If you found a phone...

Pretty sad how many people are saying they would hand it in simply because they reckon it would be blocked. I have returned 2 phones to their owners and neither was particularly appreciative that I went out of my way to return it but I did get a fuzzy feeling inside so 1 - 0.

I wonder how many people would steal if they knew they were guaranteed to get away with it.
 
There is a difference between finding say £20 and a wallet. If it is traceable to the owner, by any way shape or form, you should hand it in to the police station or officer. I know how annoyed I was when I lost my wallet before, I wouldn't want someone to be annoyed over such a tiny amount. 'Theft by Finding' is the crime here, a friend who is a policeman arrested someone who picked up a wallet and when approached said he was taking it home.
 
I either find or get handed phones quite often as I work on the trains. It reassures me somewhat that people will often hand them in rather than keep them. I enjoy doing a spot of detective work, trying to trace the owner and having a look to see if there are any dodgy photos! ;) I also find laptops and other nonsense. People are really careless sometimes.
 
albert said:
So the consensus in this thread is that everyone here is holier than thou and would return the phone otherwise its theft.

On this basis if you all saw a £20 note blowing down the street you would all hand it into the nearest police station. Right?
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I'd stick it in a charity box, and have done so before.

If it was a phone id call the owner or some contact and get it sorted out, I'd feel awful losing my iPhone and I'd expect anyone to do the same for me.

It really disgusts me when people say that if they'd found a wallet with ID and cash they'd take the cash. Shame on you malteser :mad:
 
I left my Galaxy S on break whilst at work today :rolleyes:

Was handed in immediately by this Polish guy, or some other Eastern Nationality.

When I thanked him he was dead chuffed :confused: :)
 
I have had both a wallet and an iPhone 4 misplaced or stolen and never returned. The iPhone disappeared in a club, was turned off almost instantly, and never got it back even after involving the police :(. The wallet vanished on a train, and despite having contact info inside it, as well as bank cards and the like, was also never returned.

However someone found my passport in the street and found me on facebook to give it back :)

So if I ever found a phone or wallet I would make every effort to return it. It's not "holier than thou", it's just common courtesy. Shame that there are so many ***** types about :(
 
chameleon said:
I either find or get handed phones quite often as I work on the trains. It reassures me somewhat that people will often hand them in rather than keep them. I enjoy doing a spot of detective work, trying to trace the owner and having a look to see if there are any dodgy photos! ;) I also find laptops and other nonsense. People are really careless sometimes.
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My father used to work for British Rail (as it was then) and spent the latter part of his working life in a London terminus. The amount of stuff that was found on trains when they were being cleaned/checked was amazing. Confidential material turned up surprisingly often. It was on paper in those days rather than a laptop, but people were still leaving it lying around. My dad got it fairly often because staff sorting out the trains wanted nothing to do with it and passed it up the hierarchy immediately. I never saw any of that (obvously), but I did get to look around the normal lost property store when I was a little boy. What stuck in my head was the number of walking sticks left on trains. Treefuls of them.
 
albert said:
So the consensus in this thread is that everyone here is holier than thou and would return the phone otherwise its theft.
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It's the way I've been raised. Blame my middle-class education.

On this basis if you all saw a £20 note blowing down the street you would all hand it into the nearest police station. Right?
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There are limits to my decency. Even £10 will do.
 
The__Malteser said:
I do have a story of found stuff though. Once my sister found a pencil box ojust outside of school and it had no name on it. Fair enough. She got it home and there was a pen drive. She gave me the pen drive as I needed it. I looked through the documents and found a name. She had an odd surname, so I searched her up on facebook, uploaded the documents to a filesharing website, and I sent them to her via FB message. The **** reported me to the police for theft. I didn't even 'take' the pen drive myself. The police station rang me up and told me to return it to a police station, which was ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COUNTRY, like 1 hour drive. If it does happen again, I will look through the drive, and format it. Little **** reporting me for theft. How the **** can I be a thief if I am trying to return it?
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So, your Sister "finds" a pencil box, and "gives" you a pen drive because you "needed one". You find who it belongs to, but instead of returning everything, including the pencil box, you just attempt to return the files?

