found wiped phone, how to find owner?

sydthebeat

Hi all, bit of a weird one

i found a galaxy s4 on the floor of our office this morning.

it has been completely factory reset.... nothing on the phone but the original operating system... no logs, no contacts, no images... nothing

it has an 8gb micro SD (wiped clean) and it has a sim card in it.

anyone any ideas about how to get it back to its owner?

Tell me how

Walk in to the bathroom. Walk to the sink. Look forward. There's the owner.:D


Just kidding. Post a flyer on a public notice board or send a company wide email suggesting an item was found but don't give too many details. When someone comes to you, ask them to describe it. If they can, it's theirs. If not, after a reasonable time of say a week or so I think you'd be entitled to hold on to it.

Do you have a receptionist? Is it possible to send out companywide emails? Pop down to your receptionist, explain that you've found this phone, and ask them to send out a mass email asking for the owner to report to the reception to pick it up. I also wouldn't be surprised if it belongs to the IT department, if you have one.

sydthebeat

i suppose i should have been more descriptive, it was left through a letter box and i found it on the floor inside the front foor
its a VERY small office, just 2 of us... and it certainly doesnt belong to my colleague (bright pink cover )
and its in a mid sized town in laois.

the fact its been wiped and been factory reset seems a bit dodgy to me, could have been robbed i suppose? i just have no idea why it was left through the letter box

is the IMEI of any use if ive no idea of what network its tied to?

in the meantime ill wait to see if anyone calls it

DopeTech

Try adding the phone number in your own whatsapp/facebook. Might find the owners name that way and be able to contact them.

Tell me how

sydthebeat wrote: »

i suppose i should have been more descriptive, it was left through a letter box and i found it on the floor inside the front foor
its a VERY small office, just 2 of us... and it certainly doesnt belong to my colleague (bright pink cover )
and its in a mid sized town in laois.

You could go for a small announcement in Leinster Express, Laois Local paper, Midlands Express, public flyer on pole outside office but I suspect it won't be necessary.

Would be surprised if there wasn't a knock on the door asking if ye found it when the individual who sent it realised they dropped it in to the wrong place.

sydthebeat

FrostyJim wrote: »

Try adding the phone number in your own whatsapp/facebook. Might find the owners name that way and be able to contact them.

cant get the phone number....

Kimbot

Take the sim card out and ring the provider, tell them you found the phone and give them the Sim card number. They might be able to contact the owner from an emergancy number on file or house phone number. Ive done this a few times and gotten all phones back to their owners.

salamanca22

Sounds like the phone has been remotely wiped when owner found that their phone was missing.

As mentioned before the phone company may be able to get in contact with the owner of the sim card. Other than that there is not much left to do but put it in a drawer and wait to see if the owner claims it.

drunkmonkey

Give them the IMEI number, that's the owner of the phone, anybody could own the sim. The network won't give you the details but they'll contact the owner and give them your details.

DopeTech

sydthebeat wrote: »

cant get the phone number....

If it has a sim in it you could call yourself from it to get the number. If there is no sim in it then nobody will be able to call it.

sydthebeat

sorry guys, just checked again and theres actually no sim in it

didnt look hard enough last time

ill put something up on FB i think

Yea, since you mentioned about it being put through the letter box, I'm also beginning to think that it was robbed, and whoever the owner is wiped the device using whatever safeguard was put on the phone.

Is there any way of knowing who the provider is, without a sim card? I'm assuming that when you turn it on, it isn't locked to a network, showing that particular logo?

sydthebeat

nope, nothing. not registered on a network. blank home screen.

the only individual piece of identity i can access is the IMEI i think, but ive no idea what to do with it to find a previous owner.

Now.. I might be wrong, but is the IMEI not only useful if you know what network the phone is registered with?

Kristopherus

Deleted User wrote: »

Now.. I might be wrong, but is the IMEI not only useful if you know what network the phone is registered with?

In that case the OP would have to ring all the networks. But it may be worth his time ringing Voda, Three & Meteor. That would cover 80+% of the populace.

sydthebeat

GOOD NEWS phone reunited with owner !!!

phone was robbed from a premises next door, but the owner knew the thief....... thief probably copped on that they were known to the owner, and decided to drop phone back but dropped it back in wrong door.

Wizard!

Good news.

However, just to let people know, there is a global database for IMEIs
http://www.imei.info

You can register your phone there. Some services and distributors, refuse to repair phones that are report stolen and they call the police once it is surfaced. Unfortunately, not all service points do that.

Damn, OP, you can this close to having a new phone :pac:

That's good news, though!