Stolen Phone

Pov06

Hi all,

My mother's phone was stolen from behind the counter of a fashion shop this morning.

The thief has left GPS, WiFi on and I have managed to track the phone right now using the Android Device Manager.

I tracked it to 10~ meter accuracy and it turns out the thief lives a few miles down the road.

What do I do? I know 100% the thief is a female and probably an opportunist - not a criminal at heart.

I got 2 screen shots of the location on the map and I have the IMEI code for the phone.

What steps do I take next? Confront the lady in question? Ring the Gardai?

My mother is absolutely devastated after this incident. The woman had asked for a different size in the shop and when she walked away from the counter the phone was stolen. I feel absolutely angered right now and I could probably get in the car and go down to the phone now, which probably isn't the best idea.

Ken.

Ring the Gardai.

punisher5112

gaRdai right away and tell them everything.

Wolfie67

I don't know about going to the garda, My daughter's iPhone was stolen from her bag in a bar ... have the video from the bar, kept waiting to see if the thief would turn on phone, sent a text to phone alerting anyone that it was a stolen phone. A week later it finally showed up in "find my iPhone app" it was in one of the chinese shops on moore street, my daughter went into the shop with a garda, showed them the video of the thief, the screen grabs from the app showing phone turned on that morning and showing up in the shop...... shop owner said no its not here we don't have it...and garda said nothing he could do

she then was left with no option other than logging into find my iPhone app and completely erasing the phone

Sooo... if I was you I would go with a friend and just get your phone back...knock on their door have your mom's phone number keyed into your phone...ring it and say I'm outside can i have it back or else I'm ringing the garda

Pov06

Just rang the Gardai.

They said regardless of whether I give them the location or not they are not in the power to search a house so nothing can be done.

Typical response. I guess I'll just have to sit outside their house in my car just like Darren in Love/Hate.........

punisher5112

Pov06 wrote: »

Just rang the Gardai.

They said regardless of whether I give them the location or not they are not in the power to search a house so nothing can be done.

Typical response. I guess I'll just have to sit outside their house in my car just like Darren in Love/Hate.........

Absolute rubbish.

Crazy when there is proof they can't touch.

Maybe a friendly phone call to the woman may help.

Pov06

punisher5112 wrote: »

Absolute rubbish.

Crazy when there is proof they can't touch.

Maybe a friendly phone call to the woman may help.

The woman has removed the SIM card and is using her eMobile card.

The phone was locked to Tesco Mobile this morning, not anymore it seems.

Day Lewin

Yes. Be assertive and a little unpleasant. Nothing illegal, of course, but being an embarrassment isn't illegal.

Examples: Tell everyone who calls to their door that your mother's stolen phone is inside and you are waiting for it to be returned.

Or call to them from the gate - "Have you got my mother's phone ready yet?"

Pov06

katemarch wrote: »

Or call to them from the gate - "Have you got my mother's phone ready yet?"

Yeah, from my car's subwoofer on full blast using a microphone :pac:

I'm absolutely stuck here though. The woman was a common client in the fashion shop, she said she works at the Citizen Information Office...

con___manx1

Ring up your network provider and get the phone imei blocked. At least that way the phone will just be a paper weight too them in Ireland .

Pov06

con___manx1 wrote: »

Ring up your network provider and get the phone imei blocked. At least that way the phone will just be a paper weight too them in Ireland .

The problem is I don't want the phone to end up in the bin.

punisher5112

On Monday go to citizens info and ask what can be done ;-)

con___manx1

Pov06 wrote: »

The problem is I don't want the phone to end up in the bin.

Yes that is true but if all else fails I would do it. Even when the phones are imei blocked they can still be unlocked and used overseas. Hopefully the dummy that stole your phone doesn't no that and put it on eBay where a lot of stolen phones end up. If you have find my iPhone on the phone they can't wipe it. I feel for you op . I hope u get it back. I would call to there door and threaten them with the gardai . I would make a scene big time. Bring your loudest friend for back up.

Pov06

Trust me, she will not want to leave her house after her neighbours hear me...

johnb25

punisher5112 wrote: »

Absolute rubbish.

Crazy when there is proof they can't touch.

Maybe a friendly phone call to the woman may help.

Had this conversation with a Garda; he says judges will not grant warrant on the basis of phone finder apps. Not considered conclusive proof of location of the phone. Without warrant they cannot just walk into people's houses.


