UPDATED: "My iPhone Is Missing, And Some Guy Is Taking Pics Of Himself With It!"
UPDATE 2: the phone has been returned!
UPDATE: Dino says the guy in the pictures saw our blog, called him, and is going to return the phone to his dad tomorrow.
Do you know this guy? [ed. photos removed] He seems to be in the possession of the iPhone that Dino's dad lost. Before losing the phone, his dad set up a rule where any email sent from the phone blind-cc'ed his personal email address, which we think is a pretty brilliant low-tech security solution for tracking down a lost/stolen phone or laptop.
Was hoping you could give me some advice. My dad (64) lost his iphone today. He went to the At&T store and had the service stopped and got a SIM card to put into his old cell phone.
Well he checked his aol account tonight and saw pictures of some guy holding an iphone up and taking pics in the mirror. My dad had it set up that he was BCC on emails sent out on the iphone.
We emailed the the recipient of the emails to ask who was in these pictures and that we would like the phone back. He hasn't responded back yet.
What should we do? I think in the morning my dad will file a report with the police. I tried googling the email address ([redacted]@hotmail.com) and no luck with that. Do you have any other advice we should do to get back the phone?
I posted the pics on flickr. If this is seen widely on the Internet do you think it would shame the guy into give us back the phone?
- Dino A.
Paramus , NJ
If he found the phone and didn't immediately bother looking through it for a way to contact the owner, we imagine he plans on keeping it. If it was stolen, we're pretty certain shame will not help. But who knows?
One guy whose Sidekick got stolen was able to track down the culprits because they took pictures of themselves on it. He set up a site posting the pictures and an ad-hoc internet manhunt formed and eventually they caught the guy.
On the off chance this was all a good-natured mixup (or he bought it used and didn't know it was stolen/lost), we'll post your story.
You might want to email him again with a detailed description of what was on the phone, as well as any identifying marks and likely places where it was lost or stolen, so that he knows you're not a scammer yourself.
Oh, and before anyone does or says anything too douche-y about the guy in the photos, remember that we really don't know how he came about it.
RELATED: How Not To Steal A Sidekick
Sidekick Return From Thief, After Mass Internet Shaming
Post a comment
Comments:
That email has a Facebook account associated it it.
Are you from NJ?
Sure we don't know how he came about it, but why the heck is he playing with a device that obviously isn't his using services that also are obviously not his? I think that's uh...douche-ier...than anything else.
jrsyctyemerson@hotmail.com does have a facebook, its for "Michael smith" of central Jersey, nj
epic douche.
this is just precious.
I naturally came here to post "New Jersey," but nothing gets past Consumerist readers.
Fez stole your iPhone!!
If this is seen widely on the Internet do you think it would shame the guy into give us back the phone?
Not after looking at those pictures he took of himself. But good luck!
That's what I thought too!
Name: Michael Smith Town: Central Jersey, NJ
This was obtained from his facebook account. However, he has no friends associated with that account. I would keep searching any type of site that allows a search of email. Myspace, Bebo, what have you.
It's true, we don't know how he got the phone.
That's why Chris did not suggest bombing the e-mail EECB-style.
Ahem.
I am sure he found the phone, and wanted some fun self pics before searching for the owner. He looks like a great fellow with a greater sense of humor- right guys- right???
@Skunky: Because the Dad's service was stopped on the old SIM by AT&T, this guy could be using wifi or his own AT&T service to use the phone to send emails. I don't think he's using services that are not his. And as the post said, who's to say that this guy didn't buy it off someone else without knowledge of its theft?
The world may never know.
well the first part of the email address is obviously jersey city.
In case you haven't figured it out, the e-mail probably is shorthand for "Jersey City Emerson."
Also, you can make a police report and get them to get a search warrant to get the Internet Service Provider to give you his contact info. (Assuming his IP is reading out on the e-mail forwarded to you.)
I'm a bit of an amateur detective (caught a car thief, a hit-and-run driver, helped a woman find her birth parents, etc.)
Go to my site, advicegoddess.com, look up my contact info, and e-mail me, and I'll help you further.
teh douchiest
@Skunky: The OP said service was stopped, but AT&T doesn't typically blacklist the IEMI, so all the crook has to do is put in another sim card.
The method of obtaining said iPhone may not be douchey as he may have bought it off the dishonest person, but his look certainly says DATE RAPIST.
Also, you can blacklist the phone by reporting the serial stolen so he can't use it for anything more than a really terrible camera.
@calquist: Awesome work, calquist!
Looks like the guy's dad will have a name, a face, and an email address to pick this guy up and hopefully get his phone back.
Good luck!
