their vehicle, refused to look at the crowbar and just laughed and said "At least he didn't get in" and hopped back in their car and drove off.....

FYI, I live in Hope Mills, NC. Call the cops where you live and hopefully they can help. But out here, you have better luck getting some friends, ski masks and baseball bats unless you have friends with pull or can get the media involved (doubtful in this situation). They don't really move unless it is for someone with power, the media is involved and it affects their public image, or it is something MAJOR like murder or attempted murder.

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They still can't do anything even if they used their own gps. A judge isn't going to hand them a search warrant because of a stolen phone. So all they can do is look like a bunch of idiots when they come knocking at your door.

Actually, they can use the GPS built into the phone as it is accurate to within about 4 to 15 feet depending on a few factors but good luck finding a police or judge willing to waist time like that over a phone unless you were like that 1 cop whose daughter had her phone stolen and he actually had 3 officers pulled to track that 1 phone down.....

[Deleted]

Problem is I don't just want to walk up to their house and be like, give me my phone please. That will be awkward. I don't want to call the cops they have murders to solve. What should I do?

How is it awkward? They stole your phone. Just explain how you found out where it is and confront them. And if you're too scared that something bad will happen then by all means call the police.

[Uggorthaholy]

Call police. File report.
Call phone company. File report, ask them to track phone.
If police will not come out, call your phone and see if they answer.

[kaamila]

find a big intimidating man to go to their house and ask for your phone back. make sure to tape it cuz im sure it would be funny to watch the expressions on the peoples faces

[Shennanigans]

If it's an iPhone don't they cost well over 500 bucks that's a big deal its not considered petty larceny and the cops should be interested.