Just walk up to the house and present what you know, and ask for the phone back. Do what you need to, within reason. They are in a compromised position.

Pat Mustard

Pov06 wrote: »

Just rang the Gardai.

They said regardless of whether I give them the location or not they are not in the power to search a house so nothing can be done.

Typical response. I guess I'll just have to sit outside their house in my car just like Darren in Love/Hate.........

Don't accept this as an answer. The guards can get a warrant. Call down to the Garda Station in person and ask the guards to sort this out asap.

You have already said that you can track the phone to the premises so I think that you should be able to resolve this.

endacl

They don't need a warrant to knock on the door for an unofficial chat. Pity it's the busiest night of the week for them...

deadanonymau5

Pov06 wrote: »

Hi all,

My mother's phone was stolen from behind the counter of a fashion shop this morning.

The thief has left GPS, WiFi on and I have managed to track the phone right now using the Android Device Manager.

I tracked it to 10~ meter accuracy and it turns out the thief lives a few miles down the road.

What do I do? I know 100% the thief is a female and probably an opportunist - not a criminal at heart.

I got 2 screen shots of the location on the map and I have the IMEI code for the phone.

What steps do I take next? Confront the lady in question? Ring the Gardai?

My mother is absolutely devastated after this incident. The woman had asked for a different size in the shop and when she walked away from the counter the phone was stolen. I feel absolutely angered right now and I could probably get in the car and go down to the phone now, which probably isn't the best idea.

Do you know her personally? Is she rough/aggressive? Or what is she like?

Try the guards again and get them to knock on her door?

Also, I wouldn't be so defensive of her, she did steal an expensive item off your mother after all. Scummy move! Did she even buy what she tried on in the new size? Could have been her plan

ozmo

Don't accuse her or back her into a corner - at least until you get your phone back.

Say it was lost and the phone is saying someone (not her) in the house might have found it. Name drop her name if you know it might throw her off guard.
Blocking the imei first will remind her its not hers and make it less valuable to her.

Accusing her first of of stealing or threatening her might get a defensive response - a "well its not here" response - then what can you do - so maybe save it unless the open-ended approach doesn't work?

frag420

Sometimes the police will help......here is my experience from a few years ago.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=79409435

Have faith OP, sometimes things work out!!

goz83

Wait til she leaves the house. Then make the phone ring using the app. Bingo.

Zambia

Pat Mustard wrote: »

Don't accept this as an answer. The guards can get a warrant. Call down to the Garda Station in person and ask the guards to sort this out asap.

You have already said that you can track the phone to the premises so I think that you should be able to resolve this.

Pat is right.

I am assuming the issue is Judges are knocking back the applications so the Gardai have stopped making them.

The Judge weighs up the evidence in the affadavit, and makes a decision.

Now if Judges are refusing them then someone has to provide further evidence to the judge confirming the accuracy of the application.

This could be as simple as someone spending the day going to different houses and confirming the address they are in are the addresses reflected on the application. They make affadavit to the testing they have done and each Garda refers to that affidavit on their applications.

And bear this in mind

http://www.cnet.com/au/news/teen-shot-dead-after-using-app-to-track-lost-phone/

DivingDuck

ozmo wrote: »

Don't accuse her or back her into a corner - at least until you get your phone back.

Say it was lost and the phone is saying someone (not her) in the house might have found it. Name drop her name if you know it might throw her off guard.
Blocking the imei first will remind her its not hers and make it less valuable to her.

Accusing her first of of stealing or threatening her might get a defensive response - a "well its not here" response - then what can you do - so maybe save it unless the open-ended approach doesn't work?

If you wanted to be a little callous, you could do the above and also say there was a big reward for the safe return of the phone.

When they hand it over, tell them the reward is not being turned into the police.

Pov06

Well - I went to the Garda station in Tallaght. Nice Garda-woman working there took all my details, phone IMEI, thief's address etc.

There were only 2 customers in the shop before the phone got stolen so they will get CCTV prints of these 2 women and will call over to the address that I gave them (I hope).

I called the phone provider today and got it barred. I pressed the ring button a few times last night which means the ring can only be turned on by taking out the phone battery and the ring lasts for 5 minutes. When I drove down to the house at 7 am today to no surprise a guy was staring out the window of that house just as I arrived to the cul-de-sac.

