It’s hard to imagine how someone could call a person who stole your iPhone ‘considerate,’ but that’s exactly how some media outlets are referring to a certain Chinese pickpocket. The thief took a man’s iPhone during a shared cab ride.
The reason why some are calling the criminal considerate is that shortly after stealing the handset, he mailed the owner a list of his contacts. And this wasn’t simply a computer printout, he hand wrote over 1000 contacts–11 pages worth…
Yahoo News passes along the story from Xinhua:
“A Chinese thief painstakingly wrote out 11 pages of telephone numbers from a stolen iPhone and sent them to the owner, state media said Monday.
The pickpocket is believed to have taken the Apple handset from Zou Bin when they shared a taxi, the Xinhua news agency said.
Zou had nearly 1,000 contact numbers in the device and with no backup copy — like millions of other people around the world — he was more concerned about losing the data than the phone itself, it added.”
In a text message to his stolen smartphone, Bin told the thief that he knew he was the man who sat beside him in the cab, and that he could assure him he would find him. “Send me back the phone to the address below if you are sensible.”
Bin then advised the thief to look through his contacts in his iPhone, and he would get a good idea of the business he was in. He’s apparently in the ‘pub’ industry, which in China is widely believed to have affiliations with various gangs.
Days later, Bin received a parcel containing his SIM card and 11 pages of carefully handwritten contact numbers. “It would take a while to write 1000 names and a whole string of digits,” he said. “I suppose (the thief’s) hand is swelling.”
Chinese Internet users have been praising the thief for his efforts, calling him “the conscience of the (theft) industry.”