We all lose things. Maybe you circle back, retrace your footsteps, check the lost and found or post a bulletin… but how many times does any of that yield a happy ending?
We also all find things. But how far would you go to return it to the rightful owner? A first-time reddit poster known by lmikler took what they described as a “long shot” and posted a found iPhone from Cypress Mountain in the Vancouver forums.
This is probably a long shot but I found an iPhone on cypress. I was surprised that it powered up because I suspect it was lost by a skier and endured many days of snow. The screen is locked so I was just going to throw out a photo of the lock page image to see if anyone recognizes it. Worth a shot.
by u/lmikler in vancouver
Redditors were quick to the task. Using some reverse image technology and sleuth online-stalking techniques they were quick to identify the building in the photo as the Grand Palace in Bangkok and even locate the owner’s Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
The “reddit man-hunt” paid off as the lost phone’s owner was found!
Amazingly the phone was lost 6 months ago when Jvilla11 was snowboarding on Cypress. He persistently called Cypress checking the lost and found everyday for a month before giving up on being reunited with his device. The iPhone 6 proved to be waterproof on the mountain for half a year, even through the harsh 2016/17 winter.
In addition to helping solve the case, Redditors also posted some tips that will hedge the chance of your lost device not being returned such as setting up your “Medical ID” or contact info on the lock screen. On the other hand if you find a device you can check the emergency Medical ID, contact info on lock screen, pop the SIM into another device or return it to the cell carrier.
Read the rest on reddit.