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That's really, really terrible and I'm very sorry to hear it. Beyond the loss itself and the time wasted, the feeling of the violation is just not fun.
Maybe just get an unlocked iPhone 6, a prepaid local SIM, and continue on your trip? So you can't forward, but you can do everything else that way. Just a thought. Again, sorry to hear. Oh - any chance Find my iPhone can help? |
Originally Posted by milepig
(Post 23837728)
Well, for me - at least for the next 2 weeks - the issue is moot. My beautiful new Iphone6 was pickpocked on the Metro in Barcelona today. It has been a painful 3 hours getting everything turned off and checked, but the only loss seems to have been the phone. By the time I got to check via the icloud, the phone was already turned off, and T-Mobile shows no transactions post-loss. I hadn't used it for several minutes before so it was locked down in any case.
I'm a great and careful traveler, but this was one of those "run into you agressively" and strip open your pockets before leaping off the train. I feel violated. Since it had been in my pocket for at least 15 minutes the guy had no idea what I had and was just fishing. Sigh. The main issue is that I'm traveling for 2 more weeks, and they have no way to get me a replacement, either with my number of with the ability to transfer calls to the new number, since to do so would mean they couldn't totally disable the account. Just changed to simple choice, and will really miss seamless access to my world - at least I'll have the laptop but won't be able to do things like download my BPs onto the phones passbook. Makes me realize how attached we are to our phones. New phone already ordered and I hope it will be waiting for me on my return to the states, but there is a huge amount of angst at the moment!! Having just gone through two incidents in the last two months--my iPhone 5 was stolen on a bus in DUB, and my rental car was broken into and my backpack with laptop and some other valuables (including passport :() was stolen in a rural area near CHC--I totally feel your pain. Make sure you mark it as "Lost" on Find My iPhone on iCloud.com. That way, if it does pop up, you'll get a notification, and I believe that also adds the phone to Apple's activation blacklist, effectively making it unusable for anyone who tries to activate it in the future. Might not help you get it back, but at least you'll have the satisfaction that it's little more than a paperweight to the ***** who took it from you. Any chance you bought it with a card like the Amex Plat that includes coverage for theft/loss within the first 90 days? Hoping it all works out OK for you in the end. |
If the iPhone is locked, they can't use it or restore it to factory.
I lost my iPhone 5 in Amsterdam earlier this year. I sent a note with my email through Find My iPhone, so that it appears on the lock screen. Well after I returned from my trip, I got repeated phishing emails with a mock up of the iCloud site, trying to get me to enter my AppleID and password, without which the phone can't be unlocked. The address was funky, like iCloud.hr or some Eastern European domain -- what you'd expect given all the criminal activity which originates from that region. With iOS 7 and on, there is no way to access the device, even to wipe the internal storage in order for another person to use it, unless it's unlocked or it's restored, which requires an AppleID. |
Thanks, all.
The phone was locked via the icloud within just a few minutes, and all services were disabled at that point. A search revealed "no location found" which means it had already been turned off, and likely stripped of the SIM. T-MOB already killed the SIM, and if anyone tries to gain access to the phone that activity will immediately wipe everything. There is some small comfort knowing that whoever took it likely now has a brick. I started to call my bank to see if I do have coverage though the charge I made when I bought, but ultimately decided that can wait until I'm back in the States. The other good news is that I just had an email from T-MOB that the replacement phone was shipped and so will be waiting for my return. This is too complicated of a trip to expect it to actually find me if I tried to have is shipped here. I'll get by with my laptop for the trip, and am glad I didn't have anything like addresses, tickets, phone numbers etc. on the phone that I hadn't also printed out. I'm with Mrs. Milepig and so can use her hotspot for internet access in places where we don't otherwise have it and important contacts already know to call her if they need something. Would have been nice to have it for things like mobile boarding passes, but all these things have other solutions! In retrospect, loosing my wallet would have been far worse. |
Originally Posted by josephstern
(Post 23837765)
That's really, really terrible and I'm very sorry to hear it. Beyond the loss itself and the time wasted, the feeling of the violation is just not fun.
