Bogus call

Hi had my iphone stolen, reported to police. I had dodgy call today saying had been found, and was handed in to the apple lost and found department in London, I'm in Sheffield. The number they used was 0123453789 which is not a right number, is this a scam they wanted details from me over the phone to send it back, I refused. Thanks

wmwallace said:

Hi had my iphone stolen, reported to police. I had dodgy call today saying had been found, and was handed in to the apple lost and found department in London, I'm in Sheffield. The number they used was 0123453789 which is not a right number, is this a scam they wanted details from me over the phone to send it back, I refused. Thanks

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The "detective" in me thinks two things:

- How would these people/person know that your iPhone was stolen in the first place. Unless it is the person that stole it.
- On the other hand...maybe your iPhone was discarded by the original thief...and some innocent person found the phone & was contacting you (assuming your contact info was somewhere accessible on the phone).

Of course I didn't hear the phone call you received...so I don't know which of these possibilities is more probable.

In any case...I'm thinking it was best to not give them any personal info. But on the other hand...if they were just being a "good samaritan"...they would need your info to return the phone.

- Nick

p.s. A 3rd possibility could be...if this is the person that stole your iPhone (and they were able to access your personal info on it)...what additional personal info were they asking for (that wasn't already on the phone)?

p.p.s. Did you have a password on your iPhone?

Bogus Call

Hi I think your first thoughts are right. The phone had password on it, I also erased all the contents. The police also think it's dodgy, gave them recording also number.

The call came from Bedford. There is no such place as Apple lost and found department.

Thanks so much for you kind reply.

wmwallace said:

The phone had password on it, I also erased all the contents.

Click to expand...

I was thinking more on this. If your iPhone had a password…and if you erased all the contents. Assuming that they were not able to "crack" the password…

- How the heck did they get a phone number to contact you?
- How did they know it was your iPhone?
- How did they know that it was stolen?

I mean depending on where the phone was when it was stolen…they would have no idea who you are. Unless the person that stole it knows you…or the phone was stolen from your car, your home, or your workplace (places that your identity could be ascertained).

- Nick

Hi, I asked them how they had got my phone number. They said the phone was displaying a message on it saying that it was lost, and my number home number was displayed. I think it did not smell right when they said they would require some personal details from me over the phone. I said I would rather they email me with their details, which I would pass to the police and let them deal with it.

No email was sent to me.

I live in Sheffield, UK, the phone call came from the London area, also I was in a restaurant/pub when it went missing.

Thanks again for your reply.

Thanks for the answers. I'm just very curious what sort of possible scam these guys are trying to pull. Not only to help you out...but to also learn more myself in case it should happen to me/family...and for others to learn from reading this thread.

Thanks again,

- Nick

Sounds like they are identity thieves. If it was someone trying to do a good deed, they would turn the phone it to police.

Either ID thieves or just wanted to be able to unlock the phone to sell/use.

When you set up Find my iPhone, doesn't it offer a setting to display a message to a potential finder? Believe me, I too would be skeptical of this situation, but I think you must have set up Find my iPhone in order to have erased it and I feel certain there's something in there about a message to contact...

Apple - iCloud - Find My iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

The image here shows what the finder would see on the lock screen.