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Phone lost, so now what?

V

vencku

Lurker
Alright, so. Here's my sob story.

About ten days ago, my Android HTC Desire went missing. It has not turned up at the police station or at the station where I lost it. So I've tried to find it, actively, since today. (I was abroad before and assumed my smartphone was safely at home.)

What I did so far: I have tried to call my phone. It connects straight to voicemail.
I assume that means that either the battery has depleted - which would make sense after 10 days - or the sim card has been removed.
Is there a way for me to find out which of the two?

I have tried to install Plan B from my Google account on the HTC, but have gotten no response - least of all an email telling me where my phone ran off to. There was similar program I also downloaded, but again, even though the market tells me that the app will be installed shortly, there is no sign that it actually did.
One assumes that the phone is either turned off or the internet isn't on.

So, what else can I do? Can I at least find the IMEI number through the Google account so I can block my phone from being used?
Is there a way to find out whether my phone has a different sim in there, or is turned off? Will a factory reset - assuming the password has been cracked - delete the link between my phone and the Google account?

I've checked Ebay and saw you can buy chargers there. If someone picked up the phone and apparently thought "finders keepers" even though it's an expensive smarphone with personal data on it - (don't ask me what I think of whoever did this) - subsequently cracked the code, is there any way I can still do anything? Alternatively, if someone picked up my phone and has it lying around, depleted, can I do anything?

I know I probably won't see my phone again, but I'd at least like to try all the options I have before I give it up as a lost cause. Any help?
 
Hello and welcome aboard. I'm sorry to hear that - if you haven't done so yet, you should contact your service provider and let them know what happened. They'll take the necessary steps to make sure to deactivate the phone, etc.

Thread moved. ⇜
 
Great. I use an internet carrier with no customer support to call. Promising.

Thanks for replying. At least I know I have to bury the issue now, rather than ponder and worry.

... Still, what's the point for someone to keep a dead phone around, rather than just bring it to lost property. Psh.
 
It could be that no-one ever found it.

If someone had found it, they may have handed it in. That wouldnt neccesarily be a police station. It could be a shop they found it outside. Not knowing where you lost it / when you lost it may mean you will never know where it was handed in.

Of course, someone may have found it and taken the SIM out and factory reset it. If that is the case all you can hope for is that teh carrier blocks the IMEI so it cannot be used.
 
I know I had it in the car, I got out at the station, grabbed my suitcase, checked my pockets after five steps and cursed as I turned around and saw my parents drive off... with my phone still in the back. However, my phone has not been found in mentioned car. So it must have fallen when I hurriedly got out to catch my train. Sadly, because I had so little time, I did not look at the ground, only at the car turning around the corner, disappearing from sight. (In hindsight, it's easy to say I should have looked down. But I assumed the phone was in the car. It never occurred to me that it might have dropped out.)

tl;dr: I had it in the car, definitely. I did not have it five steps after I left the car, definitely. So I know exactly where it fell, give or take a few feet.
The first thing I did was call the train station and ask if someone handed in a phone. Only after that did I check the police station.

I can still see the history of my sim card online, so I know it has not been used for calling/texting/going on the internet the past ten days.
I can see that it has been called several times, however. There is one intriguing thing about that. For a few days, when the phone gets called, I get a green 'incoming call' sign before it turns to 9997 - being voicemail - in the history chart. Today I tried to call the phone and upon looking in the history, it goes straight to 9997, so it never shows the green sign anymore. But I still don't know whether that means the card was taken out or the battery depleted.

I fear the worst, though (sim card changed) as my phone would probably not have had energy from Friday - when I lost it - to next week Thursday, even if no one used it.

My Google account still shows my contacts (I checked a little while ago) and all that, but again, I don't know if it automatically saved them, or whether I can take that as a sign that my mobile - and the contacts thereon - are not reset yet.

EDIT: I checked it, and apparently the lack of green 'incoming call' just means the phone is turned off, rather than sim card removed - which does imply the sim card has been in for at least a week after I lost it, and most likely the battery has just been depleted. No use has been made of it regardless, which leaves me some hope that the code wasn't cracked. And that maybe, just maybe, I can get it back.

In some convoluted way.

Like the person who found it finally brings it in becasue s/he can't use the phone.

Or will buy a charger at which point I'll be able to track my mobile the moment it comes on again.

Preferably the former.

Oh well.
 
That few days of phone ringing before voicemail says to me it is not stolen. Rather it is "Lost" and it took 2 days for the battery to die. Stands to reason it didnt fall on the road either then. Opinion though, not fact.

I recommend asking your parents to do a thorough search of the car. Perhaps maybe do it yourself? it could have slipped down the back of a seat or something, not in obvious view
 
Mhm. Maybe, but the phone was turned off nearly immediately and switched to voice mail within seconds. Having had my phone for quite a while, I can attest to the ringing usually taking longer than a few seconds. To me, that seems to imply the call was declined. (Which is bad, because if so, then this person had no interest in returning it, as they could have answered and found out who the phone was from, even if they couldn't unlock it.)

As to looking in the car, I have done so after I came back from abroad, several times;
my parents checked when they got home the day after I left (used a payphone to warn them), several times;
and my brother took his phone and called mine in the car - which I can check in the history of my phone, so I know it connected. If it was there, he would have heard it ringing. However, no sound was heard and within seconds the connection was cut off.

It's a lot of conjecture, but I did do some research to base the conjecture on.
 
i heard about the same thing in the prevail forum. everyone should use an app that hides itself and you can use text commands to lock,erase, ect.... you can even track phone through gps even when it's off or dead battery.
 
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