Should I report a lost smartphone to the police?

[orientalist]

My ditzy gf left my expensive backup phone (Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact) in the back of a taxi. She can't remember the colour of the taxi, let alone anything else. Since it was a backup for my Xperia X Compact, it had no SIM or SD card, and was used mainly as a camera. It had a pin code lock and my email address on the lockscreen, plus the gf's phone number in the Emergency Contacts. The details were reported on Jor Sor Roy radio but only resulted in a few heavy-breathers calling.

 

Given that whoever found it chose not to contact me, is there any point in making a police report? If I give the IMEI to the carriers here, could they block the phone or do anything else?

 

I assume by now it has been taken to a shop in MBK to be re-flashed and someone with a "finders keepers" mindset now has the only moss green Xperia XZ2 Compact in Thailand. ????

[4MyEgo]

11 minutes ago, orientalist said:

is there any point in making a police report?

Only if it was insured as insurance companies require a police report to pay up.

 

Sorry for your loss, did you say ditzy girlfriend or x girlfriend ????

 

[robblok]

i doubt they can do anything. Just your GF her mistake no way to know who has the phone. No sim so its not traceable. Bad luck i guess. I think the Thai police would do as much as the foreign police.. nothing.

[FritsSikkink]

Why would they be the only one? They are for sale here:

 

https://www.expansys.in.th/sony-xperia-xz2-compact-dual-h8324-64gb-moss-green-309741/

 

[Grumpy one]

Look for new g/f it may be the cheapest option 

[orientalist]

5 minutes ago, Grumpy one said:

Look for new g/f it may be the cheapest option 

 

For sure.

[Logosone]

It's worth to report it to police because often they apprehend people who have stolen phones, there's a tiny chance your phone could have been sold to a dealer. Of course the odds of this are very tiny.

[sanuk711]

Did you not put a tracking App on it.....??

even if you don't know anyone in Thailand you could have linked it to a UK phone or where ever.

Yer report it---its a wast of 4 hours of your life...but you never know--or TXT the number (in Thai) offer money to get it back.

[orientalist]

As I mentioned in the OP, the phone had no SIM. Find My Device is installed, but unless someone cracks the lockscreen pin code and connects the device to wifi or inserts a SIM, it won't show up. I'm guessing it will be re-flashed, and I doubt Find My Device will work in that case. 

 

The ditzy gf's ditzy daughter once "lost" a handbag and phone in a club and didn't report it. When her mum called her a few days later a cop answered. It had actually been stolen and by coincidence the thieving foreign gang had been caught and a cache of phones retrieved. So she got it back, although she should have reported it.