Not even a month... my Galaxy R is stolen

[Santa Maria!]

I was on the bus this morning.. it was extra crowded. I reach in my jacket pocket (yes... my inside jacket pocket I just opened my jacket since it was a bit stuffy)... and I begin feeling around, then that sickening feeling starts creeping up.

Yep. it's gone. I look around on the bus floor... maybe it fell down (fat chance). I asked for someone's phone and made a call to my number.. not reachable. Sim thrown in minutes...

This feeling sucks. I hadn't even intalled those anti theft apps... dammit.

I haven't gone to the police yet... too depressed to go anywhere... and I'm at work. I guess I should make that trip tonight or tomorrow...

I googled a bit out of desperation and installed the 'Plan B' app. Donno if it will get installed... mobile has GPRS, SIM thrown away, GPS icon was off when I last had it.

Gah! I always check my pockets 10 times whenever I'm on the bus and STILL this happens... I hate the world right now.

 

[Zangetsu]

^My sympathies are with u..even I m also a victim of this mobile theft...

report to police ASAP & give them IMEI no of your mobile.
pick pocketer are smart now a days which is a serious concern for us

 

[thetechfreak]

Go to the police. Lodge a complaint. Give your IMEI number. Say its stolen (yes then only they will start doing what you want them to do)
They might end of finding it

 

[mitraark]

Don't wait any longer , i know it feels upsetting to even move but you have to do this one thing asap !

 

[coolpcguy]

Aw shucks. I know the feeling, same happened to my Nexus S

Of Dead Hard Drives, Stolen Phones & ICICI Bank Dumbassery My World

 

[MANOfJosh]

I'm not sure how far it works. Give a try with www.samsungdive.com if you had a samsung account configured with your phone. Just a try.

My heart goes out to you.

 

[reddead]

*market.android.com/details?id=com.lookout.labs.planb&hl=en

 

[buddyram]

Your words illustrates how dejected you are....

dont bow down, do everything whatever you can to catch culprit.

 

[ajayritik]

commiserations bro. Even I lost my phone recently.
Hope you are able to track it out. But don't keep much hopes of getting it back though.

 

[umeshtangnu]

I'm not sure how far it works. Give a try with www.samsungdive.com if you had a samsung account configured with your phone. Just a try.

My heart goes out to you.

try this method
it might work

 

[Sarath]

Theory: Stolen phone IMEI and new phone number can be matched, Hence the thief/current user can be nabbed by location + smart talking

The thing is police can tract the phone and nab the thief if they put in the effort, with the IMEI number.
The operator can track the phone to a half km zone or something, (cell towers reach) and since they can associate the IMEI number to a phone number all that remains is some smart talking and getting him nabbed.
Calling the operator will yield no result as they are not authorised to do so. Hence you have to do it through the police.

In Practice:
You file a police complaint, they get an FIR done. You give them IMEI number, bill, time, place, your number. They give you assurance, paperwork and a smile.

Nothing happens after that. Saw this happen to many of my friends.

-----

Unrelated to the topic, the only time I lost my phone, it was returned to be by a blessed soul.

-----

If you were a high ranking official or some political progeny you would get your phone back in a weeks time. You can use some recommendation

------------------------

I remember, during the oh-so-not-smart-but-smartphone days, my friends credit card sized Samsung phone had a gleaming phone tracker / anti-theft SW pre-installed from Sammy.
His phone got stolen / lost.

Software worked like a charm. The new number (thief's) was sent to 3 other numbers he had pre-entered and he took this number and gave it to the police.

What happened after that is anyone's guess? (at least the majority guess)

 

[Santa Maria!]

Thanks for the kind words, I guess.

As soon as I posted my first message, I sat around and moped a bit. Then I thought I ought to get the process over with, so I excused myself from work and went off to the police station.

There, I had a 20 minute debate about the difference between reporting my phone as "missing" (their recommendation) and "stolen" (as written in my application).
Only after this debate, they sent me off to some back room where the apparently do 'mobile surveillance'.

The guy in that room was all friendly and stuff, took my application, jotted down details and sent me off with a smile. Outside, I thought all that was probably a ruse, so maintained my depressed state.

Then I went off and spent a few hours to get a replacement SIM.

Now I'm back home.

*sigh*

That phone was from most of my very first salary
I was gonna start Android programming with it
This almost feels like a Valentine's Day heartbreak

I guess when you have a high-end phone, you need to make sure other aspects of your life are high end as well... no bus transport, no roaming around dodgy places...

life = female doggie.
temporarily hate everyone.
gonna go sleep.
bye.




EDIT:

Aw shucks. I know the feeling, same happened to my Nexus S

Of Dead Hard Drives, Stolen Phones & ICICI Bank Dumbassery My World

That blog post of yours was like a movie script for what happened to me this morning... hah.

