If your beloved phone, camera or bike has gone missing, don’t despair – there’s still a chance you could get it back. Robert Irvine reveals the methods most likely to succeed
Track down your stolen camera
Losing an expensive camera can be devastating, especially the thought that someone else could be using your snapper to capture their happy memories. Fortunately, the thief’s arrogance could also be their downfall, because your camera contains a unique serial number that appears in the EXIF metadata of every photo it takes. Once the person now in possession of your camera (who may, to be fair, not realise that it’s been stolen) shares an image online, that serial number will be posted with it, which is where Stolen Camera Finder (www.stolencamerafinder.com) comes in. This ingenious free service trawls the internet searching for photos and collecting the serial numbers of the cameras that took them. When you upload an image to the site that was captured with your lost camera, Stolen Camera Finder detects the serial number and displays matches from its database, complete with details of where the photos are being hosted – for example, on Flickr. You can then contact the photographer and ask them politely but firmly to return your camera.
Stolen Camera Finder isn’t perfect - some sites, including Facebook, strip EXIF data from uploaded photos, and not all camera models (and no phones) are covered. It also charges £4.99 for Pro features such as unlimited searching and email alerts for when a picture taken with your camera is shared online. However, it’s worth a try if you’re desperate to recover your camera or if you’ve bought a second-hand one and want to make sure it’s not ‘hot’. We particularly like the option to post details of your lost camera on a global map, in case another user comes across it.
Locate, lock and wipe your device remotely
Both Apple and Google now offer built-in tools that let you find your Android or iOS device if it goes missing and prevent anyone else from using it. To activate this feature on an iPhone or iPad, go to Settings, iCloud, tap Find My iPhone and ensure the slider is set to ‘on’. If your device is lost or stolen, sign into www.icloud.com/find on any other device to view its current (or last online) location on a map. You can then remotely turn on Lost Mode to lock your device with a 4-digit passcode, or wipe its data by choosing Erase iPhone or iPad.
For Android phones and tablets, there’s the similar Android Device Manager, which lets you trace your device through android.com/devicemanager. As well as using the Lock and Erase options as required, you can ring your lost phone in case it’s still in the immediate vicinity – such as down the back of the sofa!
Stop thieves using or selling your phone
As with cameras, all mobile phones have a unique identifier called an IMEI (International Mobile Station Equipment Identity) number. This 14- to 16-digit serial code provides information about your handset’s manufacturer, model and specifications, and also allows you to disable or potentially recover a stolen or lost phone. For this reason, you should find out what your IMEI is before disaster strikes. It’s usually printed on a label under the battery or on the SIM tray, and you can also view it on screen by pressing *#06#.
If your phone is stolen, report the theft to your mobile operator or the police who will add the IMEI to a blacklist. This renders it useless because it will be unable to make and receive calls, or send messages, and the thief won’t be able to flog it to phonerecycling services and through online marketplaces including eBay, which require the seller to provide the IMEI. You can check if a phone you’ve bought or are thinking of buying is blacklisted using CheckMend (www.checkmend.com/uk). For a one-off fee of £1.99, this will tell you if the handset is currently or has ever been blocked; if it’s been reported as lost or stolen; if it’s had multiple users; and if it’s been recycled or refurbished.
Look on online marketplaces
Most stolen goods are quickly resold and there’s a chance that the thief may be brazen enough to use a well-known online marketplace such as eBay, Gumtree or Craigslist to do so. It’s definitely worth searching for your lost device on these sites, and using filters to show the most recent listings, used items only and nearby sellers (if you believe it was pinched locally). Also look carefully at sellers’ other current and previous listings to see if they ring any alarm bells – for example, why would someone be flogging so many secondhand phones? If you think you’ve nailed the culprit, contact them first – it’s possible they may have obtained your device without realising it was stolen – and keep a record of all your correspondence. If they prove unhelpful or unresponsive, then report the incident to your local police (if you haven’t already), including details of the date, time and location of the theft, and ensure you obtain a crime-reference number. Both eBay (bit.ly/ebaystolen389) and Gumtree (bit.ly/gumtreestolen389) promise that they will “always assist in a criminal investigation received from Law Enforcement” and “give evidence in court if necessary”. Unfortunately, the poorly moderated Craigslist is a law unto itself, especially because it doesn’t have a UK office, but you can still notify the police if you spot your stolen device. There’s also an Android and iOS app called Mokriya Craigslist (craigslist.mokriya.com), which watches the site for specific items and notifies you when it finds them.
Report and find a stolen bike
A recent survey by CCTV.co.uk found that bikes were the most stolen items in the UK in 2015, overtaking mobile phones, with one nicked every 67 seconds. They’re also among the most difficult to recover, although you might get lucky using Stolen Bikes (stolenbikes.co.uk). This excellent free service takes a three-pronged approach to uniting cyclists with their wheels. Firstly, it lets you report your bike as stolen, including details of manufacturer, model, colour and frame number, a full description and as many photos as you like. The site will then share the info and offer advice to maximise your chances of getting back your bike. Secondly, you can use the Find That Bike section to view the latest bike listings on eBay and Gumtree, in case that’s where yours has ended up. Finally, you can ensure you don’t inadvertently purchase a stolen bike, by looking up its frame number and comparing it against stolen-bike registers across the country.
Stolen Bikes won’t recover your bike for you – that’s still a matter for the police – but it helped more than 1,000 cyclists get back in the saddle last year.
REGISTER YOUR DEVICE ONLINE
UK property register Immobilise (www.immobilise.com) goes straight to the top when your devices go missing – it’s used by the police to identify thousands of items of lost and stolen property every day. Registered items are also checked against the stolen goods database CheckMEND, reported to the second-hand trade and issued with police reports, which makes it much easier to claim insurance.
To register your phone or tablet for free, create a secure Immobilise account and enter your device’s IMEI number. To register a laptop, PC, camera or other gadget, enter its serial number along with details such as its make, model and specifications, and upload photos of it.
If your item has already been lost or stolen, you can still register it on Immobilise. Tell the service it’s lost, provide as many details as possible and the site will make the information available to all UK police.