Maybe just get an unlocked iPhone 6, a prepaid local SIM, and continue on your trip? So you can't forward, but you can do everything else that way. Just a thought. Again, sorry to hear. Oh - any chance Find my iPhone can help? |
Originally Posted by nmenaker
(Post 23841687)
try the find my iphone stuff if you can, but regardless, when you return contact your carrier or apple. If you report it stolen and can either back it up with a police report, or they can check on the IMEI, i have experience with both ATT, Verizon and Apple that they will let you buy another subsidized or reduced price phone - sometimes.
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Originally Posted by milepig
(Post 23841712)
Thanks. Already dealt with both T-MOB and my bank. I have a "provisional" police report, but without the Serial Number - who carries with that!! - I don't think they'll finalize the report. In any case, we're leaving BNC in a few hours. Chase was very nice, and is sending me a claim form which if they accept will get me $500 back. I figure the odds are 50/50, but I do also have a trail from T-Mobile showing that the phone had been reported stolen and they they'd blocked my account.. New phone is already waiting at our condo for when we get home - despite the T-MOB person on the phone quoting 3-4 weeks. So now, I'm just going to enjoy my vacation and forget about it!
good luck p.s. one of the things I do with any phones is take a screenshot of the ABOUT page, capturing all the IMEI, serial, device id information for future reference. More for when I don't have the phone with me and need the information. |
Originally Posted by milepig
(Post 23837728)
Well, for me - at least for the next 2 weeks - the issue is moot. My beautiful new Iphone6 was pickpocked on the Metro in Barcelona today.
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Hopefully people are locking their phones, enabling Find My iPhone, so the thieves get nothing from stealing.
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Originally Posted by wco81
(Post 23847137)
Hopefully people are locking their phones, enabling Find My iPhone, so the thieves get nothing from stealing.
However, I've had some troubles with Find My iPhone getting activated after switching SIM cards. When I put an Irish SIM in my phone, the SIM had no credit and so the device was unable to send the normal FaceTime activation SMS/MMS, and I think that also blocked Find My iPhone from becoming active on the new SIM. I also had trouble in South Korea, and I really had to mess with the FaceTime and Find My iPhone settings to get it activated when I put my New Zealand SIM in. For those of us who travel internationally and regularly put different SIM chips in, you really need to test and make sure that Find My iPhone is active and working. I may very well have been able to recover my stolen iPhone 5 in Ireland if Find My iPhone had been working. :( |
Originally Posted by wco81
(Post 23847137)
Hopefully people are locking their phones, enabling Find My iPhone, so the thieves get nothing from stealing.
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Are you sure thieves can't crack these at this point? These guys who unlock and jailbreak phones are pretty impressive. How hard could it be for them to defeat the iCloud lock?
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Originally Posted by josephstern
(Post 23847662)
Are you sure thieves can't crack these at this point? These guys who unlock and jailbreak phones are pretty impressive. How hard could it be for them to defeat the iCloud lock?
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/390682/i...ios-7-security |
Originally Posted by deniah
(Post 23847649)
my first iphone is arriving soon , what kind of things should i enable or install (3rd party) to help with theft recovery?
the main thing is a passcode lock (to unlock the phone from sleep) and find my iphone, which requires an apple ID and password. It will help you set one up if you don't have one. And you will use that for lots of things with Apple. Turning on find my iphone prevents firmware updates, restores, etc. (things a thief would do to wipe your phone). If it's your phone you can enter the apple id and password to turn it off as needed and then remember to turn it back on. It also allows you to do a remote wipe from the web and once locked with find my iphone, the phone is basically useless to anybody else. -David |
They just upgraded my 4s to a 6. Unless you have large hands this jump is really a pain in the Keester.
Positive /much easier to read and respond to mail, so things are less likely to get buried. Negative / so large I hate using it as it is uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time. Neutral - less likely pick up phone to surf, kill time because it is there. The dog thinks this is a good thing. |
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