How I lost my iPhone on 30th December 2011

Dropped my iPhone recently in a cab and found out how difficult it is to search for information on the go. It was the 2nd last day of 2011, and we were in a premier taxi when we decided to alight at cineleisure in a hurry because the traffic was so jammed. Paid, and got out of cab, only to realize I dropped the phone on the taxi's floor (because my sister checked the seat when she got out). I patted my shorts, checked my bag for the phone, and meanwhile the taxi got further and further away. Called premier taxi, and my phone which rang (but it was at vol 1) and tried chasing the cab down (too late). Premier taxi service said they would page their drivers after getting all the necessary details - but I have no cab number, nor do they have gps tracking on their taxis so even if I know where my phone was at they can't contact the driver.
It was then that I realized I've the "Find my iPhone" service in my phone so after a good 15 minutes of initial flustering figuring out how to access that service - I need to go to www.icloud.com or install the Find my iPhone app on another iPhone, enter your apple ID and password, I realized that the phone was tracked to Dorset Road.. and I quickly managed to remote lock the phone with a passcode. After that I decided to send a message that will play along a sound at full volume - on hindsight perhaps that's what alerted the passenger to the phone and to steal it. The message included my sister's phone number asking for the person to contact the owner of the phone, and it got sent as well.

Subsequently when we tried to call the phone again, it was switched off. and that is the end. My heart sank.

Everyone knows that if a phone is switched off, chances are very slim that the finder will return the phone. How can someone be so dishonest? If I am being slightly dramatic, I could say that my entire life resides in the phone.

However, there are 2 points of consolation - 1. i managed to passcode lock it and 2. my data is all relatively backed up, about 90%. All my contacts are stored in the cloud, and I upload pictures regularly.

So the next plan of action is to report the loss to the police - which we did at ion after going to a starhub shop only to find it being just a retailer, not a customer service. Apparently we have to go to PS for the nearest customer service center. I called 1633 starhub customer service and asked for my IMEI number but they gave me the wrong one (checked my registration papers later when I got home, as well as the back of the box of my phone). Filed the report online via a iMac at the epicentre at ion. The Singapore Police has a Handphone IMEI Tracing System which will log all the reported lost/stolen IMEI numbers so that if a lost set was caught or if someone tries to sell it to a secondhand shop it will be more difficult. Apparently my sister's friend's phone was found via this method and the fella got fined.

Went to the PS starhub centre at B2 after dinner to get a new sim card (free if its the first time) and cancel my other sim so that person cannot make any calls with it.

So that's it. Nothing else to do except check the Find my iPhone app every few hours. There is also a Remote Wipe function on the app, but that will also mean that I won't be able to track it again but I am determined to track that bugger down at least just to know what happened to my phone. It has been turned off ever since 4+pm on 30th December 2011 though, so I guess the person knows not to turn it on to receive a slew of warning messages once the phone connects to a network.

Currently using my cousin's 3GS which sure beats the nokia i was using for a few hours before that. Sigh. Feeling quite sad over my carelessness and all the hassle, plus now I have to fork out some cash for a new one. Only other consolation is I can get the new iPhone 4S, but I really feel like I should wait for the iPhone 5, which will probably come out only in this September. But I can't wait that long!

So, that is the story of how and when I lost my iPhone.

Hello 2012. May you treat me better than 2011.
4 comments
  1. Glad to read this awesome article. Apple always make some different technology from the others smart phones. I have never seen this application in my life. I really like to see your post and I save this article on my computer because it is very informative for us.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My fren left his iPhone in the pocket of his jeans and dumped them into the washing machine.
    His phone was rendered useless and had to get another one.

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  3. You can find your Iphone using IMEI on this website https://www.facebook.com/Iphonetrace or http://www.iphonetrace.com/

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  4. Hey there, Nich here from iphoneiloveyou.com : Really amazing website by far. What I really love about your website is that you update it constantly with a variety of information from food, travel, technology to even events! Perhaps you should check your phone after alighting a taxi? So that you can record the taxi license plate number once you realized its missing.

    ReplyDelete