Cell Phones

Stolen 32GB iPhone 4, serial number 84038SS1A4T :(

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  • Mar 10th, 2011 12:25 am
Deal Guru
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May 13, 2004
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Toronto

Stolen 32GB iPhone 4, serial number 84038SS1A4T :(

They knew what they were doing because they removed the SIM card immediately, so I couldn't track it with Mobile Me. Next time I'll use another app that doesn't depend on the SIM.

So if someone offers to sell you an Apple iPhone 4 black 32GB with serial number 84038SS1A4T, get me their information please since they stole it.

Rogers and Apple have been notified. That's about all I can do now except for the one in a million that someone about to buy a used (but immaculate) iPhone will search the web for the serial number and find this thread.

Remote wiped; burned the SIM via Rogers although that was probably thrown away in an instant.
30 replies
Deal Expert
Sep 3, 2007
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Do sellers actually give you the serial #? I remember iphone hunting and asking people for the serial# and they would ignore my request.

Hope you get your phone back though.
Deal Guru
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May 13, 2004
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Thanks!

I don't know how many of those methods for loss finding/prevention would work after a restore.

^^Some people search the web for serials--long shot I know.

eldiablo wrote: http://techpp.com/2009/09/18/6-ways-to- ... hone-free/

@OP: I'd edit the post and add a few more tags. Sorry about your unfortunate incident.
Deal Guru
Sep 28, 2010
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Would pulling the SIM prevent MobileMe tracking? I wouldn't think the SIM would matter in that case, other than it would be off data network and so unable to report it's location. Of course, a remote wipe would also require a data connection, so it seems it had data. Unfortunately a remote wipe would also wipe the MobileMe settings, so definitely no tracking after the fact.

No a bad idea to post the serial number here anyway. Hopefully someone being offered an iPhone for cheap might do a google search on the serial number and have it turn up here.

I guess the good news is that if you have reported it stolen to Rogers, they could block the IMEI number on their network. If you had a recent version of the BB on there and they can't unlock it through an exploit, then they have a useless brick until an unlock comes out.
Deal Guru
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May 13, 2004
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The baseband is very much up to date, so I guess it can only be used on Rogers.

Pulling the SIM may not prevent me from finding it via MobileMe, but if they did a quick restore that might be it. It hadn't shown up on tracking yet, and MobileMe instructions to display a message and play a sound still show as "pending."

Rogers won't track stolen phones' IMEIs unless they belong to Rogers and are stolen from a Rogers store.

Apple however records the serial and IMEI and if the phone is brought in for warranty service (of course it will be problem-free, right?), the police and I get a call.
Deal Guru
Sep 13, 2007
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How was it stolen? Was it in the Locker?
Deal Guru
Sep 28, 2010
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HowEver wrote: The baseband is very much up to date, so I guess it can only be used on Rogers.

Pulling the SIM may not prevent me from finding it via MobileMe, but if they did a quick restore that might be it. It hadn't shown up on tracking yet, and MobileMe instructions to display a message and play a sound still show as "pending."

Rogers won't track stolen phones' IMEIs unless they belong to Rogers and are stolen from a Rogers store.

Apple however records the serial and IMEI and if the phone is brought in for warranty service (of course it will be problem-free, right?), the police and I get a call.

Well, hopefully Rogers at least will block the IMEI from the network. They have this ability and I thought it was standard procedure for them to do so. I also thought there was some mechanism to do the same for all Canadian networks, but not really sure about that. WorldIRC over at hofo would be able to answer that. For now, if Rogers would block it, then the thief has a nice iPod.

Might be worth trolling kijiji, craigslist and ebay for your city to see is any 32GB Rogers iPhones have come up recently.

If Rogers is saying they won't block the IMEI from their network unless it was stolen from their stores, I would escalate this within Rogers. They certainly have that capability and at the least, they used to do it in the past.
Deal Guru
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May 13, 2004
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I'm a regular at hofo, WorldIrc has posted in a similar thread there. Rogers doesn't block non-store-owned stolen phone IMEIs sadly.

ceredon wrote: Well, hopefully Rogers at least will block the IMEI from the network. They have this ability and I thought it was standard procedure for them to do so. I also thought there was some mechanism to do the same for all Canadian networks, but not really sure about that. WorldIRC over at hofo would be able to answer that. For now, if Rogers would block it, then the thief has a nice iPod.

