Found a phone in my garden - isolated property - shit scared

[ScarredBunny]

Name changed for this - Sorry if this seem trivial, I know people are dealing with far bigger things at the moment.

I found a phone lying on the ground, about 5 yards from my house.

We live in an isolated property about a mile away from the first road. We have not have any visitors , maintenance people for many weeks (obviously). Delivery drivers, yes, but they would not have any reason to go to this part of the garden/couldn't access it during daytime without us seeing something.
At first I assumed it belonged to one of us, but no!
Phoned the police, have a ref./case number, etc. but they're busy and will get back to us when they can.
The police said to take the phone indoors and wait for their call/visit.

I am worried that the next visit is going to be from whomever the phone belongs to.
The phone is dead as a dodo but I assume it still can be found?

What should do?

Most likely explanation is that someone has been lurking in your garden and dropped it. Sorry. But at least you know and can take steps regarding security.

I voted yabu because there could be loads of explanations. Worse case sobeove was casing the joint but it sounds lihe you've bo money so probably not worth breaking in, plus the dog barked and scarec them away.

i guess we will never know as police will surely take it now?

maybe someone was using it as a torch

Someone’s dropped a phone. Out for a walk most likely.

Charge it up, see what’s on it to identify an owner.

Even if it is pablo escobar or the local head criminal honcho, unless they have all their criminal contacts (and their identifying info), spreadsheets of their illegal gains and other evidence that would stand up in court, and the phone isn’t passworded so anyone can gain access, it’s not going to be worth their time retrieving it.

If it’s a daft 17 year old been out with his gf for a bit of remote snogging and dropped it without realising he’ll probably be made up to get it back.

A crow could not fly with one of the large iphones, they are too heavy and not the sort of shape they can carry.
I doubt very much a fox would carry an iphone either. More likely a human, maybe distracted by the dog, has dropped it. It needs drying out and then it should charge - jar of dry rice, or in a jar with a sachet of silica gel.

I wouldnt like this at all :0

I can understand your concerns, your in an isolated area and you say the position of the phone means it is pretty much impossible for it to have been thrown from the perimeter and landed there. That means someone's been on your land. Being rural also means it takes a lot longer for emergency services to respond should you need them. Glad the police are there to look into it but also be aware of your security and see if there's anything you can do to improve it and give you piece of mind.

The police turned up because you found a phone? Intriguing!

A crow could not fly with one of the large iphones, they are too heavy and not the sort of shape they can carry.

A crow could do this. The shape of the phone is not so much the problem but the texture. That said if it was dropped by a crow it would be because it didn't have the grip due to the texture, so definitely plausible.

OP, the iphone's IMEI number will be printed on the back of the handset at the bottom. You could email Apple the IMEI number to see if they could possibly trace the owner via an Apple ID.

I would find it a bit scary to find a mobile like this if I lived in a rural area / off the beaten track.

The police turned up because you found a phone? Intriguing!

Oh I can believe it. I know we always hear about the police not turning up for even serious stuff but I live rurally and they come out for all sorts of low key stuff. My sister is a copper in a city and howls at the sort of stuff my local force attend.....says it would never happen where she works.

Had a visit yesterday from the police asking if anyone had tried my door handle the previous night as they’d had reports of door handles being tried in the area.

You could email Apple the IMEI number to see if they could possibly trace the owner via an Apple ID.

Don't waste your time.

I don’t understand why you are scared? I live very rurally, and would find it weird but not terrifying.

This might be ridiculous but could it have fallen from a drone? I know people can film via a drone but I'm not sure how it works.

It is ridiculous, they don't put a phone into a drone when a go-pro is half the price.

Found a phone on the internet box outside my bedroom window at the beginning of the year. Got it charged up and turned out it belonged to the friendly neighbourhood drug dealer...
Unimpressed at it being right outside the window but still returned his phone to him.

Leave lights on downstairs at night. I already do.

Let the dog roam your downstairs freely at night, if it can be trusted not to chew, I would, as they are a good alarm.

If you lose an iphone, and it still has charge, you can find where it is, if it has no charge you can’t

I would be worried who was about at night, so remain vigilant.

I honestly put chairs in odd places, block doors with tilted chairs etc, and leave lights on in different rooms.

Hope that made sense.

I have read a couple of times that car crime is up, why that and not burglaries is a puzzle to me.

We used to live in an isolated place like this. It is very odd, the worst we wound were empty bottles of booze thrown over the walls.

I hope you find out what happened, OP. I think it must be an animal, tbh, because if someone was hanging around your house the last thing they'd do is let go of their phone as they might need it for a flashlight.

I'd still get some sort of outdoor CCTV though.

Just wondered if you have teens who might have had a friend visit in the night? I hope this gets sorted out soon. My dad lives rurally and he had 2 men snooping about looking through his windows on the 2nd day of lockdown! I told him that if they come back to cough a lot and shout out asking if they have come back to do a second round of COVID tests...

can you drop it at the police station? It is a bit scary, but it is more likely to have a benign explanation than anyhting scary.

While I think there is something a bit off about this thread, I'm baffled by the 'why are you scared?' and 'it was probably crows' posters.

I live remote. Really remote. I found a very fresh cigarette in our garden once years ago. It on top of the grass like it had just been flicked there. Gave me the right heebies for ages!
I get why you are freaked out by this OP

Maybe it's your husbands secret phone. Joking.