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Late night/early morning May 10/11, I arrived home at 3am exhausted and completely out of it. While getting out of my car I heard a thunk, but thought nothing of it. I hit the lock button on the door, plodded into the house and went straight to bed. At 7AM I rolled over to grab my phone only to discover it wasn't there. Well, shit. That's what that thunk was: my phone falling out of my pocket. Then I go outside to get my phone and realize my door is unlocked. Weird. I open the door and start looking for the phone and realize that the glove compartment and center console are open and the contents had been tossed out. Double shit. I go inside, log into my iCloud account on my laptop to locate my phone and it's offline. Well fuck. At this point the only logical conclusion is that my car's been broken into and my phone is gone, but what else was gone?
Turns out that in addition to my phone, my son's skateboard, a pack of cigarettes, the folder with the registration/insurance/bill of sale (original and second owner)/maintenance records, and a tool bag with a couple hundred bucks worth of basic hand tools are also missing. Now, my phone was a 16GB iPhone 6 Plus with an OtterBox Defender series case on it (Total about $800). The skateboard was worth about $50 and approximately $200 worth of tools, and now we have Grand Theft. Yay.
Of course, I have Apple Care on my phone, which covers damage, but does not cover lost/stolen. Dammit. *sigh* Oh well. I'm eligible for an upgrade on the 29th, so I pull rank on my youngest kid, have my cell phone carrier do what they need to do to report my phone as stolen, and then have them suspend the kid's line and put my phone number on his phone. Too many doctors, therapists, lawyers, CPS workers (not my kids, the girl I posted about some time back...I'm still very involved in her life), and schools have that number, so I need that one to be active. It sucks being the youngest, as that was the phone I commandeered.
Fast forward to tonight. I get a phone call from a man claiming that he'd bought a phone off Craigslist and when he turned it on it had a lock screen flashing my number on it. I informed him it was a stolen phone and I'd like it back. He got all panicky and said he couldn't afford to lose the money and blah blah blah and he'd call back in a half hour and then hung up on me. Of course, I immediately called the police to update them on what had happened. For the moment, we were working of the idea that he was legit in his story, but I wanted to cover my bases. He didn't call back, so I called him. It rang a bunch of times then went to voice mail. It's a Magic Jack number. Oh-oh. This isn't looking so good. I left a message, still playing the party line that he's just some hapless schmuck who got cheated, and said that I realize that it sucks to lose money, but that it's my phone and the right thing to do is turn it in to his local police (the number ID'd from a town about 45 minutes away from me), and they would get it back to me.
Then the officer from my local department called back. I filled him in on everything that happened and he tried to call the number. Apparently, the way Magic Jack works is that if the owner of the number has never called you, it's an "unknown number" and it doesn't let the call through. The police here had tried to call him to leave a message, still playing the line that he's a victim, saying that failure to turn it in could be a felony, and that the police there would work with him to attempt to recover his money and yada, yada, yada. He couldn't do that, so he asked if I would. Of course I would. So I did. As soon as I said who I was, the dude hung up on me. And then I really got mad. I called back and he sent me straight to voicemail after half a ring. I left the message the police told me to, and then called the cops back.
Now, I firmly believe that the dude who called me isn't some hapless schmuck, but the actual thief who was trying to con me into giving him money to get my own phone back. It didn't work very well. I'll wait two more weeks for my free upgrade, while he sits there with an iPhone 6 Plus shaped brick, thank you very much! In the meantime, I'm pissed, so I called the officer back and left a message updating him, and told him I'd like to throw everything they can at this guy. Given the value of what was taken from my car alone (6 other cars that we know of were hit that night in my neighborhood), this is Grand Theft, and I'm pissed enough to try to nail this guy to the wall. Now here's hoping that the police feel the same way.
Turns out that in addition to my phone, my son's skateboard, a pack of cigarettes, the folder with the registration/insurance/bill of sale (original and second owner)/maintenance records, and a tool bag with a couple hundred bucks worth of basic hand tools are also missing. Now, my phone was a 16GB iPhone 6 Plus with an OtterBox Defender series case on it (Total about $800). The skateboard was worth about $50 and approximately $200 worth of tools, and now we have Grand Theft. Yay.
Of course, I have Apple Care on my phone, which covers damage, but does not cover lost/stolen. Dammit. *sigh* Oh well. I'm eligible for an upgrade on the 29th, so I pull rank on my youngest kid, have my cell phone carrier do what they need to do to report my phone as stolen, and then have them suspend the kid's line and put my phone number on his phone. Too many doctors, therapists, lawyers, CPS workers (not my kids, the girl I posted about some time back...I'm still very involved in her life), and schools have that number, so I need that one to be active. It sucks being the youngest, as that was the phone I commandeered.
Fast forward to tonight. I get a phone call from a man claiming that he'd bought a phone off Craigslist and when he turned it on it had a lock screen flashing my number on it. I informed him it was a stolen phone and I'd like it back. He got all panicky and said he couldn't afford to lose the money and blah blah blah and he'd call back in a half hour and then hung up on me. Of course, I immediately called the police to update them on what had happened. For the moment, we were working of the idea that he was legit in his story, but I wanted to cover my bases. He didn't call back, so I called him. It rang a bunch of times then went to voice mail. It's a Magic Jack number. Oh-oh. This isn't looking so good. I left a message, still playing the party line that he's just some hapless schmuck who got cheated, and said that I realize that it sucks to lose money, but that it's my phone and the right thing to do is turn it in to his local police (the number ID'd from a town about 45 minutes away from me), and they would get it back to me.
Then the officer from my local department called back. I filled him in on everything that happened and he tried to call the number. Apparently, the way Magic Jack works is that if the owner of the number has never called you, it's an "unknown number" and it doesn't let the call through. The police here had tried to call him to leave a message, still playing the line that he's a victim, saying that failure to turn it in could be a felony, and that the police there would work with him to attempt to recover his money and yada, yada, yada. He couldn't do that, so he asked if I would. Of course I would. So I did. As soon as I said who I was, the dude hung up on me. And then I really got mad. I called back and he sent me straight to voicemail after half a ring. I left the message the police told me to, and then called the cops back.
Now, I firmly believe that the dude who called me isn't some hapless schmuck, but the actual thief who was trying to con me into giving him money to get my own phone back. It didn't work very well. I'll wait two more weeks for my free upgrade, while he sits there with an iPhone 6 Plus shaped brick, thank you very much! In the meantime, I'm pissed, so I called the officer back and left a message updating him, and told him I'd like to throw everything they can at this guy. Given the value of what was taken from my car alone (6 other cars that we know of were hit that night in my neighborhood), this is Grand Theft, and I'm pissed enough to try to nail this guy to the wall. Now here's hoping that the police feel the same way.
Hope that some good does come of this, but sad you lost so much stuff. *offers hugs & cookies*
Hope the cops nail this bastard! 
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