 

[iknowledge]

Is it possible to have an insurance for phones.
Incase the phone is lost then can get a new one from Insurance company?

 

[ofabhishek]

I guess when you have a high-end phone, you need to make sure other aspects of your life are high end as well... no bus transport, no roaming around dodgy places...

so true... but we r human, getting tempted to all high end-ies is our nature, but.......!

life = female doggie.
temporarily hate everyone.
gonna go sleep.
bye.

i know how it feels when u have to pay for your misfortune, btw if i(own SGR) can be any of your help thn do ask...(eg. remotely installing/testing any tracker app or any such method if such exists or experimenting any searching method for SGR...)

 

[dashing.sujay]

The blatant truth is that what Sarath mentioned. But do find about private trackers. They do tracing work and return the phone to you at some cost. One of my friend had succesfully got his N70 back, back in 2007. So my best wishes with you.

 

[ineedcoupon]

Sad to hear.. First report it to your network's customer care, then go to local police station and lodge a complaint.. Next time use some security apps and try to place your mobile in your shirt pocket whenever you get in to a bus..

 

[Faun]

I remember police station guys said that their machines were not working and didn't register the complaint. But the phone was some low tier Nokia.

 

[Vyom]

First of all I feel sorry for your loss Santa Maria. Loosing a phone which you had "earned" is actually more depressing than a heart break. Atleast for us geeks.

I can relate to this feeling, since I had lost two phones back in the days. One of my dad's and then one of my mom! One phone was pick pocketed in a bus and the other fell down from my loose pockets while cycling!(yeah it happens). [I also lost my wallet once on a bus of same route, but that’s another story].
Thankfully those were low ends phones but still those were of my parents and anyone can imagine what it must have been felt like to face them afterwards.

Today I am an owner of my first Android phone which I bought after months of savings from my salary. After the incidents of pick pocket in previous days, now I take care of my phone more than even me! I keep them only in my front jeans pockets, and never take my hands of it. I have to behave that I am travelling with a diamond ring in my pockets, which for the most part is true to some extent! But that’s the care we have to take if we can only afford travelling on public transport like buses.

I guess when you have a high-end phone, you need to make sure other aspects of your life are high end as well... no bus transport, no roaming around dodgy places...

Well, I can see the frustration you have right now. When I had realize that the phone was missing from me when I got out from the bus, it was like somebody just took the heart out of the chest and ripped it apart in front of me! I can imagine, that it also feels like you have done the biggest mistake of your life by buying the phone in the first place!
BUT, you should not feel depressed. It’s a part of life. You can’t control your destiny. Don’t think it like, “Why me?” Think it like, “Somebody had to be the victim. And you were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Well, I believe nothing I say will help you in getting the phone back. But even if it helps realizing a little that it was not your fault in any way, and that life has something better for you, then I believe I have accomplished my goal.

Lastly, I hope you get your phone back!

 

[Zangetsu]

Theory: Stolen phone IMEI and new phone number can be matched, Hence the thief/current user can be nabbed by location + smart talking

The thing is police can tract the phone and nab the thief if they put in the effort, with the IMEI number.
The operator can track the phone to a half km zone or something, (cell towers reach) and since they can associate the IMEI number to a phone number all that remains is some smart talking and getting him nabbed.
Calling the operator will yield no result as they are not authorised to do so. Hence you have to do it through the police.

In Practice:
You file a police complaint, they get an FIR done. You give them IMEI number, bill, time, place, your number. They give you assurance, paperwork and a smile.

Nothing happens after that. Saw this happen to many of my friends.

+1 true

What happened after that is anyone's guess? (at least the majority guess)

My guessing is always wrong so I pass

 

[Santa Maria!]

Huh.. I thought I made a post, but I guess something went wrong with my net.

Anyway, thanks for all the sympathy, guys. It's kinda soothing (like Vyom's post). And quite a few with similar experiences too... maybe we should start a club.

i know how it feels when u have to pay for your misfortune, btw if i(own SGR) can be any of your help thn do ask...(eg. remotely installing/testing any tracker app or any such method if such exists or experimenting any searching method for SGR...)

Thanks, man. But I doubt anything else can be done now... besides those private trackers someone mentioned... but I donno.



Oh, and I just remembered that my phone had the 'unlock with pattern' thing enabled.
How secure is that? The thing comes into effect even if the phone is restarted, right?

Then again, these thieves may have some connection with some lowly employees at remote Samsung service centres, don't you think? Maybe they get those bad-apple-employees to do some flashing or something, eh?

PS: Forgot to check out that Samsung Dive thing that was posted here.
Seems nice, but I didn't have a Samsung account configured v__v