Stolen iPhone 11, last location: small independent phone shop at 5am

Cloudbowski

Hi all, I wondered if anyone may have advice for me here ...
My phone was stolen sometime after midnight on Friday night / Saturday morning - I actually thought a friend would have it, or it would turn up as I'd been to my local, which was very quiet but I cancelled it through Vodafone and they blocked the IMEI number etc
I was trying to track it on Find My but it was saying the phone was offline and not showing last location, which I thought was odd but when I charged my old phone last night and looked on Find My, it showed the last location the phone sent... it even had an exact address and postcode!
The address was one of a small independent phone shop and computer repair shop, in a run down industrial area and the time was 05:25am... 
I have informed the police and they're looking in to it, they advised they may not investigate further and that someone else would be making the decision whether to or not.
I'm wondering whether I should call them, or go in to see them, although it's most likely on its way to Morocco now?
I doubt the Find My location data can be used for anything more than an enquiry by Police, which they'll just play dumb when presented with.
I feel like going on a one-person mission to publicly out this shop, as clearly they've either stolen it, or one of their acquaintances has brought it to them and they've happily obliged to help them make some money from the theft, seems they're not so clever though as they shouldn't have done the wiping on site at the shop. Although this probably isn't wise, I don't want to get in to a battle with criminals.

Thanks, all! 
CB

 

JJ_Egan

You have no real evidence .

5-25 am is rather an odd time .

Cloudbowski

JJ_Egan said:

You have no real evidence .

5-25 am is rather an odd time .

Are you suggesting criminals work a 9-5?  

Takmon

Cloudbowski said:

Hi all, I wondered if anyone may have advice for me here ...
My phone was stolen sometime after midnight on Friday night / Saturday morning - I actually thought a friend would have it, or it would turn up as I'd been to my local, which was very quiet but I cancelled it through Vodafone and they blocked the IMEI number etc
I was trying to track it on Find My but it was saying the phone was offline and not showing last location, which I thought was odd but when I charged my old phone last night and looked on Find My, it showed the last location the phone sent... it even had an exact address and postcode!
The address was one of a small independent phone shop and computer repair shop, in a run down industrial area and the time was 05:25am... 
I have informed the police and they're looking in to it, they advised they may not investigate further and that someone else would be making the decision whether to or not.
I'm wondering whether I should call them, or go in to see them, although it's most likely on its way to Morocco now?
I doubt the Find My location data can be used for anything more than an enquiry by Police, which they'll just play dumb when presented with.
I feel like going on a one-person mission to publicly out this shop, as clearly they've either stolen it, or one of their acquaintances has brought it to them and they've happily obliged to help them make some money from the theft, seems they're not so clever though as they shouldn't have done the wiping on site at the shop. Although this probably isn't wise, I don't want to get in to a battle with criminals.

Thanks, all! 
CB

 

The problem is that it may not be that accurate and could have actually just been in a building near by or someone walking past the shop before it was finally turned off. 

JJ_Egan

Cloudbowski said:

JJ_Egan said:

You have no real evidence .

5-25 am is rather an odd time .

Are you suggesting criminals work a 9-5?  

Foolish to think that .

xlnc99

Cloudbowski said:

JJ_Egan said:

You have no real evidence .

5-25 am is rather an odd time .

Are you suggesting criminals work a 9-5?  

  

tacpot12

You could go into the shop on some pretext and have a friend make it beep when they see you go inside the shop. If you can hear it, you could explain to the shop owner that they have your property and give them the opportunity to return it, or you could just continue with your pretext then leave call the police and ask them to get a search warrant, if the phone is there.

You could offer to show the shop owner that the phone is yours by offering to log into the phone and into an app on the phone. 

I would suggest that your friend comes into the shop as soon as they have pinged the phone to provide a witness for what transpires. 

JJ_Egan

Doubt if the shop have it two weeks down the line .

Cloudbowski

tacpot12 said:

You could go into the shop on some pretext and have a friend make it beep when they see you go inside the shop. If you can hear it, you could explain to the shop owner that they have your property and give them the opportunity to return it, or you could just continue with your pretext then leave call the police and ask them to get a search warrant, if the phone is there.

You could offer to show the shop owner that the phone is yours by offering to log into the phone and into an app on the phone. 

I would suggest that your friend comes into the shop as soon as they have pinged the phone to provide a witness for what transpires. 

The phone won't be there any longer, it hasn't been switched on since that morning at 5:25am... most likely when it was wiped, or switched off to be sent abroad to use