DD's stolen cell phone

Annie68

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 17, 2003
Just wondering what you all would do.

We subscribed to Verizon Wireless last August, and got a cell phone for our 13yo DD along with ours. She has been very responsible with it, makes only necessary calls, no problems whatsoever. Last month (5/20) she told me she couldn't find her phone, but that she was "positive" it was somewhere in her room or locker. I immediately went on line to check her number & it showed no calls since our last statement. I should have immediately cancelled/suspended the number, but she seemed so sure it would turn up. Long story short, we went out of town last week and I completely forgot about the phone issue until this morning. Of course, when I went back on the Verizon website I see that someone does have her phone & has made 385 minutes of Peak calls & sent 7 text messages. I called Verizon & they suspended her number, but they tell me they can't give me any of the numbers called until my statement comes out. My question is this....should I report this to the police? I was thinking that when I get the statement with the numbers, that they may be able to figure out who had the phone. My DH says there is no way the police have the time to track down every cell phone thief. I just feel so violated....so mad :mad:. At myself & at the jerk who has her phone. I feel like calling every number on the statement when I get it, to figure out who had it!
 
I would def notify the police. Unless you live in a huge place like NYC trust me the police dont have too much to do! They're job is to protect you and you're possessions, and off course to make sure you don't feel violated.

If they say they cant do anything, then o well but at least you tried.
 
I know a mom who followed up on calls made from her dd stolen phone. They stole her phone out of the gym locker. She called people on her bill when it arrived and figured out who stole the phone. She pressed charges. The person got it for stolen property and something with making phone calls. Good luck!
 
I would file a police report, too. If you don't want to pay for the calls, you'll probably need one.

Also, if this happened at her school, you might want to think about talking to the Principal.
 


You know that you can sometimes type the phone numbers into google, and it will identify who owns that number. Your daughter might be able to guess who stole the phone by the people they called, and the principal or police might be able to question the people called. Good luck.
 
Thanks guys, I will definitely call the police this afternoon. I would love it if they caught the person! My DD isn't sure if it was lost at school, I considered letting the school know..... but without the call record there isn't much we can do at this point. I did notice on the Verizon website that the last call was at 9:22am yesterday. I almost wish I had called her cell # first, before Verizon, just to see who answered. I don't see why they can't give me the call record right now, maybe they will for the police? :confused3
 
pixiedust23 said:
I would def notify the police. Unless you live in a huge place like NYC trust me the police dont have too much to do! They're job is to protect you and you're possessions, and off course to make sure you don't feel violated.

If they say they cant do anything, then o well but at least you tried.
Excuse me, but are you serious???? Can you imagine the drain on resources if police followed up on CELL PHONE theft? My DD's laptop was stolen out of the back seat of her car overnight, and the police said they would not come out unless there was evidence like tools or personal effects left behind. I did file a police report, which was needed for insurance, but honestly, what would the police do? Stand there and say, "Yep, looks like a broken window to me, too." ???

The best way to protect myself and my possessions is not to leave them in plain view in my car overnight, but the police can't begin to prevent crimes like cell phone theft. Especially since, from the OP, it sounds like it may have been taken from a school location. And it's a real slap in the face to imply they don't have much else to do. I don't know about your city, but mine is chronically underfunded for police resources. Believe me, they have plenty to do.

To the OP, I share your pain - DD has "lost" her cell phone, IPod, and debit card countless times. Almost always we've been able to recover them from the depths of her filthy room - only once did she accidently drop her debit card in the parking lot at school, but it was returned to us by a parent. They can be careless at this age, can't they???
 


DVCLiz said:
And it's a real slap in the face to imply they don't have much else to do. I don't know about your city, but mine is chronically underfunded for police resources. Believe me, they have plenty to do.


That's why I said depending where you are geez! In my town police make over $100,000 a year after being in the dept for 5 years, they are constantly expanding and are redoing all the police stations. They all drive brand new police cars (made after 2002) and they have a special truck that has a ton of specialty airbrushing and rims. Sorry but the police in our little suburban town most def have no money issues and I've heard from some of the officers themselves that they sleep in their cars. So I think they could take the time to file a report and make a phone call.
 
