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?

Sorry Avalanche I missed your question .
Ok, We are one mile from one road and 2 miles from the other. Does that make sense? It depends which way you are coming from. We can see one house from our house, across fields, not sure how far it is, maybe 1/2 miles as the crow flies. That house has completely different access to it than ours, no shared track.

Noconceptofnormal that's exactly what I think, we've just had a warning. Fortunate nothing actually happened. Fortunate to find out that our blissful isolation was also blissful ignorance and to be able to do something about it.

If you look at what's most likely from an outsider POV someone is lying to you and it's theirs or someone stole it and chucked it.

Can foxes use iPhones ? God it’s a weird night.

People saying the police could get info off an iphone are not correct. A deceased relative who died in horrible circumstances had their iphone looked at by the police, but they couldn't crack it. It could be cracked by someone 'on the dark side' but this skill is not common. AFAIK. We had hoped for personal messages to us, and photos. The police wanted information.

OP, this is worrying. Good job you have a barky dog.

Can foxes use iPhones ?

Round here they can. Have to for deliveroo. Not sure about rural foxes though, doubt it personally.

Fallsballs

Yes, it happens after a few joints

People saying the police could get info off an iphone are not correct.

I had my doubts.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI%E2%80%93Apple_encryption_dispute

I thought you could get lots of info from a phone?

Beep.

OP a tip to help with the double consonants: if the base is one syllable, ending in cvc (constant vowel consonant), then you double the last consonant.

Scar scarred -
Hop hopping -
Fat fatter -

vs.

Scare scared -
Hope hoping (lose the e before ing) - fate fated.

possible place marking

I would be a bit freaked out too. But, unless you decamp somewhere else. Up security and put something with a small light on that looks possibly like a burglar alarm or even a camera on a couple of exits. Anything that looks vaguely convincing. That is too high for them to touch to find out. Leave lights on downstairs all night be erratically if possible.

One good thing, if they are a serious burglar they’d be not that organized to have lost their phone. A chancer rather than a professional. Or just some lonely old teenager wandering being stupid.

Good luck anyway. At least you’ve been alerted.

I can definitely see why you are scared. I would be too. ...
Avalanch -please tell your story

Hi op.....you say my questions are odd? I’m an ex officer myself, not sure why you think they are odd. This is what I said/asked

• Sennetti

so when was the dog barking? at the area you found it in? is it near door/window/shed ?*

If this type of phone is out of your league, why did you have a charger for it?

How do you charge a phone while it's in an Aga?

If a crow dropped a phone, presumably the screen would at least crack.

We've just had a massive drug raid in our village so I do believe the police would come out for a phone found in a rural location, if they had other things going on in that area.

You say place phone found would be for ‘nefarious purposes’ .....so a break in was anticipated? Burglary ?

Near a garage,shed,ladder,car or exterior door/window/conservatory

Phone dropped indicates ( to me) that it was out of pocket in hand....someone was texting/calling or using it as a torch? Spooked by the dog and ran off having dropped it......amateur

A peeping tom type.... one of your teens a girl? Sorry, don’t mean to scare you further but I’d also be worried by this. Someone went out of their way to be on your property

Speak further with your kids

There was a thread similiar to this before. Can’t remember what was happening in it.... picked flowers left on a wall rings a bell

Turned out it was the locals trying to get them to sell up and move on as they were not from that village ....

Who are all the people voting YABU? I'd be scared too OP.

Presumably they're the people who would not be particularly scared.

Intrigued by Avalanche. Come back and tell us your story Avalanche.

Lachatte OMG brilliant thank you!

I’m so sorry you’re going through this, and I hope it turns out to be an animal.

A few notes on security. Microwaves are poor faraday cages, because they only protect against a specific frequency. If people do wish to stop most amateur attempts at tracing, purchasing a faraday bag is probably the best way to proceed.

In terms of securing your property to deter further observation and impregnation, I’d recommend a few basic measures. Make it clear you’re aware you’re being watched. This will force a change in behaviour: changes are easier to notice, and will allow you to get a clearer idea of what is happening. You can do this by observing your garden more frequently from vantage points and taking photographs or taking notes. Look around noticeably as you walk from your car to your house. Check under your car, the wheel arches and the engine regularly, make yourself seem surveillance aware even if you don’t know strictly what to look for. If you ever feel you’re being followed, subtly tease out your pursuer - culdesacs are your friend. Lure them down a route that they either expose themselves off, or they have to regroup later - again, change exposes surveillance. If possible, make it such that your car interior lights turn at unlocking. Always, always, always check the back seat before getting in your car.

If you are worried about theft in an empty home more generally: Move valuables out of the master bedroom. Put security cameras (or fakes) around entrances except the one you’d want them to break through. Lead the thief through the house as you want, they can’t stay forever - particularly if an alarm goes off - so pushing them to follow a route that carries the least loss for you is a good idea. For example, Utility room to kitchen to hallway keeping them away from the stairs. Don’t overdo obvious security, it can suggest you have a lot to steal. Even lay traps; time heavy commitments to get what look like valuables. Slow them down. Keep a radio on in the upstairs bathroom, just loud enough to be heard after breaking in, to suggest someone is home. Vary your weekday schedule if possible. Landscape defensively: wide rose bushes beneath fences will at least slow a thief down. Get movement based lights in your garden.

If this type of phone is out of your league, why did you have a charger for it

I suppose my mum would say the same with her iPhone 5, but her charger would still fit my more current phone.

@PerfidiousAlbion It was 10am when I called the police , so no they didn't turn up an hour later! I am glad they came if only to take the thing off my hands and out of the house.

I wonder if someone wanted to get to your neighbors across the field for a secret meeting (e.g to sell drugs to a youngster while parents in bed) but turned up at your house by mistake, took out his/her mobile to text “I’m here” and then dropped it when your dog started barking as wasn’t expecting this.

Hope you won’t have any surprises this night and in the future.

So the phone is out of your price range but you had a charger for it?

You have an Apple charger but you don’t realise that it doesn’t share its location when it’s turned off

The police are going to hack the phone and tell you what’s on there?

Oh please!