Picture the scene: you lose your iPhone on New Year's Eve, only to see someone using it the next day on an online dating service. What would you do?
If you're a 27-year-old New York trombonist named Nadav Nirenberg, you pose online as a busty female to ensnare the thief into a date with destiny. Then you turn up with a hammer.
After seeing an email from dating site OKCupid alerting him that someone was using his missing iPhone 4, the nerveless Nirenberg posed as a luscious 24-year-old beauty, and sent messages to the thief.
"I could log on and see everything he was sending," Nirenberg, from Brooklyn, told the New York Post. "He was even using my photo."
Nirenberg -- trombonist in ska band Streetlight Manifesto -- took a photo from Google Images and posed as a girl, calling himself 'Jennifer in BK'. He started messaging the thief, suggesting they meet up.
"As soon as he responded, it was pretty crazy," Nirenberg said. "It was extremely surreal. Afterwards, I was pretty giddy.
"I used lots of winks and smiley faces so I would seem like a girl."
The thief-cum-lothario -- who misspelled beer as 'bear' -- turned up at 7pm clasping a bottle of wine and smelling of cologne. But instead of giving him a night of passion, Nirenberg tapped him on the shoulder and showed him the hammer.
The thief handed over the blower and went to scarper. Nirenberg gave him $20 for his trouble though, and even called after him, "You smell great, though."
Classy touch.
Thefts of Apple products seem very common in New York, with the mayor recently blaming them for a rise in crime. Now almost everyone carries a smart phone, everyone becomes a target. We can't condone Nirenberg's method of getting your gadget back, but it is heartwarming to see justice being done.
Have you ever lost your phone? Did you manage to get it back? Let me know in the comments, or on our old romantic Facebook page.
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Comments 12
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anonymous 7 January, 2013 11:45
i dont get why he gave him $20
Antony Bazeley 7 January, 2013 11:49
its a great story that he can tell
anonymous 7 January, 2013 12:15
My Galaxy S2 was stolen from my office last year. Using Google Latitude I logged in with my Gmail account which showed my phone's exact position on Google Maps. I gave the police the information, tracked the phone's movements and by the end of the day they had recovered the phone from a shop where it had been dropped off to get unlocked. They haven't caught the thief yet but I got my phone back a couple of days later!
anonymous 7 January, 2013 12:34
Why even go through all that just for an icrap, i would have paid the guy to steal my icrap if i had one, and the thing wasnt stolen he left it in the back of his taxi....
anonymous 7 January, 2013 13:52
@anonymous @12:34 when you come across somthing that is not you and you are not willing to give it back, in the eyes the law it us stealing! So if I found your car with keys in it and drove of so I could keep it you wouldn't class that as stealing? Cmon use your brain.
anonymous 7 January, 2013 23:03
lost my galaxy europa in a hotel car park last year. fortuneately my dad worked in the same hotel and got it handed into him. it survived in that carpark fort wo nnights of rain. battery life was never the same afterwards.......
anonymous 8 January, 2013 09:19
@Anonymous 12:34...
The guy didnt steal it he just didnt hand it in its not classed as stealing, possesion is 9/10ths of the law, if i left my keys in my car and you took it that is stealing, if you left youre car on my property with youre keys in it then i can claim that car as mine after a certain amount of time under the same law, dont get me wrong i dont think what the taxi driver did was right but the iphone owner lost his phone in the back of a taxi, if you go by the law then he actually stole his own phone back and should have been charged with threats using a hammer, get youre facts right before you comment......
anonymous 8 January, 2013 18:53
@anonymous 09:19 your an idiot how can you still your own phone back that makes no sence at all! And I know the facts and you're bs don't stand because if any of what you said was true then h would get in trouble wouldn't he, so you can be a smart arse allday, he didn't return it so yes he stole it!
anonymous 8 January, 2013 20:55
I think i know the law i'm a barrister in the courts you muppet
anonymous 8 January, 2013 21:42
Good for you! But the fact is he attempted to steal the Iphone.
anonymous 11 January, 2013 16:19
Anonymous 20:55. Evidently you're a barrister who can't use punctuation :) .
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