Thieves return Android phone when they realize it's not an iPhone

https://9to5mac.com/2023/12/04/stolen-android-phone-returned-iphone/

by thunderbong • 3 years ago

18 18 3 years ago

sofixa• 3 years ago

That's interesting, if anything I would have expected the opposite. With how tight Apple restrictions and DRM are (e.g. there's DRM on the screen and the phone will not work if you put in a non-approved one), what exactly is the market for stolen iPhones? Paperweights? Or the small non-DRM-able parts like... the case? maybe battery? buttons?

neilalexander• 3 years ago

Parts for sure.

dijit3• 3 years ago

Which part of an iPhone has any resale value?

If the device is icloud locked the most interesting component is bricked.

The screen is locked to that part too, so will never work right in another phone.

All you would get is a battery (with no good way to install it, and as a consumable component); a chassis and a lightening/USB port.

taneliv2• 3 years ago

In some parts of the world, it so happens that the robbers know how to operate Apple phones. They then use this skill to force the owner of the phone to unlock it and further find the banking apps or similar to get more money from the victim. If you don't know how Android works, you risk the owner signaling an emergency while trying to do the same.

Don't know if this is happening in the US, where this crime apparently took place.

snehk• 3 years ago

They then use this skill to force the owner of the phone to unlock it and further find the banking apps or similar to get more money from the victim.

Can you explain this part? Why would any owner cooperate with the criminals in this case?

taylodl• 3 years ago

Note to self: remove banking app from phone.

This is another reason why unlocking the phone with your face is a bad idea. Apple could have setup two unlock codes: one for normal use and one that silently calls the police and starts recording. All without the robbers knowing.

peoplefromibiza• 3 years ago

This is so unbelievable on so many levels that it reeks of marketing. iPhone sales are declining.

I would expect a thief to make the best out of any stolen goods, not to return it, even more so after directly approaching the victims on the streets with guns in hands, which should already be a crime bad enough that stealing a phone should almost not matter.

Anyway the most important bit of information for me as an European is that nobody is terrified that in the US it is consider normal to be robbed by armed men like that.

scawf• 3 years ago

I had an iPhone returned to me because of a broken... screen protector. Thieves are not always very smart.

beej71• 3 years ago

Android phone and a stick shift: Total protection against theft. ;)

Thieves return Android phone when they realize it's not an iPhone

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