What you do not need to do if your phone is stolen

    Previously, every time I saw messages that a phone was stolen from a person, I always wondered: why? Well, seriously, why do smartphones steal if:

    • it can be tracked by IMEI, and changing IMEI is clearly not free;
    • locks can be installed on the phone, which are also not free to remove;
    • there are applications with the Anti-Theft mode that transmit photos, video and audio;
    • even the built-in features of Android (and, I believe, iOS) have the function of geolocation of the missing device;
    • the device may have special signs that are quite difficult to eliminate “for free”;
    • for sure somewhere there are surveillance cameras, witnesses, etc .;
    • when selling stolen goods for it it will be difficult to gain a large sum of money.

    Realizing all this, I really didn’t understand why phones were stolen, if, in fact, they were easy to find and money couldn’t be made from it? I did not understand until February 8, 2019, when my phone was not stolen from me.

    Please note : all of the following reflects only my point of view and is not any instruction for action or inaction.
    A good lawyer would say that there was no theft, just this citizen found someone else's property and wanted to transfer it to the police for safekeeping, but not immediately, but after returning from a business trip, referring to Article 227 of the Civil Code “Nakhodka”, and even better convinced he should be reconciled with me, but he doesn’t have such a lawyer (looking ahead I’ll say that at first there wasn’t), but there are the following facts:

    1. The phone was found in a closed private area.
    2. The whole territory is literally hung with surveillance cameras, and they really record (in good quality, by the way).
    3. The owner (i.e., I) called the phone for 20 minutes and turned on the phone search mode (he started calling and writing on the screen that the phone was lost and the number for communication).
    4. I caught up with the defendant when he left our territory and told him all of the above + showed geolocation on a laptop.
    5. He interfered with the activities of police officers, exerted psychological pressure on me, and then completely threw the phone he found out “fearing responsibility”.

    And now in order. I went from the office to the warehouse (entrance from the other side of the building) and on the way back jokingly threw a snowball at my wife, I didn’t get into her, but I got on a new phone. At the time of the throw, the old phone flew out of his pocket and fell in the snow 2-3 meters from the entrance to the office. For our company, the situation is banal and daily: someone loses or forgets the phone and runs, looking for him. Someone money, someone documents, someone else something. Prior to this, all cases were united by the fact that the thing was returned to the owner and neighing over him, he neighing with everyone, and tomorrow we already laughed at the new muddler.

    This time the situation was different and the phone was not returned to me either immediately or later. After 10 minutes of searching, the wife suggested that he was stolen, after 20 minutes many thought so, and after 30 minutes the mark on the map began to move confidently, and it started from the place where we had wagons in the yard at the load. Did we see the label there? Yes, they did, but the guys often come to us (forwarder, not driver), they take away goods for several millions, where do they get this phone for several thousand? This is the number one mistake . It was necessary to approach them and ask everyone, we assumed that the phone was in stock and the geo-tag was wrong due to the shielding of the walls.

    Realizing that the phone "made legs", I made a mistake number two , having gone one, error number threewithout calling the police and not reporting the theft and mistake number four , without taking along a spare phone for calling the same police. Arriving at the place and making sure that the mark on the map corresponds to the car of the alleged kidnapper, I made a mistake number five , going up to him and asking if he found the phone, and after bickering I made a mistake number six and showed him a laptop with geotagging (you need whether to say that then the phone suddenly turned off).

    Further it’s not particularly interesting, I went to the office, took my wife’s phone number, went back, called the police, blocked the exit from a large shopping center before the police arrived, went to write explanations, went to the police many times, etc.

    And what mistakes have I made yet? For instance,I didn’t take a receipt that I had a statement . He handed over photos and videos on a flash drive (the fact that they lost it and cannot be found personally is neither good nor bad for me, but if they lost the drive it would really be all the same), incorrectly assessed the damage (when the police asked “how much do you assess the damage "They are not interested in how much you can buy the same phone on Avito, they are interested in how much you estimate this damage). I gave the original documents to the phone and many more minor errors.

    Last mistake(further I already learned not to do them) it became that I did not ask the inquiry officer to choose a preventive measure. Ideally, it would be a house arrest, but a written recognizance not to leave would have been enough (I want to note right away that I couldn’t say whether it would have influenced or not, but perhaps it would have been easier). The fact is that I live in one city, and the accused in another, 100 km from me, and he also works as a driver for intercity transportation and, accordingly, has a traveling nature of work. Well, then, time is running out and in the middle of May they call me from the court and ask if it’s convenient for you to come to court at such-and-such hours as a victim. Of course, - I say - it’s convenient, I’ll come. Well, ”the secretary tells me,“ I will send you another SMS now so that they don’t forget. Days go by, I come to the court at the appointed time and now we are sitting five of us: judge, secretary, representative of the prosecution and the lawyer of the defendant. But there is no defendant himself, he did not come. They called him, to which he said that he was 2500 km from us, on a business trip and would not come to court. We sighed and we were scheduled for the next meeting in a few days, so that he could return. And he did not come again: he forgot. Then the judge began to swear that the person did not come, but she could not do anything, he was not under subscription. Hope remained that after 2 weeks he would not appear again, then the bailiffs would find him and put him in a pre-trial detention center, from where they would bring him to meetings. forgot. Then the judge began to swear that the person did not come, but she could not do anything, he was not under subscription. Hope remained that after 2 weeks he would not appear again, then the bailiffs would find him and put him in a pre-trial detention center, from where they would bring him to meetings. forgot. Then the judge began to swear that the person did not come, but she could not do anything, he was not under subscription. Hope remained that after 2 weeks he would not appear again, then the bailiffs would find him and put him in a pre-trial detention center, from where they would bring him to meetings.
    But everything turned out to be simpler: he came. He came, met me on the street and said: but let's sign the world?

