Thieves have been targeting passengers on mass transit for their smartphones, and iPhones in particular are very popular. Lately, iPhone owners have been using apps to recover their phones: The police announced that a man whose iPhone was stolen on a B47 bus on Monday got his phone back by using "Find My iPhone."
According to the Daily News, the 29-year-old victim "was confronted... Monday evening by two teens, one of whom snatched his iPhone. The startled victim said he chased the suspect off the bus, but an accomplice punched him in the face." He said, "It happened so fast. I didn’t even see them until one grabbed my phone.”
He let the police know that his phone had Find My iPhone and the cops traced it to the Uniss Deli on Mermaid Avenue, where an employee admitted he paid $60 for the phone. The deli worker, who was charged with criminal possession of stolen property, said he bought it from one of the suspects. The police told the News that they are looking at whether Uniss is a black market for stolen gadgets.
The unauthorized iGotYa app has been credited with returning one phone to another NYC robbery victim.
