Congratulations – you're under arrest

A friend of mine recently had his mobile phone stolen and that got me thinking.

I had an idea.

If my mobile phone ever gets stolen I have a plan. I know that a thief is unlikely to answer a stolen phone and even if he does, he’s unlikely to be swayed by my pleading for the phone’s return.

What I’ve decided is that I will borrow someone else’s mobile phone and send myself a text message. I figure a thief will check text messages simply out of curiousity.

The message will be directed to me and say something like, “CONGRATULATIONS Rodney. You are one of our daily winners in the Grand a Day Promotion. To pick up your $1000 cash prize simply present this text message today by 3:00 p.m. to …..” I would then include the address of some local business premises where I would be waiting for the ‘winner’. I would also invite some of the local constabulary to join me when I congratulate them.

What do you reckon? Think it might work?

Posted by Rodney Olsen

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About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He has worked in radio at Perth's media ministry Sonshine for over 25 years and has previously worked at ministries such as Compassion Australia and Bible Society.

The views he expresses here are his own.

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17 Comments

  • That’s a really smart idea!… except now that you’ve told everyone so now when I steal your phone, I mean,… when your phone gets stolen… they’ll know that it’s a trap. I might even fall for it anyway, just in case you really had won a grand a day promotion. Thieves aren’t always the smartest of creatures.

  • Brilliant Rodney!

    If I were a scheming and conniving petty thief I’d fall for it.

    My experience (with my phone being stolen twice – 2 different phones) is that the sim card get turfed almost immediately. but you never know…

  • Along a similar line of thought, send a message from your wife’s phone (she also has one, right?) saying something like:

    “Rodney, I’ve lost my diamond ring at I must fetch the children from school. Won’t you go and see if you can find the ring?”

    Something like that seems more likely, to me. Good thoughts.

  • I messed up above and used the wrong character. Between “at” and “I” should read:

    – insert name of public park or place here. –

    Sorry about that.

  • I imagine it would work. The police here have sent “you’ve won” notices by mail to crooks they’ve had a hard time catching. Even though it always makes the news, some fall for it the next time too.

    My phone is so old I don’t know if I could send a text message to it!

  • I reckon the type of person who would steal a phone would fall for it…

    My son had his phone stolen but we didn’t realize it for a few days. When I got my phone bill there were SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS of charges on it. My phone company would NOT BACK DOWN. They said that the charges were made prior to me reporting the phone stolen. I tried everything. I think I got them to lower it to $400, but still….I was so mad.

  • I suppose it might work. I would be more inclined to text something like “Rodney – get rid of the phone – we switched the wrong bomb – Jim just had his house turned upside down by the police” lol

  • Brilliant! I sure got a laugh out of it. It would depend on how stupid the thief was as to whether it’d work but a very cool plan nonetheless 😉

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