GF son found an iphone 5s. What to do?

[Oyeve]

My girlfriends son found an iphone 5s in a cab coming from the airport. He didnt give it to the cab driver thinking the owner will never find it. He gave it to me to see what I can do. The phone is in airplane mode and is locked with the touch ID and a password and is in another language similar to spanish. (Portuguese?) So, I dont know what carrier it is on as there is no sim. I can put in DFU and restore but the owner will lose what ever info. I tracked the IMEI # to GSM and HSDPA but doesnt tell me any carrier so I am going to assume its an international model. So, do I take it to apple and trust them to find the original owner or do I reactivate it and hope the user has find my iphone and try notifying me without having me arrested on the assumption i took his/her phone. the IMEI/ESN comes up clean for now so maybe they havent reported it yet. What to do?

 

[bearxor]

Pull the SIM card. That will let you know which carrier is the home carrier. Turn it in to the police with as much information as you can give them. If the person who lost it has insurance or something, they'll need to file a police report. hopefully those two dots will connect.

 

[Red Storm]

Pull the SIM card. That will let you know which carrier is the home carrier. Turn it in to the police with as much information as you can give them. If the person who lost it has insurance or something, they'll need to file a police report. hopefully those two dots will connect.

Yeah I'd do the same.

 

[Oyeve]

I stated there is no sim.

 

[dlock13]

There is no SIM card in there says the first post.

 

[Red Storm]

Then continue to turn it in and just give as much info as you can?

 

[dougp]

Seems odd why there's no SIM, but that explains why it is in airplane mode. Are you sure you can put it in DFU? If it has Find My iPhone enabled, it won't go into DFU - this has been the bane of our existence when setting up new phones at work.

 

[Oyeve]

Seems odd why there's no SIM, but that explains why it is in airplane mode. Are you sure you can put it in DFU? If it has Find My iPhone enabled, it won't go into DFU - this has been the bane of our existence when setting up new phones at work.

Yes, it goes right into DFU if I choose to. Ive done it twice but let it go back to regular locked mode.

I also found it odd to have no sim and be locked (somewhat) down but able to go into DFU mode.

 

[kaerflog]

I'd keep it.
If there are number sin there I can call and return it I would.
If its locked, I'm not going through all that effort to find the owner.

 

[styrafoam]

Call Apple?

 

[dainthomas]

I'd have just given it to the cab company. More likely to get to the owner than giving it to the cops so it can sit in a bin or something.

 

[Oyeve]

I'd have just given it to the cab company. More likely to get to the owner than giving it to the cops so it can sit in a bin or something.

I hardly think a NYC cab will do the right thing. I'll give apple a buzz.

 

[Phokus]

Go to an apple store and give it to an employee, i'm pretty sure they know WTF to do.

 

[magomago]

I'd try to figure it out myself with Assistance from Apple by calling them up and seeing what can be figured out. As long as it has a S/N or IMEI you have to be able to figure out the country of origin and where it was sold. Hopefully the person setup an apple account and you'll be fine as they know who it belongs to.

I wouldn't trust the cab company, in store apple employee, and especially not the cops.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Apple's website says to contact local law enforcement to report a found iPhone. So I am not sure Apple wants people bringing found phones into their store. Chances are they'll either direct you to law enforcement or do it themselves. I don't think Apple wants the responsibility of tracking down owers of lost phones.

I think contacting the cab company would be the best course. Yeah, seems nobody trust cab companies. But I would imagine they have a process for returning found items already and the owner is most likely to contact the cab company if realizes he lost his phone in the cab.

Unfortunately it's possible that he's already done that and been told nothing was turned in.

 

[bearxor]

I stated there is no sim.

I missed that there's no SIM, sorry.

Still of the opinion the cops are the alley. Apple won't give you any info about the original owner. The taxi company will throw it in a box in the hopes that someone eventually calls looking for it, until one of the drivers needs a new phone.

Reporting it as a found phone and getting it's IMEI in to the system is the best way to handle things. If a report is filed that it was lost, the IMEI they give to the police should hit with the IMEI of the one you turned in and possibly owner can be reunited with phone.

 

[Dari]

Give it back.

 

[Oyeve]

Give it back.

It's what I'm trying to do.

 

[pm]

You can get it out of airplane mode without the unlock code. Slide up from the bottom in the unlock screen and click the airplane. But that doesn't help without the SIM card.

If you get it in range of a WiFi router that's totally unlocked, you can turn on WiFi on that screen too and then iCloud can find it and maybe the owner left a message there.

 

[Rakehellion]

You live in NYC, there's no SIM, it's in another language, it's in airplane mode, and you found it in a cab.

Sounds like it's from a foreigner visiting on vacation, so no US carrier is going to help you find its owner, who might be thousands of miles away by now.

Take it off airplane mode and see if the owner has Find My iPhone.

Give it to the police station. If no one claims it within 30 days, you get to keep it.

 

[MrSquished]

Seems odd why there's no SIM,

i've seen international travelers come here with two phones and use their sim in a different one. no idea why. maybe because of different frequency bands. happened twice while at a Tony Robbins event.

 

[Seaneboy]

I'm thinking it's someone that might've bought it here, while on vacation... Did it appear on the newer side? Seems weird to have no sim... Sounds almost like they bought it without a sim from some shady place.. OR.. It's potentially someone elses phone that they have, and the sim was removed to prevent tracking... I wonder if it would still connect to wifi, and some sort of tracking might kick in... Apple ID, find my iphone or something... Cool of your GF's son to do the right thing!
I "lost" an iphone 4s recently, also known as 'drunkenly passed out in a limo during my friends bachelor party', and had the most annoying, trashy, taxing journey trying to get it back from the company. Let's just say it ended with me lying, and claiming I had tracked it to the limo place, the 'guy who cleans the limos' lying, and saying that he didn't have it. Only for me to 'lie' and say I was calling the cops.. In which time, his ex-gfs daughter stole it from him, and called my parents to say she had it. Then, as I'm waiting for her to call me back with an address for me to send a shipping label to, plus a little thank you - she calls me back frantic, at 2 am, saying that her moms ex came in, and stole the phone back from her, and threatened them.
So, I then have to call the cops, saying I don't know who these women are, but I think their lives are in danger. The cops then say I have to file a report online, because I am out of state or some bullcrap. that morning, I call the limo boss guy, and tell him that I am most certainly calling the cops, and filing a report, and I know he has it. He finally comes around after the second round of questioning. They send me my phone back, the jerk deleted all my photos/videos/etc from the phone already.. And, the limo place supposedly fires him. Yeah, that was fun. However, in the end, I got a replacement by the time the phone showed up, and sold the new one I got from insurance for a profit of $300... So, I win.

 

[MichaelBarg]

Here's the Taxi & Limousine Commission lost property page: http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/passenger/sub_lost_prop_inquiry.shtml

They basically say to contact the company or the police. I'm guessing that you have no real way to contact the cab (medallion # or driver license #) in which case I'd take it to the police station and give them as much information as you can. The TLC page isn't the clearest, but it does sound like the information gets coordinated so the owner could find it either through the TLC or NYPD.

 

[Seaneboy]

Meh, I think the best bet is using the serial number to track down who bought it, if that's even at all possible...

 

[ImDonly1]

Connect it to WiFi and maybe the owner will send you an iMessage or someone else will?

Also wasn't there an exploit to get passed by lock screen? Not sure what iOS you are on, but maybe that is an option?

http://www.macrumors.com/2013/09/19/ios-7-lock-screen-vulnerability-gives-access-to-photos-email/