What do you do when you get your phone stolen?
Okay, so here’s the backstory. A couple of weeks ago, after getting home from the badminton preseason meeting, I noticed my phone was missing. I checked my backpack and everything, even tracked it online but it was clearly not at school where I had last used it and was moving along Washington, so it became evident that someone had taken my phone (why they would want to steal a slightly cracked and outdated iPhone 7 with a faulty touchscreen with a resale value of probably around $100-150, but with at least a $50 investment in repairs is beyond me). After much stress and struggle, I managed to get my phone back. Here’s what I did, what you should do in case of a stolen phone, and what you should probably avoid doing.
Disclaimer: What works for me may not work for you! This guide serves as only a non-comprehensive guide to be used with other resources online!
1. STALK THE PHONE
First, before you do ANYTHING, make sure you actually lost the phone and by lost, I mean not accidentally misplacing your phone somewhere. Try searching your bag, hands, pockets, and nearby surroundings a couple of times or even straight-up calling your phone a few times with a friend’s phone if it’s not on mute.
If you still can’t find your phone after much effort, try tracking your phone. Smartphones are especially helpful in this aspect because phones usually have preinstalled tracking apps that can be accessed either online or on a friend’s phone. Although these apps may not be 100% accurate to the exact location, they will point you to the general location on a map. This can also help gauge if you simply just misplaced the phone, or if it actually got stolen (phone moving on a road or phone found at a different location shows high possibility, both of which I noticed while tracking my phone on the Find My iPhone). For Apple users that have misplaced their iPhone or know the thief is nearby, you can use the ‘play sound’ feature on Find My iPhone to find your phone by year.
2. CONTEMPLATE YOUR NEXT ACTIONS
There’s a lot of different paths you can take if you noticed that your phone is legitimately gone. If you’ve lost it at somewhere you regularly frequent (school for me, but possibly workplaces or public areas/shops) there’s a chance that someone simply accidentally took your phone or kept it for safekeeping and might return it the next day. Maybe give it a day or two and don’t directly jump to conclusions. However, there are some additional steps you can take to ensure the highest possibility of getting your phone back, following this step.
3. LOCK THE PHONE
Hopefully, you have working passcode(s) of some sort to protect your personal information. If not, you run the possibility of identity theft and loss of money (online credit cards, Venmo, Apple/Samsung Pay, etc. on your phone). Luckily for you, some tracking apps make it possible to lock your phone through the tracking app so your money and personal information can be protected to some degree.
4. SPAM THE PHONE
Call it by using your friend’s phone. Text it too (I like a mixture of polite texts but also using the fear factor with threats of calling the cops on the thief).
5. NOTIFY THE PHONE
Turn on lost mode (Apple users only, but most brands have an equivalent) and set a phone number to contact you, as well as the message to show up on the phone’s screen. Lost mode also automatically locks your phone and turns on low power mode to maximize battery life.
6. CONFRONT THE THIEF
Disclaimer: This may or may not be an extremely terrible idea. Although I personally went with my parents and followed my phone to someone’s house, it also could’ve been very dangerous. Proceed at your own caution!!!
If you’ve waited and you are sure that the thief probably isn’t going to return your phone anytime soon, an option is to follow the tracking app to your phone and ask for your phone back.
However, this could prove to be very dangerous. You may not know where exactly the place is and you don’t know who took your phone. You also don’t know if they could or will actually hurt you, but one thing is clear: your life isn’t worth risking for retrieving a stolen phone. Try using Google Maps street view and the tracked address to gauge whether the phone’s location is safe or sketchy. If in doubt, you can also try calling the police station and asking for advice.
Also, if you do confront the thief, be careful. Definitely be polite and firm but NOT accusatory when asking for your phone back. The person who answers the door may not be the thief and may not know what’s going on, so have so respect for them. If they deny having the phone, you can use the ‘play sound’ feature or call your phone to make it go off and possibly expose them. If that still doesn’t work, you can firmly but NOT rudely threaten to call the cops or just leave then call the cops.
7. CALL THE COPS
If you’ve done everything you can and the thief won’t return your phone or if the thief/phone location is potentially dangerous, it’s a sign to step back and let the police handle the case. Call the cops, file a police report, and give them your number/phone’s serial number so they can track the phone. There’s nothing else you can do but hope you get the phone back but if you have insurance for your phone, the police report may allow you to get some money for it.
