Android Stolen phone tracked: What to do now ??

P

pauldmps

Skilled
My phone was stolen last month from Bhubaneswar. After a month of no activity, now Avast Anti theft shows that the phone has been activated in Tamil Nadu. I have the location of the phone & the phone number for the sim card being used. The phone is responding to the text messages being sent to the phone.

How should I go about recovering the phone ??
 
Contact your local cops and provide them this information. Also if they refuse to act, take them to court and they will contact TN cops. You will need evidence of purchase of your phone.
 
dont act as hero as doing alone. as @axeman said ready the bill and box(imei) and call the cops.
its good to have your phone back.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
btw which phone was it ? i think it should be easy for cops to track down the phone .. Avast can reply with the recent call and SMS log also which can be helpful ..
 
Its an Xperia U. I did file an FIR when the phone was stolen. I still have the receipt as well as the box with me.
However, I don't think that Odisha police would do much for a phone. Plus I'm not even in town right now.
 
How come the phone didn't lock when original sim was replaced??, isn't avast anti-theft do this automatically??

Anyway, keep us updated about the situation.
 
zapout said:
How come the phone didn't lock when original sim was replaced??, isn't avast anti-theft do this automatically??

Anyway, keep us updated about the situation.
Click to expand...

Thats probably the dumbest thing to lock the phone when sim is changed. Cause the thief will switch it off take it to a mobile shop get it Flashed/Reset or even sell it. So what OP has done here is best the thief has no idea he's been tracked. Hope OP gets his phone back all the best.
 
zapout said:
^^it's on by default i think..,is it possible to unlock/reset a phone on rooted-antitheft installation?
Click to expand...

When someone flashes a phone, it basically wipes out the os and reinstalls it.

All the softwares, that run on top of the os will automatically get wiped out. So the anti theft application is of no use if someone goes out and flashes the phone.
 
ankushv said:
Boot into stock or cwm recovery . Wipe data and cache . All traces of avast will be gone .
Click to expand...


Not exactly. The anti theft is installed as rooted (system app). It won't go until someone flashes the stock ROM (or any custom ROM) via Flashtool or CWM). Not an average guy's task.

Deathbearer said:
Thats probably the dumbest thing to lock the phone when sim is changed. Cause the thief will switch it off take it to a mobile shop get it Flashed/Reset or even sell it. So what OP has done here is best the thief has no idea he's been tracked. Hope OP gets his phone back all the best.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I did. Even if I don't get the phone back, I'll make it unusable.


Update: The phone is switched off right now. Maybe the outgoing sms alert (balance being deducted) caused the guy to switch off the phone. I, however, did manage to pull his contacts & inbox messages from the phone. I have some contacts in Vodafone call center. I'll get this guy's details (Hopefully he's using a sim card issued on his name).
 
pauldmps said:
Not exactly. The anti theft is installed as rooted (system app). It won't go until someone flashes the stock ROM (or any custom ROM) via Flashtool or CWM). Not an average guy's task.



Exactly what I did. Even if I don't get the phone back, I'll make it unusable.


Update: The phone is switched off right now. Maybe the outgoing sms alert (balance being deducted) caused the guy to switch off the phone. I, however, did manage to pull his contacts & inbox messages from the phone. I have some contacts in Vodafone call center. I'll get this guy's details (Hopefully he's using a sim card issued on his name).
Click to expand...

If you pulled his number from sms then try using truecaller , might work
 
^^ There will be no progress until next month i.e. until I reach Bhubaneswar. I don't think I'll ever get the phone back. I'm trying to trace back the phone to the thief which I believe lives in my building itself.

If the phone is switched off, nothing can be done. IMEI tracking works but unfortunately our police is unequipped enough to not being able to do so.
 
If anti theft is installed, whenever a sim card is inserted, you will be alerted. Thieves mostly wait 1-2 months before switching on the phone. I got my first sim change alert well after 1 month.

Tell him to have some patience.
 
Back
Top