A Chinese iPhone thief has gone to extraordinary lengths to atone for his crime, copying out all 1,000 address book contacts onto paper and sending them to the phone’s owner. In an act of kindness rarely observed by the criminal fraternity, the pickpocket wrote out 11 pages of telephone numbers in total, according to a Xinhua …

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Friday 29th November 2013 04:10 GMT Anonymous Coward

If the former owner was in organized crime:

1) Not wise to have those contacts in the phone and then not remotely wipe it.

2) Don't have the money to buy a new one.

3) Don't have the resources or connections to get a new one; like from a worker at the factory.

4) Sharing a cab?

Seems he must have been in unorganized crime.

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1. Friday 29th November 2013 11:17 GMT Evil Auditor
  
  Don't forget, most criminals aren't very intelligent.
  
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2. Saturday 30th November 2013 07:40 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  He may have trouble writing in the future
  
  If he gets caught.
  
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Friday 29th November 2013 04:38 GMT Anonymous Coward

Evidently crime doesn't pay all that well.

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1. Friday 29th November 2013 08:12 GMT JeevesMkII
  
  He doesn't sound like a very smart criminal
  
  After all, what would he have done if the thief decided to send a letter to the police with the man's address and information about "what business he is in"?
  
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Friday 29th November 2013 05:15 GMT Anonymous Coward

Then he realizes that he has to type them all in!

Any way, backup your phone once a month, at the very least.

P.S. the thief trusted a threatening SMS sent to the owners own phone; amazing!

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Friday 29th November 2013 09:58 GMT Soruk

iCloud

> It seems the wonders of iCloud have yet to filter through to the fanbois of central China.

It seems more likely the wonders of iCloud have been filtered (by the Great Firewall) from the fanbois of central China.

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Friday 29th November 2013 11:16 GMT Evil Auditor

"periodically back up any important data stored on the device"

No. Simply don't store any important data on a mobile device.

I know, it's not that simple, but as a principle I only put (important) data on my mobile that already is stored in safe place somewhere else.

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1. Saturday 30th November 2013 17:05 GMT Marvin the Martian
  
  Re: "periodically back up any important data stored on the device"
  
  Eh, given that you can reset about every single password to websites by clicking an email link, the browser suffices to give all your precious data (and money) away. And there's not that much point to having a smartphone if the browser isn't configured -- so only doable if you have a dumbphone (and then the data -- texts, call history and phone book) isn't remotely wipeable.
  
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Friday 29th November 2013 13:22 GMT Anonymous Coward

Fanboi! unsurprised at the level of stupidity.

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