Apple Working With NYPD to Track Stolen iPhones

About time.

How is apple to know if a unit was really stolen or if it was something else?

Why report your stolen car to the police? How are the police to know if a car was really stolen or if it was something else?

in the USA nothing is officially stolen until you go to the police station and fill out a police report, under penalty of perjury

lots of people seem to think they should just be able to go to an apple store and have their story believed on the spot

Was thinking the same.

1. Sell phone on craigslist , cash deal
2. Report phone stolen , call cops.
3. Get phone back.
4. ????
5. Profit but dam thats a crappy thing to do.

That's why you keep a copy of the craiglist ad and their email. Heck I even sometimes have them sign a piece of paper stating I sold something to them or they sold something to me if it's an electronic device.

Good luck with this. I had my son's laptop stolen from our car in Washington. We had a Cybernanny type product on it that would tell you when sites you designated were being visited. As soon as the laptop was stolen, we went online and set it to report any site.

Sure enough in a few days the laptop was online and we had an IP address. It had made its way to Oregon. We called our police and told them who the service provider was, what the IP address was on the day it was accessed, and guess what? Not a damn thing.

This is great that Apple is doing this, but the police would rather pull you over and ticket you for going 10 over the speed limit than find your stolen crap, even when you help them.

My guess is that in my case, this was part of an organized ring and following it through would have solved many crimes and prevented others, but, you know, that's a lot of work.

Why criticize Apple for repairing or replacing stolen units? How is apple to know if a unit was really stolen or if it was something else?

Why criticize Apple for repairing or replacing stolen units? How is apple to know if a unit was really stolen or if it was something else?

I think the issue is that Apple wouldn't establish a "blacklist" of phones reported by owners to be stolen. In the past someone could steal an iPhone, take it to the store and have it replaced as-if they were the rightful owner, rather than Apple seizing the phone and informing the police.

By contrast, take a stolen credit card. If you try to use a card reported as stolen the merchant will seize the card and forward it to the bank issuer. They don't just refuse the charge and let the person keep the card.

Another example, would be a car. Take a reported stolen car to a dealer for repair. The dealer doesn't fix the car and give it back to the thief, an employee notify's the police.

Was thinking the same.

1. Sell phone on craigslist , cash deal
2. Report phone stolen , call cops.
3. Get phone back.
4. ????
5. Profit but dam thats a crappy thing to do.

Sure, but that is called fraud and filing a false police report and I'm sure whoever you sold the phone to would be more than happy to cooperate w/ the police. Have fun paying the fine and/or sitting in jail. We'll worth the possibility of pocketing a couple hundred bucks, right.

Was thinking the same.

1. Sell phone on craigslist , cash deal
2. Report phone stolen , call cops.
3. Get phone back.
4. ????
5. Profit but dam thats a crappy thing to do.

Person arrested shows cops ad and emails. Lawsuit and arrest for the false report.

Nope, hotels always say they not responsible for valuables, even if you put it in the safe in the room.

I spend 90% of my time in hotels (hello fellow consultant). Even though the disclaimer says that hotels are not liable, most hotels that value their customers do replace stolen goods within reason. A colleague of mine had his laptop replaced by a hotel.

In the grand scheme of things, a $500 iPad is much better than the hotel reputation being tarnished, and nothing is worse than developing a reputation of beign unsafe, just check out tripadvisor.com and see how hotel managers respond to negative reviews, it's all about reputation in this internet world :)

Theft is great for Apple. Every time one is stolen Apple gets to sell a replacement.

Apple could eliminate this problem overnight. If the phone could be remotely "bricked" some internal fuse is blown that renders the iPhone useless until you send it back to Apple for repair. No one would take a phone if they know it would be useless in a day or two.

I think Apple sells more phones because of theft

It always amazes me when I read assumptions like this. This is so far from the truth its ridiculous.

Man, when my BMW was stolen BMW didn't do anything. They didn't replace my car. What a crappy company.