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Random late night story, my iPhone was lifted while being unattended. Using findmy, I was able to circle in on an apartment complex. After bugging the police

Random late night story, my iPhone was lifted while being unattended. Using findmy, I was able to circle in on an apartment complex. After bugging the police for weeks, they finally met with me to look at my evidence. We met directly outside of the apartment. They didn’t leave their SUV. A week later I got the phone back , because you can place a message on the lock screen remotely. The janitor of the apartment called me because I offered ( and paid ) a 100 dollar reward and a number they could reach me at. Not sure if there is a lesson here, except the feature of remotely changing a Lock Screen message is a great feature.

globular-toast 2y ago
You paid the thief?
- flumpcakes 2y ago
  If the police can't help you this is the best you can do. I know lots of stories of people getting back their $1000+ gear only when they offer cash for the person to drop it and walk away or to anonymously return it. $100 to guarantee your device back is a small price to pay apart from the insult of paying the thief.
  - sethammons 2y ago
    A former boss had the idea of fence.io - a digital stolen goods fence service allowing thieves to anonymously sell back goods to their original owners. It was a joke... mostly
    - ewoodrich 2y ago
      A couple apartments ago I had to park on the street and without fail if I ever forgot to lock my car I would wake up the next morning and discover it had been rifled through with 50/50 chance my car charger and cables would be missing. Day dreamed about a system where instead of spending 30 bucks to replace my fancy QC later PD car charger I could pay a bribe of 10 bucks to the homeless person to whom a car charger was completely useless anyway with essentially no resale value.
- insane_dreamer 2y ago
  I forgot my iPhone in a taxi in China; managed to call it and talk to the driver who had found it. Had to pay him off to get it back though :/ But it was cheaper than buying a new phone.
b112 2y ago
Huh. Where I am, janitor is used exclusively for more of an overall maintenance person of the entire building. And in such scenarios, due to rental laws, the janitor cannot enter an apartment without prior notice... unless of course it is an emergency. (An emergency has to be a real emergency, not "it's urgent to the landlord") So why I find this weird is, did the thief just leave a stolen phone, charged, in their apartment laying around for anyone to see? And if so, how would the janitor even see the lockscreen, wouldn't they have to hit the power button to see it (I presume the screen is off by default?). And why was the janitor even in the apartment? And presumably without the thief in their apartment? And worse, why would the janitor effectively steal a phone from a tenant, and go outside and sell it to you for $100, just because there was a message on the lockscreen. How did the janitor know you didn't somehow hack the owner's phone, and you were the thief? NOTE: I'm sure the story is true, but I'm curious if it's just a stupid thief, or.. what. Whatever I'm not understanding, good job on getting your phone back.
- actionfromafar 2y ago
  Maybe the thief and the janitor split the difference.
- sgerenser 2y ago
  I assumed the janitor was the “thief.”

globular-toast 2y ago

You paid the thief?

flumpcakes 2y ago
If the police can't help you this is the best you can do. I know lots of stories of people getting back their $1000+ gear only when they offer cash for the person to drop it and walk away or to anonymously return it. $100 to guarantee your device back is a small price to pay apart from the insult of paying the thief.
- sethammons 2y ago
  A former boss had the idea of fence.io - a digital stolen goods fence service allowing thieves to anonymously sell back goods to their original owners. It was a joke... mostly
  - ewoodrich 2y ago
    A couple apartments ago I had to park on the street and without fail if I ever forgot to lock my car I would wake up the next morning and discover it had been rifled through with 50/50 chance my car charger and cables would be missing. Day dreamed about a system where instead of spending 30 bucks to replace my fancy QC later PD car charger I could pay a bribe of 10 bucks to the homeless person to whom a car charger was completely useless anyway with essentially no resale value.
insane_dreamer 2y ago
I forgot my iPhone in a taxi in China; managed to call it and talk to the driver who had found it. Had to pay him off to get it back though :/ But it was cheaper than buying a new phone.

b112 2y ago

Huh. Where I am, janitor is used exclusively for more of an overall maintenance person of the entire building. And in such scenarios, due to rental laws, the janitor cannot enter an apartment without prior notice... unless of course it is an emergency. (An emergency has to be a real emergency, not "it's urgent to the landlord") So why I find this weird is, did the thief just leave a stolen phone, charged, in their apartment laying around for anyone to see? And if so, how would the janitor even see the lockscreen, wouldn't they have to hit the power button to see it (I presume the screen is off by default?). And why was the janitor even in the apartment? And presumably without the thief in their apartment? And worse, why would the janitor effectively steal a phone from a tenant, and go outside and sell it to you for $100, just because there was a message on the lockscreen. How did the janitor know you didn't somehow hack the owner's phone, and you were the thief? NOTE: I'm sure the story is true, but I'm curious if it's just a stupid thief, or.. what. Whatever I'm not understanding, good job on getting your phone back.

actionfromafar 2y ago
Maybe the thief and the janitor split the difference.
sgerenser 2y ago
I assumed the janitor was the “thief.”