A person has their iPhone stolen. A little later, the device reappears 3200 km away. The thief had the clever idea of handing in the iPhone at a repair shop.
A user had his phone stolen after sending it for repair to an eBay dealer. The thief broke into the dealer’s mailbox and stole the device. However, the thief made a mistake: he took the iPhone to a repair shop that helped the rightful owner get his phone back.
Thief brings the phone for repair and does not disable the location tracking
The user explained on reddit that he bought an old iPhone from a friend, but it was damaged on the back. Since the repair at Apple was too expensive for him, he chose a recommended eBay shop. But on the way there by post, the iPhone disappeared.
Now the thief made two mistakes:
- Firstly, the thief brought the stolen device to a repair dealer.
- Secondly, the owner had activated the “Find My” function from Apple, and the thief did not disable it.
This made it easy to locate the shop where the thief had taken his phone. He himself explains in his reddit post (via dexerto.com):
The location indicated that it was in a ‘Fix it’ shop in Brooklyn, NY, but I found out that the shop was not reliable and often sold stolen phones. I tried to file a police report by phone, but the Brooklyn police were not very helpful and said I could not file a report about the phone.
Instead, he contacted the repair shop directly and explained the theft to them. Then he sent a friend who worked at Apple to confirm his identity. This way, he was able to get his phone back.
More about Apple: A TikToker orders a few new iPhones. But in the end, he receives the devices delivered by the box-load. He shares the bizarre case on social media. However, many people in the community don’t believe him. Read the entire story directly on MeinMMO: TikToker allegedly buys iPhone 15, instead receives three boxes worth over 100,000 euros – community considers him a scammer
