My stolen phone has been recovered – how can I get it back?

As thousands of stolen phones have been recovered, there’s only one thing on Londoners’ minds: how can I get mine back?

Around 3,000 devices were found across north London and Heathrow Airport in the latest Met Police bust.

But phone snatching has been plaguing the capital for years, with around more than 80,000 people reporting stolen phones last year.

Metro’s coverage on the police operation sparked a flurry of readers getting in touch asking if their phones had been found.

We took this to the Met – and it turns out reuniting thousands of devices with their owners isn’t as easy as it looks.

Why can’t police easily trace stolen phones back to victims?

Tracing stolen phones is a long and arduous process that cannot easily be done for every single one.

Your device will have an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) which is mainly found in the packaging you bought it in and user settings.

But as they are not printed on the back, this makes it hard to easily trace who owns what. The majority of stolen devices need powering up and unlocking, and that’s if they haven’t been wiped by the thieves first.

So unless you have a particularly wacky case or your name printed onto the back, devices are not easily traceable to a single person.

How can I get my stolen phone back?

Some readers have told us they have managed to trace their stolen phone to police offices around London, but they weren’t able to access them.

If you have reason to believe your phone may have been recovered (as in, it’s not currently pinging thousands of miles away) your best call is contacting officers directly.

You can do this by calling 101 and quoting CAD 2596/09Oct.

The Met Police told Metro: ‘Throughout Operation Echosteep officers have attempted to proactively identify and make contact with the owners of the stolen phones. 

‘This work is ongoing — however the majority of phones we have recovered do not have identifiable features.’

Do victims want more done to help reunite them with their phones?

Surprisingly, some Londoners aren’t particuarly bothered about getting their devices back. In their words: ‘What’s the point now?’

Adele Pearson, who has had her phone snatched twice in the capital, told Metro she has already gone through the numerous battles with insurance companies.

She said: ‘What am I going to do with my old phone, sell it back to the gangs? I have already had to replace mine twice.’

MP Dawn Butler was only able to get her phone back after she threatened to tackle the thief.

She tracked her phone all across Westminster Bridge to a secluded spot in a London park, and rang the police who she said were ‘not interested’.

But once she threatened to tackle them herself, the blue lights came out.

You can read more from our interview with the Labour MP here.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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