[editionfws]

I work in a retail store in orlando florida...rightoff international drive (the main tousist area) close to disney and universal. We find lost stuff A LOT. Atleast once a week we find wallets, keys, phones etc. The keys we hold onto in our safe because there's not much we can do. Wallets we look in to see if we can find any contact info, but don't dig too much. And phones (which everyone gives to me haha) ill find the contact number inside and call. I've found numerous iphones, curves, and others. It is so tempting to keep them though. One time I ended up calling the contact that said "mom" on one of the phones. I talked to the owner of the phone and her mom, and they were here on vacation, and left and went back to england. They told me I could just keep it because it wasn't worth sending it back, they got a new one. It was a lg chocolate, but the one with the touch buttons, not the real buttons. It was when the chocolate just came out and it was a popular phone, and noooooone here really had it yet. I ended up giving it to my sister and she loved it. She has helped me out over the years so I figured I'd do something nice for her haha. The moral of the story I guess is do the right thing and sometimes it pays off.

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[delsolracing]

I agree, do what you can to find the owner. Much better to do that than risk getting into legal trouble.

If AT&T or T Mobile are unwilling to help or cannot locate the person there is not much else you can do. Even if they can locate the person they might just just tell you to keep it if it is in that bad of shape but at least you will have done the right thing.

[Vortex337]

I think just by posting this as "hypothetical" you already knew the answer to your question.

[Artemis68]

Def return it.

Don't go to AT&T though, go to T-Mobile since that's what SIM it is. They'll be able to help you. I'd also pop out the SIM card and put in your phone to see if there are some contacts that you can call.

I found a beat-up Curve once at college. It was unlocked though so I called the last contact they dialed (labeled "Mom") and informed her that I found her daughter's/son's BB. The girl got it back. Felt pretty good.

[jlb21]

Chung-Chung!!!

(that would be the L&O theme)

[barbwyr]

Id make a basic effort to find the owner to return it. But going to the store or talking to CS getting esn #'s etc. would be a little much for me. I've lost phones and no-one ever contacted me to return them. I would've liked for that to happen, but I remember learning at 3 or 4 years old "finders keepers, looser weepers" lol. Sometimes we take losses in life. Do try to see if you can find the owner, but dont loose any sleep if not. Put a new housing on it and be done.

Yep...Finders Keepers, Losers Keep Someone elses stuff. Put a housing on it and be done....yep until the cops come knocking because it belongs to a missing person. You never know what might come from turning in a lost item especially a phone. I have found and returned quite a few phones working in retail. And remember if you fix it up and sell it and it gets locked because it was reported stolen, now not only have you committed theft by conversion you have now committed fraud by selling a non-functioning device.

To the people suggesting he keep it...I thought BB users had more class than that. I hope you lose your's one day and someone "hypothetically" finds it.

[avacomputers]

I thought possession was 9/10 ownership.

[barbwyr]

I thought possession was 9/10 ownership.

Sure if there's no way to identify ownership and both parties claim to own it. If someone can prove ownership of an item then the other person is guilty of unlawful possesion. This is 2009 not 1850.

[Coruptyed]

I would try to return it if I couldn't find them and I would drop it off at the carrier and ask them if nothing probably hang on to it

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[RichieHD]

Called Att and said they couldn't help me. Called Tmo and they said that they can't give me any information.

Not sure where to go now. The Sim only had 2 numbers in. One is a cab service and the other was a number in Canada that didn't pick up or have voicemail.

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[barbwyr]

Called Att and said they couldn't help me. Called Tmo and they said that they can't give me any information.

Not sure where to go now. The Sim only had 2 numbers in. One is a cab service and the other was a number in Canada that didn't pick up or have voicemail.

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No Tmo is not going to give you the info, you have to take them the phone and let them handle getting it back.

[yfnumber5]

I love my berry and I'm sure everyone on here has a special attachment to theirs. Seek the owner and I'm sure the karma gods will smile upon u. Remember the do unto others as u would have them return ur berry

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[rescue117]

I can't believe this is a thread, "hypothetically" of course.

[SevereDeceit]

I would hypothetically take it to a carrier store and let them
find the user and return it to them.

Oh wait, it isn't a hypothetical. I've done that twice. Gave them
the PIN, IMEI/ESN and my number for the owner to contact me. They
both got their phones back.

Your "hypothetical" of refurbing it and selling / giving it away
is in "reality" dishonest.

Agree completely. Do the right thing...

[oasissux]

Called Att and said they couldn't help me. Called Tmo and they said that they can't give me any information.

Not sure where to go now. The Sim only had 2 numbers in. One is a cab service and the other was a number in Canada that didn't pick up or have voicemail.

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So, you called the number registered to the SIM, or just the numbers listed in the contacts? Did you try texting the phone number?

It could be that the Berry belonged to someone of ill-repute and that person only used it for email and PIN messaging. Maybe they chucked it because it was heated out.

I guess you'll find out if you ever get it back online.

[anon(19759)]

Yep, just take it to a tmo store, tell them you found it and saw it has a tmo sim, and walk out. Let them deal with it.

[redwingken]

We are a national agent for all 4 US carriers, and have found hundreds of devices over the past 20 years. We have managed to return nearly all to their rightful owners. Some people did not contact us for over a year but we held on to their device.

The latest was a vzw 8830 that was literally found in the street and looked like it was run over a couple times. Cracked screen, would not power up, etc. We gave Verizon the esn and the owner called within a few minutes. He had already purchased a replacement but there were important contacts and pictures of his grandchildren which were never backed up. After dozens of attempts we were actually able to transfer everything to his new BB (wtg rim). It was very emotional for him because the pictures of his family were important to him. He also may have his organization join our hosted BES which was a nice surprise.

As stated earlier, T-Mobile can help locate the owner via the old SIM card and perhaps even IMEI. Not only is it the right thing to do for many reasons, it will make you feel good.

[Username00089]

I bet the OP is wishing he hadn't started this thread...

[RichieHD]

NEWS:

The phones owner was found. I spoke with her. She sounded like a valley girl. Her exact words... "My boyfriend bought the phone for me. We broke up so I threw it out the window of my car. I have a new sim and an iPhone. I don't care what you do with that phone, I didn't even know how to use it in the first place."

End of story.

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[Username00089]

NEWS:

The phones owner was found. I spoke with her. She sounded like a valley girl. Her exact words... "My boyfriend bought the phone for me. We broke up so I threw it out the window of my car. I have a new sim and an iPhone. I don't care what you do with that phone, I didn't even know how to use it in the first place."

End of story.

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Okay.