Theft or not: Point of view

QrizB

Newbie_John said:

Imagine losing a mobile phone, I would imagine they find hundreds of them a day, then you would need to prove it's yours - purchase receipt, prove you lost it, wait for them to find it.. then pay £20 fee for keeping the item in Lost Property Office, then get it back 😅

If your thumbprint or Face ID will unlock it, chances are it's yours.

Or if he lock screen says "If found please contact Newbie_John on 0181 811 8055" and you have ID showing that you are indeed Newbie_John.

I've found five or six lost phones and have so far always been able to reunite them with their owners.

DullGreyGuy

QrizB said:

Newbie_John said:

Imagine losing a mobile phone, I would imagine they find hundreds of them a day, then you would need to prove it's yours - purchase receipt, prove you lost it, wait for them to find it.. then pay £20 fee for keeping the item in Lost Property Office, then get it back 😅

If your thumbprint or Face ID will unlock it, chances are it's yours.

Or if he lock screen says "If found please contact Newbie_John on 0181 811 8055" and you have ID showing that you are indeed Newbie_John.

I've found five or six lost phones and have so far always been able to reunite them with their owners.

"Lost Mode" works very well, I wish the Mrs had only lost 5-6 phones/iPads/AppleWatches but to date every single one lost has been recovered even when left in an uber in India, Mexico and Egypt where their value is considerably more. 

The only phone not recovered was the one pickpocketed from her though it did show its location being in a block of garages in north London. Obv the police not interested until they used the "If found please contact Newbie_John on 0181 811 8055" to send messages. Firstly was fake apple messages asking to log into a link to give log in details.  Then they changed and were claiming to have bought the phone for their disabled daughter in china to be able to go to school and unless we unlock it for them they'll kill themselves and finally changed saying they'd rape and kill "Newbie_John". 

A retired copper mate said it should be reported; note to others, if you receive death threats that you dont think are serious, dont report them at 10pm even if using the non-emergency reporting methods, wait until the morning as the police do treat it as an emergency and you'll be up all night. 

vacheron

The issue you had with getting the police to define this as a crime at the time is: 

• You have no evidence that someone "took it", it could have slid down into the seat, or into a dark corner and nobody had discovered it yet. 
• It could have been picked up by a young child below the age of responsibility.
• There is no absolute evidence you left it on the bus seat.
• It could have been picked up and handed directly to a police station, but it sounded like you had only checked with the bus company at the time.
• It could have been picked up by somebody who had no intention of keeping it, but hadn't been able to find a way to hand it in yet.
• What was the value? Was it a Hasselblad  X1D or a 15 year old "Point and click". What if it was a hat or a glove? Would you also consider that a crime?

etc.

If I had went to the police station to report everything I had ever left behind or misplaced due to my own carelessness demanding it be reported as a "crime", they would know me by name there! 

vacheron

QrizB said:

"If found please contact Newbie_John on 0181 811 8055"

Tell me you are Generation X without telling me you are Generation X!