[Closed] If you found a mobile phone.... what would you do?

Does it have personal stuff on it? If so, maybe return to the network, who may be able to return it to its original owner. Spose the 'legal' thing to do, is return it, or hand it in to police.

However, doing this may simply cause unwanted hassle for the police, and the network may just scrap it anyway.

If it's got nowt personal on it, I'd get it unlocked, and use it. Maybe better that it gets used and appreciated, than scrapped, or left forgotten in a storage box for ever more.

What would you do with it?

Text filthy messages to various people in the phone's memory. Preferably "mum" or "gran"

check it for porn.

No personal stuff on it.

Don't the telco providers lock them out so they can never be used again?

Alternatively you could do what my mates did to me years ago with a phone they found.

Pretend to be the girl I sat next to at a wedding and send me loads of texts saying you got my number from a mate and you were to shy to ask me for it. Then arrange to meet me for a coffee...

Hand it to the police. If unclaimed after 3 months its yours legally

on't the telco providers lock them out so they can never be used again?

only in this country.

on't the telco providers lock them out so they can never be used again?

And you could always get an IMEI number cloned off an active handset 😉

[i]TandemJeremy - Member
Hand it to the police. If unclaimed after 3 months its yours legally [/i]

I didn't think they gave phone back to the 'finder', due to the possibilty of personal data being on the phone

chances are the person who lost it will call/txt the phone, then you can return it - which you should do.

TandemJeremy - Member
Hand it to the police. If unclaimed after 3 months its yours legally

Really? Source?

I'd throw it in the sea, you never know it might hit an asylum seeker

I found a flash phone at the top of Burbage. I went through most recent call list. phoned the most recent number and within an hour it was back to the rightful owner who was happy. I got a smug sense of having done the right thing.

Found one in the local woods last year. Tried to hand it in at the local police station but they didn't want to know and said I'd have to take it to the headquarters on the other side of town 🙄 . Anyway, judging by the content the phone appeared to be a young person's so we decided to call the 'mum' number, explaining that we'd found the phone (and desperately trying not to panic her at the same time) and she arranged for her son to come and collect it . . . he never did despite a further call.

My wife lost her phone a few days before she gave birth, the little scrote who picked it up sent harsh texts to most of her contacts about the baby.

little shits. :/

I once found a digital camera and handed it in to the police station. When i asked if i could have it if wasn't claimed in X months, the answer was a resounding "no".

phone's are two-a-penny. finders keepers.

Pretend to be the girl I sat next to at a wedding and send me loads of texts saying you got my number from a mate and you were to shy to ask me for it. Then arrange to meet me for a coffee...

🙂 did you go for coffee?

Check it for porn, download then hand to the Fuzz.

Check it for porn, download then hand to the Fuzz.

is "hand to the fuzz" a euphemism for what you do after you've d/led the porn? 😆

cynic-al - Member

TandemJeremy - Member
Hand it to the police. If unclaimed after 3 months its yours legally

Really? Source?

I found a purse containing £80 and no ID. I handed it into the police. After 3 months it was unclaimed and I got a letter from them telling me it was now mine if I wanted to collect it. I went to collect it and was given it. I went thru it again and found a blood donor card tucked away in it. I went back to the cops and told them this and they said they could trace the owner via the blood bank and did so.

So without the blood donor card in it it would have been mine handed to me by the police

Good enough Al?

There are fluffy bunny wunnies skipping around and bluebirds singing in TJ's garden all the time

tj - I think Al was questioning my post.
Al - it was from the font of all knowledge...STW forums... though I believe they posted a link to a police website stating it too IIRC, due to the personal data protentially provided, by having some-one mobile..

Look through the stored numbers to see if any were family. Call them and arrange to drop it off.

Thats what I would hope some one would do for me.

Agreed, if I found it I would try to find the most called number in the call log and identify whos phone it was, if I could I'd return it and if I couldnt I'd unlock it and use it.
If it were mine I'd hope someone else would do the same.

I once found a digital camera in a ladies floppy beachbag on Hamstead Heath. Handed it in at the local Rozzers station thinking the buggers would have it- a few weeks later they called me to collect. I still own it 😀

I found a phone on the floor in my local uni car park. I text the last 5 texts messages back explaining that I found this phone and wanted to contact the owner.
3 people text back to say whose it was and he phoned the phone while he was with one of his mates and I arranged to had it into reception for him.

I found a dog turd on the local trail last night, couldn't get a dial tone so I hung it back on the tree.

I once found a digital camera in a ladies floppy beachbag on Hamstead Heath.

Pick pocketing is frowned upon, you know? 😀

I was given an older phone by my wifes mate to use on the bike.

A quick scroll through the memory found lots of vids and pics of same mate in her scanties.

Oops.

dooosuk - Member

on't the telco providers lock them out so they can never be used again?

And you could always get an IMEI number cloned off an active handset

Not any more Bru..

Found a nice looking mobile on the self service tills in Tesco last night, handed it in, i already have one that i don't use.

Phone "home" and say you're calling from *insert local gay club name here* and you found this phone in a pair of jeans left in the toilets!

That's what I was told to do with a phone I found last new years day.

In the end I called somebody from it, and it turned out the phone belonged to the boyfriend of one of my managers in work!

I found a phone on the train a few weeks ago, it must have fallen out of a pocket as the owner got off. Anyway, it was quite late at night and there was no obvious "home" or "Mum" number to ring but then a text came in so I called the person back and explained what had happened. He then phoned the owner on his home number and the owner then phoned me. I dropped it off the next day, he was very happy to get his phone back.

No porn or dodgy texts on it though.

I found a couple of 'phones some years back and handed them into the police. I also lost a phone some years back, and the young lady who found it phoned my boss at work to say she'd found it, so I shot down to the pub in town where she worked and gave her a fiver for her honesty in tracking me down. I've got an iPhone with a Nokia N95 as a back-up, I wouldn't need another.

keeping items without taking reasonable steps to identify the owner is theft by finding. Even if there were no numbers left on it (or the battery is too flat/handset is locked for you to find the numbers) you should still be able to identify the phone by the IMEI printed inside.

You should be able to search for it on

http://www.immobilise.com/index.php

Or you can hand it in to the police and make it their problem, if it isnt claimed you get what the law refers to as first baggsies.

I have found and managed to return phones on two occasions. Warm happy smugness both times.

Was the OP about a phone that has no traceable features and been lost to the system (i.e. locked by the network)? Well they'll consider it a brick. Unlock it, recycle it, it's yours.

Look for a 'Reward.txt' or similar file on the phone telling you who to contact if you find the phone?

I have this file on my iPod, my phone and my DSLR (both cards on the DSLR)...

Don't you all?

Check it for porn, download then hand to the Fuzz.

is "hand to the fuzz" a euphemism for what you do after you've d/led the porn?

Naughty boy

Pook - Member

There are fluffy bunny wunnies skipping around and bluebirds singing in TJ's garden all the time

Hand it to the local Police Department.

I'm no thief.

Unlock it, recycle it, it's yours.

You can't just unlock a blocked phone. Networks can get them unblocked though.

You can get the IMEI changed, but that is hard with modern phones and really quite illegal as it's something that only people who nick phones would ever want to do. Plus if it is a live IMEI that is cloned, you could get in trouble, as networks can detect that a phone is in two places at once / using two sims at once.

I'd power it up and look through the phonebook, someone on there (home, work etc.) will know who has lost their phone. If it wouldn't power up, I'd stick the sim in my phone (or an old phone) and see if it had any phone numbers on.

Joe