03-28-2015, 09:46 AM
She wasn't physically injured but was pretty shaken. The rest of the story:
She was at our local mall in an entrance between the inner and outer doors where she was waiting for a bus about 1:30 PM. The doors are separated by about 30 feet. Two thugs came up to her and asked to use her 5. She said no. They the asked if she would dial the number so that she would be confident they weren't going to make a call out of the country (they were Somalis around 20 years old). Again, no. So they helped themselves to her iPhone (without resistance; she is 4' 6", maybe 80 pounds, 24 years old) and then they took off running.
There were two women, mother and daughter, who saw it happen and comforted my daughter and let her use their cell to call me. I immediately tried Find My iPhone but by that time the muggers had already turned it off. So I drove to the mall and daughter was in the back of a squad, one of three squads, while the alleged perps were cuffed nearby. Another good samaritan had chased after the thugs and watched as they re-entered the mall through another entrance where he lost them. But the cops nabbed two guys.
The muggers were wearing hoodies, one of which was red. The hoods were pulled way ahead and down a bit in the front so no one but my daughter got a look at their faces. When they brought the two alleged perps back to where my daughter was, she shouted that that was one of the guys as soon as he stuck his foot out of the squad because she immediately recognized his shoes. She told the cops she recognized both as the muggers but neither had the iPhone nor did either have a red hoodie. She insisted that they were the perps and that they must have dumped the hoodie and iPhone off to someone else. The cop asked if charges should be pressed. I said it was up to my daughter who emphatically said yes. We were then told we could go. No mention was made of the mall surveillance cameras by me or the cops. If she had been physically injured I would have asked.
I took my daughter nearby to where she wanted to go and headed back to the mall but the scene was cleared. I don't know if the cops took the guys to be booked or not. The one cop had mentioned to me that they couldn't locate a red hoodie.
One cop had asked me to use Find My iPhone and remarked that it was quite accurate. I told her that I had unsuccessfully tried already but I did so again (repeatedly) to no avail.
Interestingly, the two women who came to my daughter's aid were going to an AT&T store (where I was able to get the IMEI number for the 5 on the spot for the cops) adjacent to that particular entrance to pick up a new iPhone. Shortly after I returned home one of the women called to ask about my daughter and if the police had recovered the iPhone. She then offered to give my daughter the old iPhone they just took out of service. She said it was a 5 like my daughter had. I asked her how much she wanted and she said my daughter could just have it. I insisted she name a price and she said $10. I told her I couldn't do that, after all they had just come to my daughter's aid. So my wife, who had just come home from work, and I drove over to their very nice home, I got the phone and a nice Otter Box like case and left $200 on the counter. I brought the phone back to the AT&T store for a SIM and discovered it was a 5s, not a 5. The store was still selling the 5s for $549 for the 16 GB model. But it was pretty clear that the woman was quite happy to have been able to give my daughter their old phone so I have not yet decided whether to embarrass her by insisting she accept more money. The going rate on Craigslist for a like model is about $300, maybe a bit more.
The only issue about the phones was that my daughter had a 32 GB model so the backup I had in iTunes would not copy to the restored 5s. So her many photos and tunes remain locked up in her backup until I figure out a good way to extract them. In the process the iPhone did get some photos installed from, I guess, iPhoto. None that were my daughter's and I couldn't figure out how to delete them from the 5s. I tried a number of methods but gave up so my daughter could get her hands on a phone again. Withdrawal and all... She really seems to have shrugged the mugging off better than I have.
My daughter did just what I have told her numerous times to do. Don't loan her phone to anyone for a call. Tell them no, no, no. And then don't resist if they try to take it. And once they have it, yell for help because they will run away.
I had locked the 5 but it never did connect to the Internet before we activated the 5s. Once the 5s was activated the 5 was deactivated. AT&T said the 5 could not be reactivated, at least not in this country, and that it would be very difficult for the perps to Restore the 5 as long as Find My iPhone was installed.