We'll see how it goes from there. At least the phone is useless to them now, that's the only thing.

For anyone wondering - yes the customer did end up buying something but my mother said she was in a big rush when she got the different size of clothing she was looking for.

goz83

What phone was it?

Pov06

goz83 wrote: »

What phone was it?

Galaxy S3

deadanonymau5

Pov06 wrote: »

Well - I went to the Garda station in Tallaght. Nice Garda-woman working there took all my details, phone IMEI, thief's address etc.

There were only 2 customers in the shop before the phone got stolen so they will get CCTV prints of these 2 women and will call over to the address that I gave them (I hope).

I called the phone provider today and got it barred. I pressed the ring button a few times last night which means the ring can only be turned on by taking out the phone battery and the ring lasts for 5 minutes. When I drove down to the house at 7 am today to no surprise a guy was staring out the window of that house just as I arrived to the cul-de-sac.

We'll see how it goes from there. At least the phone is useless to them now, that's the only thing.

For anyone wondering - yes the customer did end up buying something but my mother said she was in a big rush when she got the different size of clothing she was looking for.

So the phone is useless to your mother now?

Did you witness someone on CCTV taking the phone?

Hachiko

can a phone be used again once barred?

Pov06

deadanonymau5 wrote: »

So the phone is useless to your mother now?

Did you witness someone on CCTV taking the phone?

If the phone is recovered it can be unbarred by ringing the mobile network support.

The shop is fairly new so the only CCTV that was running was at the entrance of the shop which doesn't provide a view to the counter.

deadanonymau5

Pov06 wrote: »

If the phone is recovered it can be unbarred by ringing the mobile network support.

The shop is fairly new so the only CCTV that was running was at the entrance of the shop which doesn't provide a view to the counter.

What's your next move?

Maybe they'll bin the phone since its useless to them and they know the owner reported it?!

Pov06

deadanonymau5 wrote: »

What's your next move?

Maybe they'll bin the phone since its useless to them and they know the owner reported it?!

I will feel a lot better if the phone is binned rather than thieving scum using my phone and getting away with it, especially after they've spent money unlocking it.

I will wait and see what happens. I don't really expect to get it back but sure look - you point at the thieves to the Gardai and they don't give a fcuk. They only seem to chase down legit people for not paying motor tax and random crap like that...

Shelflife

I would Go to the house and politely speak to the lady in question. I would tell her that the phone was stolen and as she was in the shop at the time did she see anything.

I would tell her that there is a tracking device on the phone. I would tell her that the business owner is insisting the guards becoming involved unless the phone turns up and that you really don't want to get them involved.

At no stage accuse the lady, you are just looking for information, tell her that you have spoken to others who were in the shop at the time and if the phone is returned to the shop before 10am tomorrow the owner won't have to get the guards involved.

Tell her that the guards will be able track the movement of the phone even if it's thrown away at this stage.

ozmo

Pov06 wrote: »

If the phone is recovered it can be unbarred by ringing the mobile network support.

So did you ever get to try knocking on the door? If it was me Id be thinking now might be good time, while its broken for her, to asking nicely for it back. while you can still track it...

deadanonymau5

Pov06 wrote: »

Hi all,

My mother's phone was stolen from behind the counter of a fashion shop this morning.

The thief has left GPS, WiFi on and I have managed to track the phone right now using the Android Device Manager.

I tracked it to 10~ meter accuracy and it turns out the thief lives a few miles down the road.

What do I do? I know 100% the thief is a female and probably an opportunist - not a criminal at heart.

I got 2 screen shots of the location on the map and I have the IMEI code for the phone.

What steps do I take next? Confront the lady in question? Ring the Gardai?

My mother is absolutely devastated after this incident. The woman had asked for a different size in the shop and when she walked away from the counter the phone was stolen. I feel absolutely angered right now and I could probably get in the car and go down to the phone now, which probably isn't the best idea.

Pov06 wrote: »

Well - I went to the Garda station in Tallaght. Nice Garda-woman working there took all my details, phone IMEI, thief's address etc.

There were only 2 customers in the shop before the phone got stolen so they will get CCTV prints of these 2 women and will call over to the address that I gave them (I hope).

I called the phone provider today and got it barred. I pressed the ring button a few times last night which means the ring can only be turned on by taking out the phone battery and the ring lasts for 5 minutes. When I drove down to the house at 7 am today to no surprise a guy was staring out the window of that house just as I arrived to the cul-de-sac.

