Lumia 920 Crime Scene Investigation

[seelani]

My brother's 920 got stolen on Saturday. He had given up hope and purchased a 925 from a friend this afternoon.
Only when he synced his outlook account earlier this evening did he realise there were unfamiliar contacts in his people hub. I did ask my brother to change his account passwords on Sunday.
Turns out the delay in changing his password, and the thief's stupidity on performing a factory reset, has given us a chance to trace who may have stolen my brother's phone. So yeah hopefully by tomorrow we have news on who took the phone, we have a seemingly cooperative party who is checking out contacts that we send to him.

Guys I would love to hear suggestions and maybe tips on how you keep your phone secure, and your very own contingencies if you were to lose your phone. (Anyone know any good web facial recognition apps? Have a few interesting whatsapp contact images that i would like to put a name to.)
And to my countrymen from SG, you think reporting it to the authorities is a bright idea? Heard horror stories of phones being seized by the police for investigation and never seeing the light of day again.

Will keep you guys updated on the story as long as my brother doesn't give up hope on finding the culprit.

 

[Martsicky]

hey, just a question. Has your brother seen a thief or someone just took it from his pocket and he didn't notice?

 

[hopmedic]

Has he found the phone on Find My Phone? Has he locked it or wiped it? Are you aware you can do that at my.windowsphone.com?

 

[seelani]

He had not enabled find my phone on his 920, and was unable to find it. He was holding onto hope that his phone would be returned so he was against wiping it remotely. My brother had a fair amount of drinks on a sat night. He can barely recall what happened after 2am the next morning.

 

[hopmedic]

Then if it were me (and I know that not everyone is me), I'd lock the screen from my.windowsphone.com, and put a message on the screen like, "Call me at 555.1212 to return my phone and I will not press charges. Do not return it, and you will be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law - the law from some other country that has no bill of rights."

But that's me. :wink:

 

[smurfercom]

Just call your carrier and report it stolen they will disable the phone permanently. It can never be used again once this is done. Find my phone in my control panel has no on/off switch so my 810 can't be switched off.

 

[meandu229]

There are places in the world blocked phones still work, Not in most of western Europe and the US though as they share blocked phone lists but there are places where there is a trade value for them

 

[hopmedic]

You could make them crazy by repeatedly ringing the phone from the web page. Hey - that's how I roll. :wink:

But if you find out who has it, and send the police, let them know that you can ring it remotely even on silent, so if it's hidden they can find it.

 

[hopmedic]

Or lock the screen with a message "This phone is lost or stolen and will not operate". That'll deter buyers who aren't so saavy. :wink: It will also alert store personnel if the person takes it to a store. (yes, some criminals are really dumb.)

 

[hopmedic]

Oh - and dissociate that phone from your Microsoft account for the purposes of two-factor authentication, if you're using two-factor.

 

[seelani]

So even if the password is changed, and the phone can no longer log into the Microsoft account, I can still access the phone?

 

[smurfercom]

So even if the password is changed, and the phone can no longer log into the Microsoft account, I can still access the phone?

Yes! I would still try and use the gps locator the websites find my phone feature doesn't always work and isn't very reliable but when it does work it will pin point the exact location. If he/she wiped the phone and put in a different sim chances are a lot slimmer. But you need to report it stolen it aint coming back, I think he waited to long he should have locked it down asap that way it's just a brick.

 

[seelani]

But you need to report it stolen it aint coming back, I think he waited to long he should have locked it down asap that way it's just a brick.

I should probably test out the GPS locating thing to familiarize myself with that. But on the hand thanks to the thief's IT illiteracy, she not wiping the phone, and she proceeding to add contacts without removing linked accounts, kinda saved us the trouble of looking to law enforcement for help. After a day of calling whatsapping and using the threat of escalating the issue to the police, my brother has arranged to meet the person and pick up the phone later after work. I sure want to see who took the phone, although I have seen her display pic on whatsapp profile images.

 

[hopmedic]

I'd take the police to the meet. But that's me. Rip me off. Go to jail. They're a match made in heaven.

 

[seelani]

Sorry for the lack of updates guys. Been a little busy. Anyway after the thief failed to show up for the meet, my brother just went over to a neighborhood police post made a report and gave all relevant contact details to the police. Seems as though the thief will have to head down to the police post today. You cant really bail out on the cops at the last min right, haha. So hopefully my brother gets some good news about his 920 soon. Although he ain't exactly suffering with the 925 he bought as replacement.