What should you do???

[Dathen]

Imagine this situation...

You're at home. You've being doing paperwork all day. You go for a walk just before sunset. You go to a park for a walk, to have a break from work. While walking, you see a mobile phone on the ground. You debate about what you should do with it. You pick up the phone and have a play around with it. You love it's set up, and it's songs, games etc: Soon you must, leave and return home. You debate what to do with the phone. It gets dark and the rains come. You know the phone won't survive the night. Eventually you leave for home. You take the phone. You plan on deleting all the data, customizing it, and making it yours as, you want a phone but don't have one. Imagine that situation

The question I pose, is...Is that stealing if you take it and make it yours?????What should you do in God's eyes??? What would you do??? Yet most important, is it stealing??? Please help.....

 

[mystery4]

My understanding is that if you don't have permission from the owner then I would consider it stealing. A suggestion is to go to the police and see if anyone has reported it missing... you may want to put "Found" signs up, in the newspaper. Maybe try txting one of the contacts on there and asking whose number it is, they may have another way of contacting them to let them know whose it is...

If you have done your best to try and find the owner and you can't (I know living in a city does make it more difficult) then I don't see why you couldn't make it your own. Sometimes the police will turn around and tell you to keep it if it isn't worth too much and trying to find the owner is like a needle in the haystack.

Pray about it. Thats just my suggestions anyway. Good luck with it.

 

[TrustAndObey]

Hi Dathen, I have some cell phone-specific suggestions to help you find the owner.

Look through the contact list and see if you see a contact listed as "ICE". That stands for "In Case of Emergency". That should be a relative or close friend of the cell phone owner.

If there is an ICE contact, call them from the phone and tell them that you found it. They should be able to give you the owner's address to mail it back.

If there isn't an ICE contact, try calling some of the numbers on their contact list. Especially if you see one that says "Dad", or "Sis", etc.

Cell phones are pretty expensive and chances are the owner has already reported it as lost or stolen. The serial number is recorded with whatever phone company he/she uses and if anyone tried to sign that same phone up, it would just be trouble.

You wouldn't keep someone's child if you foung them in the park....you'd earnestly search for their parents.

If you find a phone that isn't yours, it isn't yours, so it is wrong to keep it (I'm not saying you specifically because I don't know if this is a hypothetical question or not).

Try to find the owner. If you can't, the phone is useless to you because you'd have to sign up for service and when you do, they'll recognize the serial number.

That's my 2 cents.

 

[woobadooba]

If it belongs to someone else, and you keep it, that constitutes theft.

Keep in mind that it's not a bad thing to take it into custody for the sake of preserving it. However, you should either attempt to contact the person that it belongs to, or give it to the proper authorities (the police), so that they can attempt to return it to its owner.

Keeping it and making it your own is totally out of the question. And it would be equally wrong to use it to make a phone call. It would be highly immoral to do these things.

 

[Adventist Dissident]

you over complicating it.

Ask you self. why would you not give it back, because you want it. that is coveting and stealing. your desire is complicating the issue. it's not yours give it back.

If you trun it in to lost and found. no one claims it. Then you can have it. Just that simple. your problem is you allowed yourself to think it was yours and got attached to it.

turn it in

 

[Adventist Dissident]

My understanding is that if you don't have permission from the owner then I would consider it stealing. A suggestion is to go to the police and see if anyone has reported it missing... you may want to put "Found" signs up, in the newspaper. Maybe try txting one of the contacts on there and asking whose number it is, they may have another way of contacting them to let them know whose it is...

If you have done your best to try and find the owner and you can't (I know living in a city does make it more difficult) then I don't see why you couldn't make it your own. Sometimes the police will turn around and tell you to keep it if it isn't worth too much and trying to find the owner is like a needle in the haystack.

Pray about it. Thats just my suggestions anyway. Good luck with it.

good advice

 

[honorthesabbath]

Well--I can tell you what to do because I actually had this happen to me last year at a church campout.

Our church scheduled a campout at an area public park next to Beaver lake. Upon getting our motor home set up--some of the kids from our congregation came running up to me and said they had found my daughter Angies cell phone,it was a pink Razor-just like Angie's and they were sure it was hers.

I felt sure it wasn't but the battery was dead and I had no way to charge it. When Angie got to the camp site-I told her about the phone and so we charged it up with her charger.

A couple hours later, I turned the phone on and looked up some numbers. The title DAD jumped out at me and so I dialed that number.

I introduced myself and asked if his daughter was missing a cell phone. Well---wow--he about jumped out of his car seat--he was so happy.

He said his daughter had been beside herself all week over the lose of that phone. He told me call his wife and give me her number and I again went thru the story again of how we found this phone.

A few hours later they came to claim the phone and offered us money for it's safe return. Of course we refused it and she was almost in tears that her phone was returned to her.

Before they left--they asked what church group we were with and I told her SDA's and even though she had never heard of us before--she said she was impressed that teenagers would even think to turn in a 'found' cell phone with the bling of a PINK RAZOR!! lol

Folks--we made an ever lasting impression on that family that day that may have eternal consequences.

Never once did it come into our minds to keep the phone. From the moment of it's discovery--the mindset amongst us all was to find the owner. I can't speak for everyone involved in this saga--but I know for myself that never once was there an impulse to keep it. This is what I believe it means to have the LAW written on our hearts.

