Iphone 6Plus Stolen in Hua Hin - April 8, 2015

[EWC]

My new Apple Iphone 6+ was just stolen in Hua Hin last night. Suspect it was the security guard at the Condo but can't prove it. Been tracking it with FInd Iphone with no luck. Any ideas?

[Rooo]

Moved to correct forum.

[fritzzz25]

Not sure if there is an IMEI blacklist in Thailand (highly doubt it, as it would be logical), but if you have it, it could be "blacklisted" and unusable. Phone cannot easily be wiped (I think there are ways to do it, however limited availability) without disabling the Find my iPhone feature.

I guess just keep checking the app to see if it comes online somewhere. It might just be powered off or dead right now. A fellow in the USA recently found his stolen phone in China recently and went to meet the guy who bought it. They became celebrities over the meet up. http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/i-followed-my-stolen-iphone-across-the-world-became-a-celebr#.pvKD6ZBmQ

[Pheat123]

Just put it down to expierence

It's only a mobile after all not an ear

Easily replaced

[kbelyeu]

I had my Tablet nicked along with 300,000 baht worth of camera gear and laptops. The tracking kicked in about 45 days after the theft and I sent the cops to the address where they were able to recover some of the items with insurance covering the rest. The two individuals were caught and jailed.

Kurt

[bill1369]

Just a warning about erasing a stolen iPhone. Last year I left a bar with my iPhone 5 sitting on bar. Didn't realize it until I was home at which time I figured iPhone was a goner. I didn't use Find My Phone because, really, what am I going to do - go up to some guy's home and tell him I want my iPhone back? So, I just used the Erase My iPhone - not really knowing what that entailed but figured Apple put it there to deter thieves.

Anyway, I chalked it up to my stupidity and bought a new iPhone 5. About a week later I went back to same bar and - low & behold - bartender told me he had my forgotten iPhone. (There are many honest Thais in my opinion!)

When I got home I looked over erased phone. The erasure set the damn thing up as the day I bought it. Sure, all my data had been wiped but it was a 'new' out of the box phone. All anyone needed to do was go through the steps to set it up for themselves. A really stupid feature, in my opinion.

iPhone 5 had IOS 7 - have no idea if IOS 8 is same or not.

[NanLaew]

Yes, one would think an OTA command to 'brick' a stolen or lost phone would be better than just a factory reset. Any thief is going to have to do that anyway.

[RichCor]

Just a warning about erasing a stolen iPhone. Last year I left a bar with my iPhone 5 sitting on bar. Didn't realize it until I was home at which time I figured iPhone was a goner. I didn't use Find My Phone because, really, what am I going to do - go up to some guy's home and tell him I want my iPhone back? So, I just used the Erase My iPhone - not really knowing what that entailed but figured Apple put it there to deter thieves.

Anyway, I chalked it up to my stupidity and bought a new iPhone 5. About a week later I went back to same bar and - low & behold - bartender told me he had my forgotten iPhone. (There are many honest Thais in my opinion!)

When I got home I looked over erased phone. The erasure set the damn thing up as the day I bought it. Sure, all my data had been wiped but it was a 'new' out of the box phone. All anyone needed to do was go through the steps to set it up for themselves. A really stupid feature, in my opinion.

iPhone 5 had IOS 7 - have no idea if IOS 8 is same or not.

Apple.com : iCloud | Find My Iphone

Activation Lock.

Activation Lock is designed to prevent anyone from using your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch if you ever lose your device. It starts working the moment you turn on Find My iPhone. From then on, your Apple ID and password will be required before anyone can turn off Find My iPhone, erase your device, or reactivate it. This can help you keep your device secure, even if it’s in the wrong hands.

Remote Erase.

Sometimes it’s better to be safe than sorry. If you’re worried that your device has fallen into the wrong hands, you may want to initiate a remote wipe to delete your personal data and restore your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac to its factory settings. Find My iPhone can continue to display your custom message, even after your device has been erased. And if you do retrieve your device, you can restore it from your iCloud backup.

You're right. Remote Erase is a badly thought out option. Better to do an Activation Lock and look for the device.

(Though, if I had a 'missing' iPhone in my possession, why would I continue to charge one that was Activation Locked?)

If I were a designer, I would allow a mode that allowed a FAKED Erasure but actually was recording audio, snapping photos when moved, and recorded ongoing GPS movement back to apple home for release to Law Enforcement. Along with a self-destruct mode (kill switch).

Years ago I had a friend (I swear he was blond) who was forever forgetting where he left his Android phone. I put software on it that would wait for a specially worded/formatted SMS and return the last known GPS coordinates. Usually it was either in his car at a ride-share lot, in the ride-share car, or in his lab coat. He had to call me each time because the clinic he worked didn't allow Internet Access to view the Googled GPS coordinates.

Why APPLE has never done SMS FMIP access/retrieval, live mic, motion detection photos, etc, still baffles me.

Yes, I get the whole "I want to spy on the bastards but I don't want to ever be spied on" amusing issue.

Edited April 10, 2015 by RichCor

[aidenai]

Been tracking it with FInd Iphone with no luck. Any ideas?

Find My iPhone will only work when there's an 3G/ 4G connection.

[whitemouse]

Been tracking it with FInd Iphone with no luck. Any ideas?

Find My iPhone will only work when there's an 3G/ 4G connection.

No.

Find My iPhone works with any internet connection, be it 3G or WiFi.

Of course Find My Phone only works if the feature was activated on your phone before you lost it, and if your phone is iCloud locked. Also, IOS 8 and that means any iPhone6 can NOT be reset, unless the user has access to iCloud, without iCloud password iPhone 6 is useless brick.

There is no way around iCloud lock with ios 7.3 onwards. . None. Thanks to that iPhone theft numbers have dropped 40 to even 80% compared to just 1 year ago. There have been several articles with precise data from police reports on the web.

If you had the Find My iPhone turned on before you lost it, and you have not been able to locate it, that can means the new 'owner' has not turned on the phone, or it's on, but in Flight Mode. In order to locate your phone, phone needs to be connected to internet, Flight Mode prevents that of course. So as a telephone, your iPhone6 is useless to anybody, only a person who has the Apple iCloud password can use it as a telephone.