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You see a cell phone that doesn’t belong to you sitting on the sidewalk. It’s just a basic phone with just talk and text, nothing special, and it’s 3

Poll - Total Votes: 24
1. Take down the phone # and the serial # . . .
2. Leave it . . .
3. Keep it and use it . . .
4. Try to sell it . . .
5. Upon noticing that it's the same kind of phone, from the same service provider . . .
6. Don't use it or try to sell it . . .
Show Results
You can only vote on one answer.
years old. You:

1. Take down the phone # and the serial #, call the service provider and find out who the phone belongs to, and return it to its rightful owner.

2. Leave it, and hope that the rightful owner comes back for it before some thief picks it up.

3. Keep it and use it until there aren’t any minutes left (it’s a prepaid phone) or until the rightful owner deactivates it, then throw it away and find another phone to steal.

4. Try to sell it, and when no one wants to buy it because it’s 3 years old and can be bought for $19.99 at Walgreen’s, throw it into the trash or into a storm sewer.

5. Upon noticing that it’s the same kind of phone, from the same service provider, as the phone you already have, take down the serial # and phone #, and call the service provider and have them transfer the minutes from that phone to yours, telling them this is your old phone. Hey, the service provider might just be dumb enough to do it!

6. Don’t use it or try to sell it, just turn it off so it can’t be tracked down, and keep it in a secret place or throw it into a storm sewer so it will never be found, just to be mean and nasty.

If you choose option 1, bravo! 😍 You’re my hero.

If you choose option 2, you may not be a hero, but at least you’re a decent human being. Good for you. :)

If you choose any of the other options, shame on you. 😡


I tried inserting a poll, but some of the options I've listed wouldn't fit. Hmm, on second, thought, I'll just mention the options by number with the first few words in my poll. Maybe people will answer more honestly that way, if they can remain anonymous.
TexChik · F Best Comment
I would probably take it by the same service provider that the phone is connected to , have them pull the sim card and identify the owner and contact them .,
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@TexChik That's a great idea, especially if you don't know where to look to find the SIM number or the serial number. This was a TracFone, which can be bought at Walgreen's. Someone there probably could have pointed someone to the right place.

TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
Thanks to everyone who answered, especially to those who chose option 1 or option 2. I think I know now what happened. I had a lot of minutes on my phone, about 2000 (because I had been offered some good deals on bonus minutes in the past), and when I asked my service provider the next day how many minutes were left on it, they said zero. And that was after the phone had been turned off the whole time. Every time I or someone else called my phone, it went straight to voice mail. If it had been on, it would have rung a couple of times.

The customer service people at Tracfone were absolutely clueless about how this could have happened, but the thief must have taken the SIM card out of my phone and inserted it into another phone, so they could use the minutes. That's the only real logical explanation. Unfortunately criminals are very sophisticated these days, and they know how to get away with just about anything without getting caught.

The phone itself was cheap, just $19.99. But what I had saved on it was priceless - personal messages and pictures and short videos of family, and a picture of myself with my boyfriend. Fortunately my boyfriend still has all our text messages saved on his phone, so I can copy them off that, and the picture and video texts were sent as group texts, so I think everyone in my family should have a copy. I'll have to ask them to send them again, probably to my email this time instead. And I think I can find the contacts again that I had on that phone. So I guess I can get the most important things back. It's just an icky feeling, knowing that all of that somehow ended up in the hands of someone who couldn't have cared less about it and just threw it away like garbage.
thearhyss · 41-45, F
@TeresaRudolph71 😐 sad.... sad
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@thearhyss Yeah, it really challenges my faith in the basic goodness of humanity.
FloorGenAdm · 51-55, M
Put it on the front stoop of the church and run away. 🏃⛪️
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@FloorGenAdm Bear in mind, however, that not everyone who goes to church is honest. Not everyone goes to church to pray. Some go to prey. I know this for a fact. I sang with the church choir for many years, and once, when they had the choir go down to the main part of the church, to stand before the congregation during a special event, the choir director made the mistake of not locking the door to the choir loft, and those who left their purses up there found that they were missing when we returned. Fortunately I had left my purse at home, but I felt bad for those whose purses were stolen.
Platoscave · F
@FloorGenAdm 🤭

no really send it there in an envelope make sure the head person is on the address tho
Platoscave · F
@Platoscave ty gen
iamnikki · 31-35, F
Um neither. Call someone in the phone. Let them know I have Bob's phone.If they have an alternative way of contacting Bob (social media) then great, and go from there👍️

edit--Nevermind, I forgot other people lock their phone. 😂🤦🏾‍♀️
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@iamnikki That's a very good idea. My phone wasn't locked. I didn't have a password set up. I only had to press a couple of buttons and I could access anything. So if a person had called the phone numbers in the call history, they would eventually have found my landline and my boyfriend's phone number.

