Questions about lost/stolen cell phone

My Sprint PCS cell phone was either lost or stolen while out shopping last
week during a visit to NYC. I went back to all the stores I'd been to to see
if I could find it or if anyone found it, but with no luck. Nor did anyone
turn it into a Sprint store. I called Sprint to see if anyone had used the
phone during the several hours it was missing, but there was only a 30
second Vision connection (odd). I temporarily suspended service on my
account and ended up buying a replacement phone, the same model as before
(Toshiba VM-4050), and switched my old # to it. I didn't have insurance on
the old phone, so I had to pay full price for the replacement.

I realized that the lost/stolen phone was probably a lost cause, but figured
that it wouldn't hurt to file a police report, just in case. Before I went
to the local precinct, I logged onto my Sprint PCS account and noticed that
a photo taken with my old phone of a young woman had been uploaded to my
picture mail account. It seemed that whoever found or stole the phone likely
took this picture and for some reason uploaded it to my account (which
explained the 30 second Vision usage). I also noticed that they had tried to
email this picture to another cell phone (which was not a Sprint PCS #,
according to a rep I spoke to after seeing all of this).

So I printed the picture out, along with this phone #, and took it all to
the police, where I filed a lost or stolen cell phone report and gave them
these printouts. The woman who took my report told me that because this
wasn't a violent crime, and wasn't necessarily even a crime (the phone was
in a holster and could have slipped out by accident), no one there would be
able to check into this. At best, if someone turned in the phone, or tried
to activate it, this would be reported and I'd be contacted. Needless to
say, she didn't give me much reason to hope that the phone would turn up,
which is what I had expected.

I'm wondering, though, is there anything else I could do to help recover
this phone? I was told by various Sprint reps that once a phone is disabled
by Sprint, it can no longer be reactivated by anyone other than myself, due
to its unique ESN, and that if anyone tried to reactivate it with Sprint or
another carrier, it would immediately be reported as a lost or stolen phone.
Is this true, or are there ways to reprogram a phone's ESN so that it can be
reused? If not, it seems odd that anyone would want to steal a cell phone,
especially since no calls were placed with my phone in the hours after it
was lost or stolen. Perhaps people don't realize that a cell phone has
little to no value once disabled, although I suppose that the battery could
still be used or sold, or the phone could be sold to an unsuspecting buyer
on eBay.

Oh well, I guess I should get insurance now. ;-) Thanks for any advice
anyone might have.

--
Kovie
[email protected]zen

---

› See More: Questions about lost/stolen cell phone

"Kovie" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news1m4d.137367$3l3.98440@attbi_s03...

<Snipped>
>
> So I printed the picture out, along with this phone #, and took it all to
> the police, where I filed a lost or stolen cell phone report and gave them
> these printouts. The woman who took my report told me that because this
> wasn't a violent crime, and wasn't necessarily even a crime (the phone was
> in a holster and could have slipped out by accident), no one there would
be
> able to check into this. At best, if someone turned in the phone, or tried
> to activate it, this would be reported and I'd be contacted. Needless to
> say, she didn't give me much reason to hope that the phone would turn up,
> which is what I had expected.

Only thing you can do here Kovie is try calling that other telephone number
and ask them to tell whoever found the phone to turn it into the police or
SPCS.

>
> I'm wondering, though, is there anything else I could do to help recover
> this phone? I was told by various Sprint reps that once a phone is
disabled
> by Sprint, it can no longer be reactivated by anyone other than myself,
due
> to its unique ESN, and that if anyone tried to reactivate it with Sprint
or
> another carrier, it would immediately be reported as a lost or stolen
phone.
> Is this true, or are there ways to reprogram a phone's ESN so that it can
be
> reused?

It's true. They can't reactivate it. Only you can. The only thing the person
who found that phone can find value with that phone is with parts, or the
battery.

< If not, it seems odd that anyone would want to steal a cell phone,
> especially since no calls were placed with my phone in the hours after it
> was lost or stolen. Perhaps people don't realize that a cell phone has
> little to no value once disabled, although I suppose that the battery
could
> still be used or sold, or the phone could be sold to an unsuspecting buyer
> on eBay.
>
> Oh well, I guess I should get insurance now. ;-) Thanks for any advice
> anyone might have.

Sorry, but really, unless you are affiliated with an law enforcement agency
or with phone company, which can track the phone via SPCS's system, you are
SOL. Insurance really isn't a value, unless you have a new phone worth
$300+.

Bob

In the past 5-6 years I have found at least 6 cell phones, most of them
where found on the bike trails or in the parks. First thing I did for all
those phones is to call people in the phone book and try to find an owner. I
would live my name, number and city where I live but only on 2 out of 6
cases people clamed their phones (both phones where over $200 at that time)
One person gave me $20 and the other gave me $13 bottle of wine. 4 others
never got back to me and I still have those phones in a garage somewhere.
Bottom line is if the person does not want to put some effort in claming the
phone why would I do that to find a store and take it there?