@Cafezinha: That is exactly what I thought. Taking that many pictures of oneself is a complete douchebag move. Adding those ridiculous glasses just cranks the douchebag level up to 11.
Haha! Looks like he's trying to take a klassy pic of himself for his Facebook page. lolz! What a douchecanoe.
@evilrobot: Especially since there's a little girl (I think) in the background trying to chill on the bed...and he's taking douche-y pictures on an iPhone that doesn't belong to him.
How did he get his iphone to BCC every email? Is that a normal setting you can setup?
You could post this information on 4chan and see if anonymous takes interest in making this guy's life a living hell until he gives the phone back. Just keep in mind that /b/ is not your personal army, and they may or may not jump at the opportunity.
I type the name of the email before the @ on google maps and it points to:
jersey city emerson
[maps.google.com]
I would do a search on facebook/myspace in that area. Looking at how he took those pictures I would not be surprise he use them for those sites.
Good luck getting the phone back.
"set up a rule where any email sent from the phone blind-cc'ed his personal email address"
o.O
Really?
Man, when these things come down in price, I am going to buy one, set that up, and 'lose' it at the nudie bar!
@calquist: I would have guessed MySpace. :p
Probably between the face and real name the guy can be threatened (if not shamed) with potential police action enough to return the phone.
it may be good to spread the word. some one should post this on digg. Some one in his neighborhood is probably familiar with digg and may recognize his face
That kid is what happens when you mix slum-dog millionaires with american idol. i kid i kid...but seriously he looks like a bit of a loser.
As someone who is from New Jersey I feel so shamed from this. Everyone knows everyone is jersey so if you follow those facebook leads I'm sure you can find this guy.
This is pathetic. You (Consumerist) have absolutely no idea how the person in the photos and whose email you just stuck up there came by the iphone. There are all kinds of bad ways he could have but jeez, what if, as a few have suggested, he bought it from someone with entirely good intentions?
Perhaps you should have a handle on a situation before posting such things? You note that you don't know how he came about it, but you feel it's reasonable and responsible to go ahead and hold him up for what you knew was coming anyway? Nice work.
Sex-ay! Looks like somebody has some snazzy new pix to add to his Match.com profile!
Found his personal profile and it looks like he posted those photos to it.
http://www.hi5.com/friend/p57786072--╬╬╬↔iEmer§onTellEm↔╬╬╬----html
iPhones put the location the photo was taken in the metadata. It doesn't look like Flickr is showing it, but you should be able to get it from the originals.
ha! looks like somebody beat me to my jersey jokes... which, ironically, aren't really jokes it seems. Nice bedspread and lavender-blue bathroom douchemeister maxx. I can't stand when people don't return things that they found that are easily returnable... wallets, phones, etc. My gf lost her phone and the guy who found it just called the person labeled "DAD" on the phone and reported the phone lost. Kudos to him.
Long time reader, first time poster...do the original pics have any EXIF data on them? One of the first things I've learned about people who upload pictures from an iPhone is that the EXIF data on the pics tend to have exact coordinates of where the person who took the pictures were at when they took the pic. SOOOO...if the guy in those photos took pictures in his house, it's a possibility that we can find out where this loser lives.
All we need are the original photos, and hope the EXIF data can tell us something good! I'd love to help your dad get his phone back, Dino A.! :)
@ScottRose: I'd just go to the police.
"Here's his name, his picture, and his email address. Can we go get my phone now?"
Assuming the guy has a driver's license or is in the system somehow.
That's how I got the idea to search on Facebook. That's totally a Facebook/MySpace type of pose.
@Dino A.: Congats on having a 64y/o dad that uses an iPhone in the first place. My dad (60) can barely figure out his plain old clamshell..
@Chris Walters: I judge the kid to be a douche regardless of how he came by the phone based upon pics alone. Though his bathroom sure is the decorators' hotness..
Awesome idea cc'ing outgoing messages like that. Seriously, if this guy had any intention of returning the phone, he wouldn't be jerking around with it.
Consumerist does have to be careful about this though. What says that the original 'victim' is even real, and that he's not just putting up some dude's picture/email to get him in trouble?
Did anyone think of checking the GPS data in the pictures' EXIF data?:
I think y'all should stop posting comments until the guy who lost the phone gets back in touch with COnsumerist. I just sent him a message on Facebook, and he heplied
"i already contact the owner.
the pictures were to be meant to find the address
of the owner so i could email
and some fun.. to but yea the phone i would give it back tomorrow
i already called the owner"
True or not, let's give him an opportunity to do the right thing before he gets truly roasted.
Kick-ass quilt.
Search for the email address on facebook. This guy definitely looks like he has facebook.