Lost iphone, can someone who has it wipe it?

[Dcope17]

Hello iphone forum, new member here.
I'm in a bit of a spot... my wife lost her iphone Monday by leaving it on a plane. Today it showed up on find my iphone at an unclaimed luggage place. When we saw it on lost iphone page, it showed it being charged and was pulled off charge once it was at 100%. It has not been seen since on lost my Iphone.
My question is, can a company that buys lost items like this wipe the phone clean and actually be able to sell it?
I have not been able to stay on top of this today as it was my Father-in-Laws funeral today ( the reason we were traveling ) but it seems that the people who have the phone have no intention of returning it since they powered it and ignored all the lost phone stuff that would have been on the screen. I did call it several times and no answer.
Should I call my carrier, can they do anything about it??? Like maybe override any reset that may have been done rendering it still unsellable if they did manage to reset it...
Any help is really appreciated. Really desperate for help since I believe I can ot buy a phone anymore but would need to pay $X per month to rent one but I keep things till they are shot so phones last me 4 or 5 years. So I really want this phone back...
Thanks everyone.
Dan

 

[KevinJS]

Since you obviously have Find My iPhone running, it is impossible for anyone to use the phone unless they have access to your AppleID.

 

[J. A.]

Welcome to iPhoneForums, Dan!

If it doesn't have a passcode, it can be used by those who found it. Put it into Lost mode, so it can't be used any more:
iCloud: Use Lost Mode

Find the serial number of the iPhone: Find the serial number of your Apple product
Then report it as lost to local law enforcement.

With the iPhone still connected to her ID, it's impossible to erase it without iCloud ID and password.

 

[Dcope17]

Thanks for the help everyone. It is setup to require a passcode or fingerprint to open it up. It has already been put into lost mode but hasn't gotten it found yet. ( found by us at least )

 

[KevinJS]

You are safe then, and the phone is useless to anyone else.

It cannot be restored without the AppleID password that locked it.

Hope you eventually get it back.

 

[scifan57]

BTW, a company that buys lost items from the lost and found at the airport would not be able to do so after the item had only been lost for less than one week. If the iPhone showed up in find my iPhone at an unclaimed luggage place then it was not handled properly but stolen from the airport.

 

[billmugan]

Have you contacted the airline and notified them? Perhaps it is sitting in some obscure lost-and-found bin.

Good luck. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[brixtonboy]

This is one of those stories that get forgotten about and l for one really would like to know how it turns out.
So please man, do us all a favour and let us know.


Gregory lsaacs r.i.p.

 

[Dcope17]

I will let you all know how it turns out.
As of now, I called the unclaimed luggage place and they said they shouldn't get it for at least 90 days after it had been picked up by the airport and put in their Lost and Found. I talked to a girl in the electronics department there and she said when they get electronics in, it goes through their technicians and is another month before it will be out on a shelf and for sale.
My wife read that their tech people will erase all personal data before selling electronics, so I was worried that they were doing that to her phone.
The store was open but not the tech part, so I will be calling back again on Monday.
The good news, we have a 3rd. line and my old 5s on that line so my wife will be using that and her lost phone will remain on and active so we can continue to attempt to track it.
There is nothing personal on it so we have no need to delete anything on her phone.
A question about that though, if we delete the info on her phone, does it also erase the passcode and fingerprint ID requirement... thus making the phone unlocked so thay can then use it?
I know I said I am not going to erase it but I will do all I can to prevent the person with her phone from actually being of any use to them.

Thanks again everyone, I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[scifan57]

As long as Find My iPhone is still activated for her iPhone no one will be able to erase it and use it themselves. She can put it in lost mode and have a message appear on the lock screen to let anyone know how to contact her.

 

[Dcope17]

Alright, we got my wife's phone back. I'm figuring the system works like this.
All lost items at Southwest are sent to this place called Lost and Found in Alabama. All lost item reports are sent there too and they are in charge of matching up items with the report.
She got an email saying that they have an item closely matching the description of her lost item and it cost $17 to have it shipped back to us.
I was worried because it was sent to the Lost and Found place and was put on a charger. With the phone on, I made a dozen calls to it and no answer, so it seemed that who had the phone had no intention of returning it. I guess I'm still lost on that, why would they plug in a phone and charge it when all they need to do it link it with the physical description on the lost item report???
Anyway, its back and she's happy to not have to get another phone.
Thanks for helping me out everyone.
Dan

 

[KevinJS]

Alright, we got my wife's phone back. I'm figuring the system works like this.
All lost items at Southwest are sent to this place called Lost and Found in Alabama. All lost item reports are sent there too and they are in charge of matching up items with the report.
She got an email saying that they have an item closely matching the description of her lost item and it cost $17 to have it shipped back to us.
I was worried because it was sent to the Lost and Found place and was put on a charger. With the phone on, I made a dozen calls to it and no answer, so it seemed that who had the phone had no intention of returning it. I guess I'm still lost on that, why would they plug in a phone and charge it when all they need to do it link it with the physical description on the lost item report???
Anyway, its back and she's happy to not have to get another phone.
Thanks for helping me out everyone.
Dan

Could be that whoever put it on the charger intended to keep it, and then realized it was iCloud locked and useless and thought they may as well turn it in. Just guessing. Good to hear you got it back.

 

[gaurav1001]

A good incident to know about. Afterall everything ended well, I know the pain of losing a phone and data om it.. hurts big time. cheers!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KevinJS]

A good incident to know about. Afterall everything ended well, I know the pain of losing a phone and data om it.. hurts big time. cheers!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes. It's my guess that had the phone not been locked, @Dcope17 would never had heard anything about it again. Backups can help with the data aspect, but the thought of someone wandering off with someone else's property and being able to use it with impunity burns.

 

[brixtonboy]

Great news, just goes to show it's worth locking your phone you never know. I am pretty sure l've read on here of owners that don't.


Gregory Isaacs R.I.P.