That's not returning anything my friend. You have still stolen the original drive. And, yes, stolen. "Theft by finding" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_by_finding. Merely returning the data is not enough, as you have kept a physical item.
 
Energize said:
Definitely.
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Probably.
Cleeecooo said:
It really disgusts me when people say that if they'd found a wallet with ID and cash they'd take the cash. Shame on you malteser :mad:
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As other said, when they lost stuff, it never came back. Maybe I should even keep the wallet then? The person should just be grateful they got their stuff back. Its enough of as hassle going to do all the documents and stuff. Heck, people steal ID cards and use them as their own :lol: and you think I still have faith in humanity that if my stuff will be returned? No thanks.
mp3duck said:
So, your Sister "finds" a pencil box, and "gives" you a pen drive because you "needed one". You find who it belongs to, but instead of returning everything, including the pencil box, you just attempt to return the files?

That's not returning anything my friend. You have still stolen the original drive. And, yes, stolen. "Theft by finding" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_by_finding. Merely returning the data is not enough, as you have kept a physical item.
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I know what theft by finding id tyvm. My sister didn't know the person, because the school has over 5000 students. Although, I was young. A more mature version of me would have just formatted the drive and kept it. **** being reported to the police because I tried to return the important part of the found items. Looking back, I wish I had put a virus in that thing. **** deserved it.

My cousin's husband lost his work laptop in a supermarket. He later received the Hard Disk with the data. Instead of trying to trace down the person who found it, he thanked his lucky stars, as somebody else wouldn't have even returned that.

Call me scummy whatever. You are trying to make people believe you would return something if you found it. Even if you find money you should return it to the police, but I doubt how many people would do that.
 
The__Malteser said:
Call me scummy whatever. You are trying to make people believe you would return something if you found it. Even if you find money you should return it to the police, but I doubt how many people would do that.
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As has already been mentioned in this post, finding money is completely different. Money (notes) on its own is near on impossible to trace back to its original owner. A mobile phone is very easy to trace back.

If you would keep a phone that you found, you are indeed scummy, and various other words which can't be posted on a family site.
 
Robbo said:
No, definitely.
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Keep on having a go at me. Actually funny.
mp3duck said:
As has already been mentioned in this post, finding money is completely different. Money (notes) on its own is near on impossible to trace back to its original owner. A mobile phone is very easy to trace back.

If you would keep a phone that you found, you are indeed scummy, and various other words which can't be posted on a family site.
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:confused: Re read ALL my posts.

- Never said money can be traced. If you find money, you should give it to the police.
- I would not steal a phone.

As I said to the other guy, keep on having a go at me, as it is indeed funny. Miraculously, all OCUKers are like angels, and won't do one inch of bad, yet, people in this very thread say that they would probably keep the phone if they would have known how care-free and ungrateful the person who had lost the phone was.

I won't be answering any more posts, as to be honest, you may think what you want. Call my scummy and things that can't be posted on a family-friendly forum. I couldn't care less what people on a forum think about me. I know my morals, and I will stick to them.
 
Id stalk the owner, kill them in their sleep, eat the phone then go fishing.

or

wait till someone called or texted it then tell them to come collect it.

However if i lost my phone i really wouldn't expect this to be reciprocated round here.

if i found loose money id keep it in a heartbeat, if its in a wallet, purse or even elastic banded to a pension book then id give it to the rozzers.
 
The__Malteser said:
I won't be answering any more posts, as to be honest, you may think what you want. Call my scummy and things that can't be posted on a family-friendly forum. I couldn't care less what people on a forum think about me. I know my morals, and I will stick to them.
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Well, at least you are being, errrr, honest.
 
I'd return it. Can't be having an Android phone on me, the neighbours might start talking. You know, like I'd suddenly become a poor person. :D

Only kidding but I would return the phone.
 
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