But with most phones, that's a good point.
JerseyGal · 51-55, F
#1. I could only hope if I lost mine, someone would be kind enough to do the same.
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@JerseyGal I agree. Sadly mine was never returned, but it's good to know that there are people who would have returned it.
Preferably #1, but at the very least #2. It would be a shame for it to remain without its owner, as our whole lives are on our phone.
I know how it feels to loose something, and you hope on the chance you might retrace your steps or an unusually good samaritan has found it..#1.
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@SethGreene531 Thank you. I like to think that that's what most people would do.
@TeresaRudolph71 Certainly.
Yeah I guess it's all about putting yourself in their shoes.
eMortal · M
The right thing to do is to move along. Don't pick it up. Not enough value in that property for you to go an extra length to return it.
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@eMortal I hearted this because at least you wouldn't have taken the phone, and that's a good thing. :)
eMortal · M
@TeresaRudolph71 yes, the owner wouldn't mind losing it I guess.
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@eMortal Well, I did mind losing it, not because it was expensive (it was just a $19.99 phone from Walgreen's), but because of what I had saved on it - personal messages from my boyfriend, pictures of family, and even a few brief video clips of family gatherings.

But I have since gotten a smartphone, and I hope to get those pictures and videos sent again, as they were sent out as group texts. Hopefully my sisters still have them saved and will send them to my new phone or to my email.

But still, leaving the phone would have been better than taking it.
How about turn it over to police and have them attempt to locate the owner?
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@1234567890a Yes, that's a very good option too, especially if you can't see who the service provider is. I should have included that option as well. I did call the police, and they filed a report, including the phone number and the serial number on my phone. But they basically said they couldn't do anything to track down the phone for me, so I'm really on my own, unless someone were to turn it in.
@TeresaRudolph71 any phone numbers inside to text or call?
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@1234567890a Yes, I had a few contacts saved on it, and quite a long list of phone numbers in the call history. If someone had looked there, they would have seen my landline number and my boyfriend's number too.
Rhodesianman · 56-60, M
I would take it to the local police station or ring a few numbers on it to try and find the owner .
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@Rhodesianman That's a good idea, if you can't find anything to indicate the service provider on it.
cherokeepatti · 61-69, F
I wouldn’t take someone else’s phone & keep it for myself...try to track down the owner would be best.
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@cherokeepatti I agree.
Platoscave · F
The phone I found was a Verizon phone and the Verizon store was able to trace it to the owner.
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@Platoscave I'm glad they were able to find the owner and get it back to them. :)
Platoscave · F
when that happened to me I brought it to a shop and they got it back to the owner
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@Platoscave That's a good idea too. They may need to contact the service provider, but they should be able to get it back to them. :)
thearhyss · 41-45, F
2.. leave it there .. guard it until the owner comes back😇😅
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@thearhyss Awww, that would be a very nice thing to do. I did come back to the spot where I dropped it just 20 minutes later, and it was gone. If the world had more people like you, things would be so much better. ❤️
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@thearhyss Also, I had the cab driver call my phone a few times as he was driving me back to where I had dropped it. I'm sure that if you had been there, you would have answered. :)
Turn it over to police. They can find the owner?
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@1234567890a Yes, they could, especially since I filed a report and gave them the phone number and the serial number of the phone. They basically told me that they couldn't do anything to track down the phone for me, but they could notify me if anyone turned it in to them. So that's a very good option too.
TimSummers · M
Has to be 1. At least I hope so.
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@TimSummers I would hope so too.
TimSummers · M
@TeresaRudolph71 Here is hope in humanity!
PTCdresser57 · 61-69, M
Always try to return it
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@PTCdresser57 The world needs more people like you. :)
PTCdresser57 · 61-69, M
Ty TeresaRudolph...its the right and honest thing to do
TexChik · F
😉 Thanks for the BA
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@TexChik You're welcome! :)
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@SW-User :) I like to think that that's what most people would do. I went back for it about 20 minutes later, after I realized that I had dropped it, and it was gone. ;(
SW-User
@TeresaRudolph71 oh. I'm sorry.
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@SW-User Thank you.
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@Mahaq Yay!
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@MrBrownstone You're a good man! :)
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F
@InvaderNice Woohoo! This really makes me happy. I really need something to help restore my faith in the basic goodness of humanity, and this helps. :)
MartinTheFirst · 26-30, M
dont even pay it any attention
TeresaRudolph71 · 51-55, F

 
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