Find the owner of that phone Dathan--it's the Godly thing to do and you will be more blessed for returning it than keeping it--I promise!!

 

[tall73]

If youa are unable to find the owner most phones are branded to a specific carrier. IE, in the states it might be Alltell, ATT, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc. Take it to the store and they can figure out who it belongs to. If there is no store then look up their website and call customer service.

 

[woobadooba]

If youa are unable to find the owner most phones are branded to a specific carrier. IE, in the states it might be Alltell, ATT, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc. Take it to the store and they can figure out who it belongs to. If there is no store then look up their website and call customer service.

Good idea.

There should be a serial number for identification purposes.

 

[tall73]

Good idea.

There should be a serial number for identification purposes.

Yeah, they can look up the ESN.

 

[Dathen]

Number one, no where did I say this situation was me, so please stop making it outlike it is.

Thanks for the ideas....This is the latest I've heard from the person that is in that situation. They've deleted everything, customized it and preparing to make it theirs. They are in fear of telling anybody because it may be considered stolen. What would you people think, of just putting it back in the same spot it came from.

Also the phone is old, and was just recently bought...It still had a $3 AU pricetag on it. Very cheap.....

 

[woobadooba]

Number one, no where did I say this situation was me, so please stop making it outlike it is.

Thanks for the ideas....This is the latest I've heard from the person that is in that situation. They've deleted everything, customized it and preparing to make it theirs. They are in fear of telling anybody because it may be considered stolen. What would you people think, of just putting it back in the same spot it came from.

Also the phone is old, and was just recently bought...It still had a $3 AU pricetag on it. Very cheap.....

If this is a buddy of yours, I would encourage you to not be friends with such people.

They are trouble, and will eventually lead you down the wrong path.

Moreover, out of mercy to the one that owns the phone I would report this matter to the proper authorities, as well as to the parents of the guilty person. This should result in the phone being returned to its proper owner.

 

[freeindeed2]

Imagine this situation...

You're at home. You've being doing paperwork all day. You go for a walk just before sunset. You go to a park for a walk, to have a break from work. While walking, you see a mobile phone on the ground. You debate about what you should do with it. You pick up the phone and have a play around with it. You love it's set up, and it's songs, games etc: Soon you must, leave and return home. You debate what to do with the phone. It gets dark and the rains come. You know the phone won't survive the night. Eventually you leave for home. You take the phone. You plan on deleting all the data, customizing it, and making it yours as, you want a phone but don't have one. Imagine that situation

The question I pose, is...Is that stealing if you take it and make it yours?????What should you do in God's eyes??? What would you do??? Yet most important, is it stealing??? Please help.....

Call any number in the contact list and ask them to contact the owner (they'll know who it is through caller-ID). Leave your contact information or ask them to call the phone (if it's not dead).

Or...

Call 611 (it will contact the carrier) and press "0" to speak with a representative. Tell them you found the phone and they should be able to contact the carrier. Remember, the owner will still get their bill and will show all the numbers you called with it. They can do the same thing to track you down (by calling whoever you called). It's just not worth it, and it would be stealing (which the Holy Spirit would never lead you to do!).

 

[Dathen]

As I said, they've deleted everything.

Woobs, not friend, but family......

 

[freeindeed2]

As I said, they've deleted everything.

Woobs, not friend, but family......

They can still call '611' and reach the carrier who can notify the owner who pays the bill. The owner will appreciate the fact that they rescued it from the rain too. What do they think will happen when the owner discovers that they have been making phone calls to their friends and they have the numbers to prove it. They had better make it right pretty quick.

Also, for most phones, all they have to do is report it missing and it will be rendered inoperable.

 

[woobadooba]

Woobs, not friend, but family......

Family as in a brother or a sister?

Does this family member have to answer to a higher authority, such as a Mother or a Father?

In other words, is this person under 18 years of age?

Age doesn't lessen the crime. I am asking this because if this person is under the age of 18 then those who are his guardians ought to become aware of what he/she has done, to put forth disciplinary action.

If this person is 18 or older, then no one but the police can really discipline him/her.

 

[Dathen]

Under 18....

 

[Dathen]

Should they first wait a while. If the phone is really being missed by the owner, they are going to contact it...are they not........

 

[freeindeed2]

Should they first wait a while. If the phone is really being missed by the owner, they are going to contact it...are they not........

It could appear dishonest since there are ways of contacting the owner. Have they already made calls with it? Each number called will show up on their bill, which will show up at the owners house. It wouldn't take much to find the family member of yours who has the phone, plus it registers on every tower it comes into contact with.

My wife lost a phone once and we called it, but figured it had a dead battery. We watched our bill and didn't notice any calls being made to numbers we didn't recognize. We still had the chip disabled and bought a new phone. Six months later we found it in the basement. She had just misplaced it.

 

[woobadooba]

Under 18....

Dathen, you need to tell the parents of this individual what he/she has done.

This is not only for the good of the person that owns the phone, but for the good of the person that stole it.

Disciplinary action must be taken to correct this type of behavior before it escalates into something far worse!

Do what is right, even if it means you will be persecuted by the guilty person.