Guy Steals iPhone Sends Owner 11-Page Handwritten List of 1,000 Contacts

You’d have to agree that when you lose a phone,
replacing the device isn’t as painful as rebuilding
your list of contacts. That’s why this Chinese thief is
so special – he copied over 1,000 contacts on to 11
pages by hand and sent them to the owner of the
phone he had stolen.
The $440 iPhone in question belonged to Zou Bin, a
barman from Changsha, capital of the Hunan
province. Zou told local media that he was
returning home wasted from his best friend’s
bachelor party earlier this month, when the theft
occurred. He had passed out in the taxi taking him
home along with three other strangers. Zou isn’t
certain which one of them was the culprit.
When Zou discovered that his phone was missing
the next morning, he naturally was furious. The
device contained more than 1,000 work related
contacts that he could not afford to lose. So he did
the first thing that came to mind – Zou sent
threatening text messages to his own number from
a friend’s phone.
In what would later turn out to be a smart move,
Zou texted the thief, “You can be sure that I will
find you. Just have a look through my contacts and
you will see who I am. If you are clever, you will
send the mobile back to the following address…”
Of course, Zou wasn’t serious, which is why the
pickpocket’s next move stunned him. Four days
later, he received a package couriered to his front
door. Unfortunately it didn’t contain the phone,
but it did carry the next best thing – a handwritten
list of Zou’s contacts and his SIM. “All of the
numbers were handwritten,” said Zou. “It would
take a long time simply to write the numbers 1 to
1,000 let alone all those names and telephone
numbers. It must have given him a swollen hand.”
Zou advised that people shouldn’t just give up if
they lose their phone. “Sometimes bluffing works,”
he said. “But it is also best to save your contacts to
your SIM card so you spare the thief some
writing.” The thief, whoever he or she is, has
become a hero of sorts in the Chinese media.
Internet users are calling him ‘the conscience of the
robbery industry’. He’s even being compared to
model citizen Lei Feng, member of the People’s
Liberation Army.
I’m not sure what prompted the thief to do such a
thing. Was he genuinely trying to help Zou, or did
he feel threatened by the text messages?
Whatever the reason, it’s pretty special what he’s
done. Perhaps the poor fellow never meant to steal
the phone, but didn’t really have the heart to
return it either.