Am I being scammed? Super weird

loco_scolo

Something super weird has happened. A few weeks ago, after returning from a 3week holiday, my next door neighbour said that 3x strangers were trying to leave a note at my house. I have no letterbox so they left the note with the neighbour.

The note said "I think you found my phone. Please return it" and they left a number. I thought it was weird so I ignored it.

3 weeks later (just now), a pizza delivery guy arrives at my door with pizza and chips, which we didn't order. There was a note with the receipt saying "give back my iPhone 14".

I found the note and rang the number. A guy answered and said that Apple's "Find my Phone" said the phone was in my house. However, the feature was now saying the phone was in Russia, so they had accepted it was gone. He denied any knowledge of the pizza delivery.

What's the STORY?

spaceHopper

No clue but did you eat the pizza and was there any novichok on it ?

loco_scolo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121105724#Comment_121105724

I did NOT eat the pizza, thanks!!

I found out that this is some weird elaborate scam. I contacted the bar in Dublin, which the pizza recipe referred to, and the general manager there said he has heard a similar story once before, recently, and he advised I should report it to the guards.

Kurooi

Did the bar manager mention how the scam plays out? That sounds like a very bizarre set up

kirving

If someone loses their iPhone, they can track it as the phone uploads it's GPS location A) continuously while powered on, B) just before it loses power, and finally C) can still be found by other phones passing by when turned off (as it leaves Bluetooth enabled).

What may have happened was that the last location which the phone transmitted was near your house. I don't think there's really any scan beyond them trying to trick you into answering your door using a Pizza, just someone desperate to get their phone back.

loco_scolo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122086540#Comment_122086540

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122086580#Comment_122086580

It turned out that someone nearby was stealing phones in town, bringing them home (somewhere near my house), before, presumably, hacking the phones and turning them off.

There was another incident, when on a Sunday, I arrived home to find a poor American girl wandering my street looking confused. She actually showed me the last ping location on her laptop. My house was not within that radius, but nearby. She also found discarded business cards on our street.

I brought her to the local Garda station to report it and explain to them there were now at least 3 separate incidents, having realized the pizza delivery was separate to the very first note.

It makes me wonder how many incidents (confused people wandering the street) did I miss, or people who were not convinced their phone was inside my house!!!

kirving

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122105683#Comment_122105683

That's awful. Definitely a serial thief, and unfortunate that the Gardai can't act as the location isn't accurate enough.

Fair play to you for looking out for her. Keep an eye out for any dodgy neighbors too, you might spot something!

loco_scolo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122108008#Comment_122108008

Ha!! I'm Northside so it's full of homeless shelters and/or halfway houses. I've no issues with these, to be clear, and haven't seen any uptick in social issues, but...

Hotblack Desiato

You'd think they'd use an RF blocking bag 😶

Quiet Achiever

I still don't get the note with the pizza??

Allinall

How do you get post, OP?

loco_scolo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122399797#Comment_122399797

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122399800#Comment_122399800

The note with the pizza was so strange. The interaction with the delivery guy was hilarious, I was so confused and suspicious. He was like "do you want the pizza or not?" .... "Not a chance thanks"

To answer Allinall's question (and perhaps both questions), we don't have a letter box in our door. I regrettably didn't get one on the advise of our Door Salesman. We have the AnPost parcel box, which only the postman and us have a key to.

patspost

You can still get a postbox for flyers etc if you want that has a flap on top.

loco_scolo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122406462#Comment_122406462

It's a terraced house that opens onto the public path. I've thought about getting a second box, but it will look odd, and I prefer to get less junk mail and have parcels delivered to the house, which is handy.