"Kovie" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news1m4d.137367$3l3.98440@attbi_s03...
> My Sprint PCS cell phone was either lost or stolen while out shopping last
> week during a visit to NYC. I went back to all the stores I'd been to to
see
> if I could find it or if anyone found it, but with no luck. Nor did anyone
> turn it into a Sprint store. I called Sprint to see if anyone had used the
> phone during the several hours it was missing, but there was only a 30
> second Vision connection (odd). I temporarily suspended service on my
> account and ended up buying a replacement phone, the same model as before
> (Toshiba VM-4050), and switched my old # to it. I didn't have insurance on
> the old phone, so I had to pay full price for the replacement.
>
> I realized that the lost/stolen phone was probably a lost cause, but
figured
> that it wouldn't hurt to file a police report, just in case. Before I went
> to the local precinct, I logged onto my Sprint PCS account and noticed
that
> a photo taken with my old phone of a young woman had been uploaded to my
> picture mail account. It seemed that whoever found or stole the phone
likely
> took this picture and for some reason uploaded it to my account (which
> explained the 30 second Vision usage). I also noticed that they had tried
to
> email this picture to another cell phone (which was not a Sprint PCS #,
> according to a rep I spoke to after seeing all of this).
>
> So I printed the picture out, along with this phone #, and took it all to
> the police, where I filed a lost or stolen cell phone report and gave them
> these printouts. The woman who took my report told me that because this
> wasn't a violent crime, and wasn't necessarily even a crime (the phone was
> in a holster and could have slipped out by accident), no one there would
be
> able to check into this. At best, if someone turned in the phone, or tried
> to activate it, this would be reported and I'd be contacted. Needless to
> say, she didn't give me much reason to hope that the phone would turn up,
> which is what I had expected.
>
> I'm wondering, though, is there anything else I could do to help recover
> this phone? I was told by various Sprint reps that once a phone is
disabled
> by Sprint, it can no longer be reactivated by anyone other than myself,
due
> to its unique ESN, and that if anyone tried to reactivate it with Sprint
or
> another carrier, it would immediately be reported as a lost or stolen
phone.
> Is this true, or are there ways to reprogram a phone's ESN so that it can
be
> reused? If not, it seems odd that anyone would want to steal a cell phone,
> especially since no calls were placed with my phone in the hours after it
> was lost or stolen. Perhaps people don't realize that a cell phone has
> little to no value once disabled, although I suppose that the battery
could
> still be used or sold, or the phone could be sold to an unsuspecting buyer
> on eBay.
>
> Oh well, I guess I should get insurance now. ;-) Thanks for any advice
> anyone might have.
>
> --
> Kovie
> [email protected]zen
>
>
>

"I.T." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> In the past 5-6 years I have found at least 6 cell phones, most of them
> where found on the bike trails or in the parks. First thing I did for all
> those phones is to call people in the phone book and try to find an owner.
> I
> would live my name, number and city where I live but only on 2 out of 6
> cases people clamed their phones (both phones where over $200 at that
> time)
> One person gave me $20 and the other gave me $13 bottle of wine. 4 others
> never got back to me and I still have those phones in a garage somewhere.
> Bottom line is if the person does not want to put some effort in claming
> the
> phone why would I do that to find a store and take it there?
>
>


I finally got my phone back. It's kind of interesting how. My phone had a
camera and I had a Vision plan, so I went online a week after losing the
phone and checked my Picture Vision account, and what do you know, someone
had taken a picture with my phone and tried to send it to a cell phone. I
called the number, the person said they had my phone, I arranged a time and
place to get it back, and it went smoothly.

I didn't offer them a reward, though. When I first noticed my phone missing
I called it 20-30 times from several other phones, all of which were in my
phone's phonebook, sent text messages to the phone with contact info, and
even left some voice mails with contact info, and the person who found my
phone made no attempt to answer any of them or call me back. When I got my
phone back, I checked the call log and saw that they made no attempt to
answer any of my calls, or call any of my contact or phonebook numbers. The
only calls they made were to themself (just minutes before and after my
multiple calls to my phone, so they must have seen my call attempts), and,
strangely, to 911 a week later. Instead, I found a dozen or so pictures and
videos taken with my phone. So while I was grateful that this person was
honest about having my phone and willing to give it back, I would have
appreciated just a bit more effort on their part to contact me...like
hitting the "talk" button when I called.

I did, though, forward this person all of the pictures they took with my
phone, as a sort of reward. ;-)

--
Kovie
[email protected]zen