We'll see how it goes from there. At least the phone is useless to them now, that's the only thing.

For anyone wondering - yes the customer did end up buying something but my mother said she was in a big rush when she got the different size of clothing she was looking for.

___________________________________________________

Pov06 wrote: »

The problem is I don't want the phone to end up in the bin.

Pov06 wrote: »

I will feel a lot better if the phone is binned rather than thieving scum using my phone and getting away with it, especially after they've spent money unlocking it.

I will wait and see what happens. I don't really expect to get it back but sure look - you point at the thieves to the Gardai and they don't give a fcuk. They only seem to chase down legit people for not paying motor tax and random crap like that...

Im confused by the above?!?! It was probably only a few euro to unlock it.

Did the person pay by card or cash? If they paid by card, maybe its possible to find out their name?

deadanonymau5

Pov06 wrote: »

I will feel a lot better if the phone is binned rather than thieving scum using my phone and getting away with it, especially after they've spent money unlocking it.

I will wait and see what happens. I don't really expect to get it back but sure look - you point at the thieves to the Gardai and they don't give a fcuk. They only seem to chase down legit people for not paying motor tax and random crap like that...

They can't be certain they're thieves based on what you supplied them with

Pov06

deadanonymau5 wrote: »

Im confused by the above?!?! It was probably only a few euro to unlock it.

Did the person pay by card or cash? If they paid by card, maybe its possible to find out their name?

After enough hours of pulling my hair I just can't be bothered with this phone anymore.

The person paid with cash.

How can it be hard to know it's the thief for certain? The Gardai have 2 CCTV images of 2 women in the shop. If you knock on the door and one of the two opens it's clearly a no brainer.

The fact is nobody cares for the welfare of people living in Ireland. The scumbags have more protection than normal well behaved citizens so I give up.

ozmo

Well you did all you were supposed to - just hope that your network (that you blocked it on) share the same imei black-list as the network she is using it on now.
Should be.. but who knows.

See if it moves tomorrow.

deadanonymau5

Pov06 wrote: »

After enough hours of pulling my hair I just can't be bothered with this phone anymore.

The person paid with cash.

How can it be hard to know it's the thief for certain? The Gardai have 2 CCTV images of 2 women in the shop. If you knock on the door and one of the two opens it's clearly a no brainer.

The fact is nobody cares for the welfare of people living in Ireland. The scumbags have more protection than normal well behaved citizens so I give up.

You're full of contradictions as pointed out in my previous post. Woman/man, Don't bin it/Bin it.

They don't know whether your mother had the phone in the shop. Maybe they found it on the street. The 'thief' could have sold it/ gave it to someone they know. Maybe your mother didn't have it on the counter and lost it....

After all you said "When I drove down to the house at 7 am today to no surprise a guy was staring out the window of that house just as I arrived to the cul-de-sac."

Pat Mustard

Pov06 wrote: »

After enough hours of pulling my hair I just can't be bothered with this phone anymore.

The person paid with cash.

How can it be hard to know it's the thief for certain? The Gardai have 2 CCTV images of 2 women in the shop. If you knock on the door and one of the two opens it's clearly a no brainer.

The fact is nobody cares for the welfare of people living in Ireland. The scumbags have more protection than normal well behaved citizens so I give up.

Drop down to the Garda Station with a letter addressed to the Superintendent and then follow up with a phone call.

If this is important to you, you have to follow up.

Don't give up.

skirtgirl

Are you going to get CCTV that covers the till area and the door to the staff area? Is there a secure area for staff to leave their property? Hope the phone shows up.

Eugene Norman

deadanonymau5 wrote: »

You're full of contradictions as pointed out in my previous post. Woman/man, Don't bin it/Bin it.

They don't know whether your mother had the phone in the shop. Maybe they found it on the street. The 'thief' could have sold it/ gave it to someone they know. Maybe your mother didn't have it on the counter and lost it....

After all you said "When I drove down to the house at 7 am today to no surprise a guy was staring out the window of that house just as I arrived to the cul-de-sac."

Possibly the female thief has a boyfriend or husband.

Pov06

deadanonymau5 wrote: »

You're full of contradictions as pointed out in my previous post. Woman/man, Don't bin it/Bin it.

