Lost phone found with a Vodaphone sim card

[Preeyapas]

My dad and his wife traveled from Heathrow airport to Bangkok last week. an iPhone was incorrectly handed from a staff to his spouse at the X-ray check point and she took it thinking that it belonged to my dad (he uses a Samsung whick looks similar for old people). They did not know that they took someone's phone until they got on board.

Now the iPhone is with me in Thaialnd and I really want to return it to the owner. Clues that I have so far are
- a Vodaphone sim card which has a serial number on it
- the picture of the owner on the phone when it is in locked status
- the phone is locked with a passcode
- the status (with sim card in) is No Service

What can I do to find the owner ? I called Vodaphone lost phone line but I had to enter a phone number which I do not have.

Preeyapas

[AnnS]

@Preeyapas

There is little you would be able to do.  Due to all the data protection reasons, Vodafone won't be able to give any details of the owner.

Most likely, the phone has now been SIM barred and IMEI blocked and if there was an insurance claim made, could be the property of the insurance company.  

The only thing you would be able to do would be to take the phone to a Vodafone store in the UK.

[kids]

All you can do is to hand the phone to Vodafone on your return or to the Police. Vodafone will not give you any information about the owner under the DPA regulations.

If the iPhone is a model 5 or later try holding down the Home button (the one at the bottom) and saying "Hey Sir" if it responds ask who you are  and then your phone number. Do this from wifi as the loser may have allowed Siri to operate when the phone is locked. But also the loser may have already blocked the phone. The fact that the phone shows no service may just be because the owner has not enabled roaming.

The other way is if the sim is compatible with another phone you can use put the sim in one of those phone and call another number you have, if it works you should see a missed call number.

[kids]

To add: Another idea but it depends on which part of Thailand you are in?

[Preeyapas]

Hello Anns and kids

Thank you for your advice. Really appreciate it.

@kids I live in Bangkok and also own an iPhone myself. I will try your suggestions ! Feel really sorry for the guy who lost it. I would like to return it to him with no cost.

[kids]

---

@Preeyapas wrote:
Hello Anns and kids

Thank you for your advice. Really appreciate it.

@kids I live in Bangkok and also own an iPhone myself. I will try your suggestions ! Feel really sorry for the guy who lost it. I would like to return it to him with no cost.

---

If you go to Panthip Plaza or  Mahboonkrong (MBK) in Bangkok they would be able to tell you if the IMEI has been blocked and probably also be able to access the contacts on the phone which would at least give you a starting point to finding out who the owner is. One of the guys in Mahboonkrong was able to retrieve contact numbers from a colleague's iPhone 6 a few months ago when he forget his pin and also his Apple ID. All it retrieved was name and number but it got him out of a hole.

[Preeyapas]

Thanks again ! I'll check them out

[froggerty]

If the SIM is locked or barred it won't work if you put it in another phone.

[Preeyapas]

@kids

@AnnS

@froggerty

Good news ! I was able to contact the daughter of the owner via email and then later on the phone.

Now you may be wondering how ? What I did was

- I inserted the sim card into another iPhone of mine and took the phone number of the sim from there. When you click at Phone and then contact, My Number from the sim will be displayed. Of course, I tried to call. However, the owner was still abroad and has not had his sim reissued yet (with the same phone number). So, I could not contact him.

- Then I contacted Vodaphone in UK who was very helpful and contacted his daughter so we got intouch evnetually.

- I also had the picture of the owner from Whatsapp when I added him which helped identify the owner.

The daughter just sent me the mailing address. I will have it shipped to them by tomorrow. Case closed ! 

Thank you for all you advice.

Preeyapas

[kids]

Brilliant result.

All kudos to you in your determined efforts to get the phone back to the original owner. :smileyvery-happy: