Declared a phone stolen

[Anonymous]

My teen lost his iPhone, maybe in the vehicle of a friend of a friend. We could see the phone moving around on find my, but we couldn’t get it back, so we declared it stolen and got a new one through insurance.

The new phone arrived last night and we unboxed it but didn’t activate it. Then whoever had the old phone dropped it in our mailbox.

What do we do? Is there a way to return it? Do we keep both?

[Anonymous]

OP here, even with the insurance the new phone was a couple hundred dollars. So, way less than a new phone, but far from free for a teenager’s budget.

[Anonymous]

The old IMEI is probably blacklisted. Check that before returning the new one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The old IMEI is probably blacklisted. Check that before returning the new one.

The old phone is working fine. Maybe the new one will be blacklisted?

[Anonymous]

Your teen should call their carrier and find out what to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My teen lost his iPhone, maybe in the vehicle of a friend of a friend. We could see the phone moving around on find my, but we couldn’t get it back, so we declared it stolen and got a new one through insurance.

The new phone arrived last night and we unboxed it but didn’t activate it. Then whoever had the old phone dropped it in our mailbox.

What do we do? Is there a way to return it? Do we keep both?

Just keep the new one as a backup.
Keep using the old one until it breaks, then change SIM card to new one.