They don't know whether your mother had the phone in the shop. Maybe they found it on the street. The 'thief' could have sold it/ gave it to someone they know. Maybe your mother didn't have it on the counter and lost it....

After all you said "When I drove down to the house at 7 am today to no surprise a guy was staring out the window of that house just as I arrived to the cul-de-sac."

Please keep out of the thread if you will post nonsense.

The phone wasn't found on the street and infact was in the shop. This can be proved using google location history which shows the phone in the square for 2 hours that morning. Additionally the phone was used that morning a few times as she called me twice.

Then magically at 10 o'clock the phone moves to Firhouse and has an eMobile sim.

I don't think a woman in her late 40s is going to be single so that's no surprise that her husband is lurking out the window, especially after they had a stolen alert singing on the phone at midnight.

If they bought the phone they would have dumped the thing or gave it to the gardai.

Pat Mustard

Pov06 wrote: »

Please keep out of the thread if you will post nonsense.

Mod:

If you have a problem with a post, you should report it and the moderators will look after it. Back seat moderating is not allowed.

Pov06

Pat Mustard wrote: »

Mod:

If you have a problem with a post, you should report it and the moderators will look after it. Back seat moderating is not allowed.

Sorry but I didn't want it to sound like that.

It seems like everybody is defending the thief more than the victim. I wouldn't post the things I posted unless I was 100% sure.

deadanonymau5

Pov06 wrote: »

Please keep out of the thread if you will post nonsense.

The phone wasn't found on the street and infact was in the shop. This can be proved using google location history which shows the phone in the square for 2 hours that morning. Additionally the phone was used that morning a few times as she called me twice.

Then magically at 10 o'clock the phone moves to Firhouse and has an eMobile sim.

I don't think a woman in her late 40s is going to be single so that's no surprise that her husband is lurking out the window, especially after they had a stolen alert singing on the phone at midnight.

If they bought the phone they would have dumped the thing or gave it to the gardai.

You never said:
-she was in her late 40s and possibly but not definitely in a relationship
-that the man looking outside the windows could be her husband
-that you were using google location history to show that it was in the shop

I'm not posting nonsense. What you were saying in my previous post showed you contradicting yourself/made no sense, and I was trying to understand what was going on.

I'm not defending anyone, what you said before my previous posts didn't prove anyone stole the phone so I was trying to find why you said what you said (You said a woman stole your phone, then you said a man was looking out of the window , you didn't want the phone binned then you don't care if its binned as long as nobody else can use it) and how you know for certain that they stole your phone (you didn't post anything before that proved beyond doubt that it was stolen). From older info posted, you looked to be jumping to conclusions.

"If they bought the phone they would have dumped the thing"

I don't care, good luck with your mothers phone.......:rolleyes:

Pov06

deadanonymau5 wrote: »

You never said:
-that the man looking outside the windows could be her husband

Well jeez, it must be hard to figure out why there's a male in a female's house

deadanonymau5

'The thief is definitely a woman'....'no surprise theres a man looking out the window'.....'its definitely the thiefs house'.... err yeah... :roll eyes:

Funny how you don't address the rest of the post :rolleyes:

ozmo

What I find impressive is the thief can get the phone Network cracked (via rooting or codes?) and presumably blanking the phone to use it and yet the phone is still trackable.

Well done Google. OP - What site are you using - "Android Device Manager" , Samsung software? or something else. thanks.

Elliottsmum79

katemarch wrote: »

Yes. Be assertive and a little unpleasant. Nothing illegal, of course, but being an embarrassment isn't illegal.
u
Examples: Tell everyone who calls to their door that your mother's stolen phone is inside and you are waiting for it to be returned.

Or call to them from the gate - "Have you got my mother's phone ready yet?"

Totally agree with the sentiment but beware that defamation is actionable. And under Irish defamation law if it up to you to prove an assertion you make is true. Unless you can absolutely prove she stole the phone ( not on the basis of probability) best advice is not to open your mouth. Last thing you want it to be paying a settlement to a thief who threatens legal action for loss of their "good reputation". Unlikely scenario, but I'm never surprised with people like this....

Little CuChulainn

It's unlikely the thief still has the phone. They usually sell them on within a few hours.

readytosnap

don't suppose you had prey installed on the phone?, get it next time and install on every phone you have at least then you would of had a lovely photo of the woman as well.