Someone found my long-lost IPhone 4 and reactivated it
yaroslavvb
Newbie

I lost my IPhone 4 a while back in Switzerland, and last month someone in USA reactivated it with a $140 plan and is using it.

The calls are to non-existent 503-741-9478 number.

What should I do to retrieve it? (can the police find geographical location of the phone?)

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Re: Someone found my long-lost IPhone 4 and reactivated it
kaebfly
Champion - Level 3

Just curious...how were you able to find out where the phone was activated, how much the plan is for, and a phone number attached to it? If you had the "find my iPhone" feature activated you should have been able to use that to figure out where it was at one point (not sure if that feature works outside of the US...plus at this point it's mute since someone managed to reactivate the device and set it up the way they would like to). You can report the phone as lost or stolen, but the issue becomes a bit tricky at this point. Do you have proof that the phone was originally yours? Something with the Serial Number? If not, it may be difficult to prove that the iPhone was ever yours. If you didn't report it as lost or stolen to VZW you can still try to do so, but...it may not do anything at this point since it's activated and in use. VZW may be able to do something so it won't hurt to contact them, but you honestly probably won't receive the device back.

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Re: Someone found my long-lost IPhone 4 and reactivated it
yaroslavvb
Newbie

They reactivated it on my account, so I can see the plan they got (global CDMA data + hotspot feature), and also the phone numbers they called (just one phone number, invalid number, I suspect that may correspond to calls to customer service). Basically I want to know if it's worth going to the police with this, and keeping the plan active so that they can track down the person.

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Re: Someone found my long-lost IPhone 4 and reactivated it
kaebfly
Champion - Level 3

Is it someone that you know and has access to your VZW account information? Otherwise, you have a bigger problem than a missing iPhone. You have an account active that you will be responsible for paying. I can't imagine how it would be worth it to allow this account to remain active if it is not something you authorized and it's not by someone that is authorized to use your account. You really need to contact VZW to get this taken care of....and if need be, contact the police.

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Re: Someone found my long-lost IPhone 4 and reactivated it
yaroslavvb
Newbie

Apparently you just need last 4 digits of social security number to reactivate the account. I don't think they have any other information.

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Re: Someone found my long-lost IPhone 4 and reactivated it
kaebfly
Champion - Level 3

Whoever reactivated your phone would need to be able to verify additional info such as the name on the account, the last 4 of the social, account password if one is on the account, and I think they might need to be able to provide the billing address. At any rate, I would assume that someone that was able to provide the last 4 digits of your social to activate a phone that was lost would have to actually know you in order to be able to know that the phone was attached to your account in the first place and to know the last 4 of your social...unless you lost other identifying information that would help this person do all of this. At any rate, I would think the bigger issue would be this active account that you will be responsible for. Do you know the person that did this and just don't know where they are at using your phone? I would assume you do since you don't seem to have an issue with this account still being activated in your name with a rate plan yet you only seem interested in finding out if you can have the phone located. If you really want to have this whole thing have a shot at being taken care of and you do not want to be responsible for the bills that will continue to generate you will need to contact VZW and the police to report the issue. If you know the person but don't want to get them in trouble then you will either end up stuck paying a monthly bill or paying the etf (or deactivating the iPhone and putting a different phone on the account while adding additional security measures to your account to stop future activation).

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Re: Someone found my long-lost IPhone 4 and reactivated it
DionM_VZW
Verizon Employee

Greetings to yaroslavvb and to all other community members! Yaroslavvb, I hope that you'll agree that the feedback from the other community members is both valid and helpful. I want to help as well. If the line has been activated against your wishes, it can be turned off and we can set up additional security features on your account to prevent any future unauthorized changes to your account. If you're interested, please send me a Direct Message through the forum. Thanks!

DionM_VZW

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