I'm glad your police department is so well funded, and if they are sleeping in their cars you are right that they should be following up every small crime like cell phone theft. That just seems to be so different from my town and that of most police departments around the country. I guess each community has its own standard of what's considered "police worthy" and what isn't!!
 
Pete's Mom said:
Annie68 - I have Verizon as well. You should be able to log onto www.verizonwireless.com and pull up your DD's cell phone activity.

You can only pull up activity on your last statement, which was before the phone was taken. It tells me how much time has been used this statement, last call time, last text message time....but it doesn't give me any actual numbers called or tex'd until my next statement on 6/12. I just spoke with the Verizon rep again & told them I was going to the police today, she said they won't be able to tell them numbers either until 6/12. So I guess I just wait now...... :sad2:
 
Just spoke with the police, they said to bring in the statement when I get it & I can file an official report. They said it depends on the amount of $$ involved, but that "if we are able to locate the caller by using the phone logs, then you will be given the opportunity to press charges". Woohoo! :cool1:

I'll post an update when I get the statement.
 
Stupid question.... have you tried calling the phone to see if the moron answers?
 
Cebhfhionn said:
Stupid question.... have you tried calling the phone to see if the moron answers?

She cancelled the phone before she thought about calling the phone. Gotta love that 20-20 hindsight.
 
pixiedust23 said:
I would def notify the police. Unless you live in a huge place like NYC trust me the police dont have too much to do! They're job is to protect you and you're possessions, and off course to make sure you don't feel violated.

If they say they cant do anything, then o well but at least you tried.

I would call the police so you have a police report number when you dispute the charges. I wouldn't count on them to do anything about it though.

I have had a cell phone stolen, all they would do is take a report on the phone and not investigate. I have also had my apartment broken into and my laptop stolen...most they would do there is get the serial number and notifiy the pawn shops. And I have had my house broken into and all of my jewelry stolen....again, took a report and reported info to pawn shops - they actually asked me if they HAD to take fingerprints. It's not to likely the police are going to follow up on the cell phone unless you provide them with lots of evidence so they don't have to find it themselves.

I used to work at Verizon Wireless though, and they have a fraud department that does investigate things IF a large amount of money (call charges) are involved. If it is just an average phone bill though, it is not worth their time.
 
I think they've suspended service on that number already so she can't.

My son's cell phone was stolen with his car. We got the car back but not the phone. We cancelled service on the phone as soon as we knew the car had been stolen. There were two calls but very short ones. The police were not interested in following up on the numbers.

Good luck with this, I know that it must be very frustrating for you.

Katholyn
 
DVCLiz said:
Excuse me, but are you serious???? Can you imagine the drain on resources if police followed up on CELL PHONE theft? My DD's laptop was stolen out of the back seat of her car overnight, and the police said they would not come out unless there was evidence like tools or personal effects left behind.

At least yours would come out if there were evidence... 2 years ago we had the windows smashed out of our car... one of the 'weapons' was a beer bottle that was laying in the front seat... we called the police, even told them they might be able to get prints off of the bottle.. .they took a phone report & never bothered to send anyone out.
 
Oh this is bad! I remember finding a Sprint cell phone back when I had just started working as a host. I called so many people on that thing...until one day....it tried connecting me to some representative :rotfl: I think I ended up selling it to a friend for $5. Battery sure did last long :earboy2:
 
chadfromdallas said:
Oh this is bad! I remember finding a Sprint cell phone back when I had just started working as a host. I called so many people on that thing...until one day....it tried connecting me to some representative :rotfl: I think I ended up selling it to a friend for $5. Battery sure did last long :earboy2:

actually my friend found a cell phone on the street and it hadnt been activated yet. He knows this b/c he had taken it to a sprint store and they told him, so he started a plan and used the phone (paying for the plan himself but keeping the lost phone since there was no way to return it to the owner)

Whenever I find a lost cell phone I always call people in the contact list so I can return it. Same thing with drivers liscences. I mail them to the address (after I try to find their phone # online to spare them the awful DMV experience). Just call me your every day good samaritan.
 
pixiedust23 said:
Same thing with drivers liscences. I mail them to the address (after I try to find their phone # online to spare them the awful DMV experience). Just call me your every day good samaritan.

I've done this twice :)

Kind of makes up for the cell phone situation :earboy2:
 

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