    Here I will make a digression: I bought a phone for 7500 on credit (installments), glass for 600 and a cover for 400, which means only about 9000 rubles (maybe less, but not the point). I also bought a case, a glass for a new phone, all this is less than 1000 rubles, and I also went to the police many times (I spent gasoline, and a flash drive does not cost 10 rubles). Subtracting my time, which I did not evaluate so as not to become impudent (of course, 5-10 thousand could have been thrown "for moral suffering", but the person is frankly dumb and would hardly understand the calculation, and the court would not have appreciated) I assessed the damage 12,000 rubles, he returned to me 5,000 rubles before that, and the examination said that the phone costs 4700, i.e. formally, I already owed him.

    Well, he asks, then it means to sign a settlement before the court, and I stand, clap my eyes and tell him: you’ve been doing my brains for two months, you can’t give 7000 that you swore to the card to transfer, on the basis of which I’ll sign something ? And he makes such a cat’s eyes from “Shrek” and says: within a week I will give everything back. But his trouble was that I made the last mistake three paragraphs above, so I said dryly: in the morning money, in the evening chairs, and for you I will also transfer: money before we go to the courtroom. And left.

    My lawyer and I met a new one, such a pleasant man, polite, smiling, how the child is amazed at the sum of the demands, etc. In general, although free, it clearly works in the interests of the defendant, not like the previous one. We went to court, answered standard questions, including about reconciliation of the parties, I again refused. They talked about why such a sum, I clarified everything (there was no mistake, said dryly that he clarified everything, he agreed and promised to pay, but did not pay), after which the representative of the prosecutor's office supported me and stated that the amount I had voiced this is the condition of the victim.

    Further, the dialogue between the judge (C), the accused (O) and the lawyer (A) in an almost verbatim retelling:

    C: Oh, do you agree?
    A: Yes, I agree.
    S: I will postpone the meeting for 3 days, will you hand over the money to the victim?
    A: Yes, I will try ...
    S: (interrupts) Here the court will no longer bargain with you, soberly assess your strength.
    A: My client agrees and brings the money.
    O: (hesitantly) yes, I ...
    A: (interrupts, firmly): My client will bring money.
    S: Victim, do you agree?
    Me: Yes, I agree.
    S: The meeting is over, go out into the corridor and wait for the agenda.
    - in the hallway - The lawyer, smiling all over his face, begins with a benevolent voice a monologue to the defendant:Do you even understand what is happening now? You stole the phone, you didn’t go to court, you deceive the victim, they offer you to reconcile for an absolutely adequate amount, and you grimace? Yes, the judge will now write you a fine of 15 thousand, slap 200 hours of correctional labor, and you will work out all this for several months, and the bailiffs will help you in this so that you will not forget again and will not go on a business trip. And then all your son will all say that his father is a thief.

    Apparently at this moment the defendant for the first time got a complete picture of what was happening and all the possible consequences, so he vowed to assure me that he would give me the money before the next meeting.

    And today was a court hearing, this time the last. They gave me money before the court, I wrote a receipt and a motion to terminate the criminal case, he wrote a motion that he did not mind, and we gave all this to the judge. Representatives of all parties clarified whether they agree, I clarified whether I voluntarily did this (did not exert pressure on me), clarified from the defendant whether he understood that the circumstances of the dismissal were not rehabilitative and after that the judge released everyone, saying that the court’s decision will be sent to everyone by mail, after which the defendant began to talk about the fact that he can not write anything, because (I quote) “postmen constantly confuse everything and do not find me” ...

    This is the end of the story. It began on February 8 at around 4 p.m. and ended at about the same time on May 30, lasting 111 days.

    And now briefly once again that you don’t need to do if your phone was stolen :

    • Do not be shy to ask people if they have found him;
    • do not look for him alone;
    • don't be afraid to call the police;
    • do not drive without a spare phone;
    • do not show evidence and do not say that you found him (phone) to a potential kidnapper;
    • do not forget to take a receipt that the application was accepted;
    • Do not transfer photo and video materials on flash drives;
    • Do not think about the methodology for assessing damage, but speak as you think;
    • Do not give the original documents;
    • Do not forget to ask for interim measures (so that the person does not disappear where).

    I will not write about what you need to do (and do it even before something has been stolen from you), there are many useful articles on this subject. Just know that there are still people around who never think about the consequences and personally I'm glad that my phone was just stolen from me .

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