This man knows who stole my phone, can anyone help

yak.h'cir · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:27

Porceliamone said:
I had around £1,300 of camera equipment stolen from me when I was in the room right next door to it too. Thieves don't care what it takes to make a quick quid or two - despite the potentially devastating consequences for the victim. In my case insurance not covering the loss and being unable to replace said stolen equipment. Still, the guy who did me over is banged up now so there's some comfort in that. Doesn't replace my camera and lens though. Heartless Barclay's bankers.

Sorry to hear about that. It's so frustrating!

At the end of the day I'm just glad that nothing worse happened. They were in the next room to us and far more could have happened then them grabbing my phone and a bag.

C.R.A.Z.Y · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:28

Linkex said:
Yes I do, and I explained why. Don't part quote me and then criticise the outcome.

No you don't, you have assumed that and in the eyes of the law that's obviously not good enough evidence.

yak.h'cir said:
I admit he could well have nothing to do with the theft but I strongly suspect he knows something so if he could be traced it would be very helpful to me!

Surely 'beyond reasonable doubt' is when you're finding someone guilty and giving them a punishment. If you were just looking for the police to be able to search a property or person you'd just need to give them reasonable grounds to suspect said person may have come into contact with stolen property.

They need 'probable cause' for search warrants what that actually entails I don't know as I'm not a detective/judge

Spangles · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:29

Of course the guy in the picture knows it is stolen, to think otherwise is just foolish.

Also, the idea of cutting off the hand so they cannot use touch screens, we should do this while launching our own touch screen stump glove. Could make some money back!

KIA · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:32

yak.h'cir said:
How would having a pin code help me get the phone back? Surely that would just guarantee them completely formatting the phone themselves and guaranteeing I never get it back!

As it is my 'retarded' way has allowed me to get the thief's photograph, new phone number, a list of people he has called and texted and potential if he ever turns the gps on with the icon on the desktop I'll have his location...

But to be honest I just dont use a pin as I found it irritating having to enter it to use my phone.

Data encryption, along with a decent passphrase.

Linkex · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:36

C.R.A.Z.Y said:
No you don't, you have assumed that and in the eyes of the law that's obviously not good enough evidence.

I wasn't talking about what's acceptable as evidence in court, I'm talking about reality and whether its reasonable to keep the picture on line. The guy in this picture knows the phone is stolen. You know it and I know it. Well, I know it, you can delude yourself as much as you like.

Does he deserve a 4 chan army style life ruining? Maybe not, but the picture should absolutely remain on-line until either the phone is recovered, or he is identified and gives up the name of the person behind the camera.

C.R.A.Z.Y · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:36

Harbourite said:
Of course the guy in the picture knows it is stolen, to think otherwise is just foolish.

No it's foolish to assume anything especially when it involves illegal activity and unfortunately for you the British justice system/law agrees about this premise!

Devrij · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:39

godinman said:
There's a remote locate, lock, wipe thing built in, and something that lets you push apps onto the device, not sure what use that would be however..

I've had a go with it, and it's tied to your microsoft account, so not very useful at all unless you just couldn't remember if you left it in the car or at work. If someone just did a factory reset or switched microsoft accounts I think you'd be buggered.

Hopefully someone will see the market and make one!

Good luck OP, hope you can find your phone. I'd like to see one of these threads deliver for once. Usually someone cops on and the phone goes dark.

Linkex · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:43

C.R.A.Z.Y said:
No it's foolish to assume anything especially when it involves illegal activity and unfortunately for you the British justice system/law agrees about this premise!

Not trying to pick on you here C.R.A.Z.Y, but that really is ********. It is not foolish to assume that. It is by far the most likely scenario and is perfectly reasonable.

Django x2 · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:44

When you say you disabled GPS do you mean 3G / H? My Cerberus app tracks the phone using the 3G network

asim18 · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:45

I've been wondering why the pic looks like it has been "photographed". As in it's perfectly framed and he's looking at the camera, there's no camera shake indicating the phone was still and framed at him for up to several seconds. You don't just randomly hold a phone pointing at someone. Also, if the person was indeed using the camera app at the time and taking photos of his mate, then how has the tracking app accessed the camera hardware at the same time as the camera app?

How does this app work, does it have a live viewfinder? or do you just randomly zap photos? couldn't you take any other photos of the surroundings?

PiKe · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:48

Lucero said:
When you say you disabled GPS do you mean 3G / H? My Cerberus app tracks the phone using the 3G network

He means GPS when he says GPS.

Unless you meant GPRS which is data and nothing to do with GPS.

C.R.A.Z.Y · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:48

Linkex said:
Not trying to pick on you here C.R.A.Z.Y, but that really is ********. It is not foolish to assume that. It is by far the most likely scenario and is perfectly reasonable.

I'm not saying its not reasonable to think that it's a high possibility but people here are talking like it's definitive! It's not and wouldn't stand up in court or be good enough grounds for the police to get a warrant (imo) to kick down his door and arrest him. Ergo why I think it's unfair to post his picture as he could very possibly be totally innocent!!

apeksdiver · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:50

Hope it shows up again for you, good luck

yak.h'cir · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:51

C.R.A.Z.Y said:
They need 'probable cause' for search warrants what that actually entails I don't know as I'm not a detective/judge

Are you American by any chance? Because that might explain a misunderstanding.

Probable cause is an American legal term that can be defined as the logical belief, supported by facts and circumstances, that a particular person has committed a crime.

To search someone in the UK you need 'reasonable suspicion' which is the reasonable presumption that a crime has or will occur. Reasonable suspicion is reached through rational conclusions based on facts or circumstances. This is also referred to as more than a guess but less than probable cause.

I'd argue that from the timing of the photograph it would be a rational conclusion to suspect that the person photographed new something of the crime and would be enough to give cause to search. Obviously if they didn't find anything the photo wouldn't be enough on its own to arrest so he'd be on his way.

Porceliamone · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:52

asim18 said:
I've been wondering why the pic looks like it has been "photographed". <snip>

I think you can download photos that have been taken on the phone using Cerberus as well as taking live images yourself, remotely.

Django x2 · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:53

PiKe said:
He means GPS when he says GPS.

Unless you meant GPRS which is data and nothing to do with GPS.

So why isn't it trackable when Cerberus uses GPRS

PiKe · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:54

Lucero said:
So why isn't it trackable when Cerberus uses GPRS

Using the mobile phone masts to triangulate is approximate at best, it won't pinpoint the device.

Spangles · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:57

C.R.A.Z.Y said:
No it's foolish to assume anything especially when it involves illegal activity and unfortunately for you the British justice system/law agrees about this premise!

I assume the person in the picture is human. Oh there I go being foolish again!

I am not going to walk infront of a bus doing 50mph as I assume it might hurt.

You have to make assumptions all day everyday. Most of us assume that the photographed person knows it is stolen.

estebanrey · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:57

PiKe said:
Using the mobile phone masts to triangulate is approximate at best, it won't pinpoint the device.

Nor is GPS though (well not Samsung Dive anyway), I just checked mine from my office and it came back saying I was in a close about 200 metres away from where I actually am.

I'm guessing it's because it only uses the road network and that close is the nearest to my actual position (my office is obviously on private lane off the road network)

yak.h'cir · 30 Jan 2013 at 14:58

Lucero said:
When you say you disabled GPS do you mean 3G / H? My Cerberus app tracks the phone using the 3G network

No the data connection was left alone, I turned off the setting that allowed the phones software to access the GPS hardware and the location information from the cell towers. I know it's turned out to be a daft thing to do but I was getting really frustrated by the phone constantly running out of power even when I wasn't using it.