Might be worth trolling kijiji, craigslist and ebay for your city to see is any 32GB Rogers iPhones have come up recently.

If Rogers is saying they won't block the IMEI from their network unless it was stolen from their stores, I would escalate this within Rogers. They certainly have that capability and at the least, they used to do it in the past.
Deal Addict
Nov 21, 2004
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I believe Rogers will blacklist the IMEI if you go through the handset protection guarantee program.

Hope it gets returned to you eventually. I found a 3GS over the winter holiday and returned it to the owner.
Deal Addict
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Aug 21, 2009
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Macross_Freek wrote: I believe Rogers will blacklist the IMEI if you go through the handset protection guarantee program.

Hope it gets returned to you eventually. I found a 3GS over the winter holiday and returned it to the owner.

People don't remove SIM cards immediately after taking a phone to give back to their owner.

Where did you lose your phone? A bar? Left it on the table?
Deal Guru
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May 13, 2004
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Lost in school library or thereabouts. School camera on library entrance only narrowed down to 15-20 potential thieves, who are now 'on watch' locally.

Lovable wrote: People don't remove SIM cards immediately after taking a phone to give back to their owner.

Where did you lose your phone? A bar? Left it on the table?
Deal Guru
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May 13, 2004
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Other reviews indicate less success with that app, as in not working at all. Plus you need to be jailbroken.
n3o321 wrote: Hope this helps for your future iphone4...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKz38rpGhs0

its $5.99 like the guy says, how much is your phone worth to you, is up to you :x
Deal Fanatic
Aug 14, 2008
6858 posts
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Ontario
n3o321 wrote: Hope this helps for your future iphone4...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKz38rpGhs0

its $5.99 like the guy says, how much is your phone worth to you, is up to you :x

Works! And the camera is silent. Location has to be on though for GPS coordinates to be sent (I usually have it off for battery).
My text is "I'm coming to your location now with an axe".
Deal Fanatic
Aug 14, 2008
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Sorry to hear HowEver, I'll keep an eye out in my neck of the woods. SN saved to notepad.
Good luck.
Deal Addict
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Dec 23, 2006
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Macross_Freek wrote: I believe Rogers will blacklist the IMEI if you go through the handset protection guarantee program.

Hope it gets returned to you eventually. I found a 3GS over the winter holiday and returned it to the owner.

Not the case. I had to report my 32GB iPhone 4 lost/stolen back at the end of October and they would not do anything to either track the phone if someone went to use it or block the IMEI so the phone could not be used.

I didn't bother to contact to Apple, perhaps I should have? And being a moron I didn't even think to look on the bottom of my box for the serial and IMEI! Wonder if it would be worthwhile to call Apple with the IMEI/serial number now?
Deal Addict
Nov 21, 2004
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venividivici wrote: Not the case. I had to report my 32GB iPhone 4 lost/stolen back at the end of October and they would not do anything to either track the phone if someone went to use it or block the IMEI so the phone could not be used.

I didn't bother to contact to Apple, perhaps I should have? And being a moron I didn't even think to look on the bottom of my box for the serial and IMEI! Wonder if it would be worthwhile to call Apple with the IMEI/serial number now?

I believe it's something they just started recently according to some posts on Howardforums although would be best to confirm with Rogers.
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Macross_Freek wrote: I believe it's something they just started recently according to some posts on Howardforums although would be best to confirm with Rogers.

No, Rogers doesn't track IMEIs or serial numbers for phones that aren't stolen from a store before being bought. Only their own.

--

Here's a 'moderately happy under the circumstances' update--no return of the stolen phone, of course, but I called Rogers to see if there was any activity on the account in the window between the phone being stolen and the SIM being burned. No outgoing calls but the first rep was confused so I asked for Customer Relations. Relations heard the story and offered me an "early upgrade" (I had never purchased hardware on the account before, it was a transfer from someone else) for the new customer price of $299+taxes. I had to re-up for 3 years, which wasn't a problem. Problem may be the stated 4 week backorder waiting period, but it's a saving from the regular price of $779.00 + $101.27 = $880.27 (or taking my chances on craigslist etc.).

Does anyone want to sell me an extra PowerSupport Anti-Glare iPhone 4 screen protector?

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