She was at our local mall in an entrance between the inner and outer doors where she was waiting for a bus about 1:30 PM. The doors are separated by about 30 feet. Two thugs came up to her and asked to use her 5. She said no. They the asked if she would dial the number so that she would be confident they weren't going to make a call out of the country (they were Somalis around 20 years old). Again, no. So they helped themselves to her iPhone (without resistance; she is 4' 6", maybe 80 pounds, 24 years old) and then they took off running.
There were two women, mother and daughter, who saw it happen and comforted my daughter and let her use their cell to call me. I immediately tried Find My iPhone but by that time the muggers had already turned it off. So I drove to the mall and daughter was in the back of a squad, one of three squads, while the alleged perps were cuffed nearby. Another good samaritan had chased after the thugs and watched as they re-entered the mall through another entrance where he lost them. But the cops nabbed two guys.
The muggers were wearing hoodies, one of which was red. The hoods were pulled way ahead and down a bit in the front so no one but my daughter got a look at their faces. When they brought the two alleged perps back to where my daughter was, she shouted that that was one of the guys as soon as he stuck his foot out of the squad because she immediately recognized his shoes. She told the cops she recognized both as the muggers but neither had the iPhone nor did either have a red hoodie. She insisted that they were the perps and that they must have dumped the hoodie and iPhone off to someone else. The cop asked if charges should be pressed. I said it was up to my daughter who emphatically said yes. We were then told we could go. No mention was made of the mall surveillance cameras by me or the cops. If she had been physically injured I would have asked.
I took my daughter nearby to where she wanted to go and headed back to the mall but the scene was cleared. I don't know if the cops took the guys to be booked or not. The one cop had mentioned to me that they couldn't locate a red hoodie.
One cop had asked me to use Find My iPhone and remarked that it was quite accurate. I told her that I had unsuccessfully tried already but I did so again (repeatedly) to no avail.
Interestingly, the two women who came to my daughter's aid were going to an AT&T store (where I was able to get the IMEI number for the 5 on the spot for the cops) adjacent to that particular entrance to pick up a new iPhone. Shortly after I returned home one of the women called to ask about my daughter and if the police had recovered the iPhone. She then offered to give my daughter the old iPhone they just took out of service. She said it was a 5 like my daughter had. I asked her how much she wanted and she said my daughter could just have it. I insisted she name a price and she said $10. I told her I couldn't do that, after all they had just come to my daughter's aid. So my wife, who had just come home from work, and I drove over to their very nice home, I got the phone and a nice Otter Box like case and left $200 on the counter. I brought the phone back to the AT&T store for a SIM and discovered it was a 5s, not a 5. The store was still selling the 5s for $549 for the 16 GB model. But it was pretty clear that the woman was quite happy to have been able to give my daughter their old phone so I have not yet decided whether to embarrass her by insisting she accept more money. The going rate on Craigslist for a like model is about $300, maybe a bit more.
The only issue about the phones was that my daughter had a 32 GB model so the backup I had in iTunes would not copy to the restored 5s. So her many photos and tunes remain locked up in her backup until I figure out a good way to extract them. In the process the iPhone did get some photos installed from, I guess, iPhoto. None that were my daughter's and I couldn't figure out how to delete them from the 5s. I tried a number of methods but gave up so my daughter could get her hands on a phone again. Withdrawal and all... She really seems to have shrugged the mugging off better than I have.
My daughter did just what I have told her numerous times to do. Don't loan her phone to anyone for a call. Tell them no, no, no. And then don't resist if they try to take it. And once they have it, yell for help because they will run away.
I had locked the 5 but it never did connect to the Internet before we activated the 5s. Once the 5s was activated the 5 was deactivated. AT&T said the 5 could not be reactivated, at least not in this country, and that it would be very difficult for the perps to Restore the 5 as long as Find My iPhone was installed.
