Poll: Would you keep it?

[kid_with_camera]

Recently on a trip to a casino my cousin found a phone. clearly it was in someone's back pocket but it must have fallen out. Seeing how no one was looking for it near the ride/game she kept it.
Later on she makes ME delete everything pertaining to the woman who owned the phone. As I was forced into doing that, the owner sent a message: "we can't get back home without that phone, PLEASE bring it back."
I felt guilty and wanted to give it back but my cousin reminded me about how over half of that lady's stuff is gone forever and I might get arrested.

So of course my cousin got the phone but I scared the shit out of her by saying she can be tracked due to the gps on the phone. (there was no gps but my cousin still FLUSHED the SIM card)

My question is: Would any Escapist out there have done the same? (or returned it)

Also I highly doubt they couldn't have gotten home without a phone.

Let me add a bit more info.
We were on the the top floor and because my dad had won a few hundred bucks, I was off to the arcade. I saw the Arcade version of a game i LOVE so I ran towards it and my cousin ran there too. She notices the phone (a blackberry) and she puts it in her front pocket. I asked her to give it to a lost and found but instead she runs off. Every time I wanted to bring it up she would change the conversation and before we left she told me "Do you know how many people are here?! It would take FOREVER to find the owner! It's their fault for being so stupid!"
And so that's what happened AT the casino.
What she did to make me help her is gradually explained.

 

[delet]

Well, seeing as I currently have no phone, I'd like to have one even if I don't use it. It's the girls' fault for dropping anyway.

 

[Cargando]

I would have returned it, I mean, it is their phone after all.

 

[TheSeventhLoneWolf]

I'd give it back.

It's only a gosh-darned phone. Now run before the Imperial city guard find you.

 

[Swaki]

i would have called some of the numbers saved in the phone telling them that i had found her phone and if they could contact her so she could get it back.

seriously theres many people who have tons of private stuff on their phone, so i wouldn't feel good about keeping it.

Edit:
for an example my phone is also the only camera i have, so i have pictures of my nieces first birthday and other once in a lifetime moments on there, i dont have any of the numbers on there written down anywhere else, its my calender, i use it to write down reservation numbers i may need to get home, i can understand like taking an ipod or something, but a phone is so important and so easy to return.

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

So... she stole the phone and made you do the dirty work?
How did she force you into it?

 

[seious]

in communist russian phone finds you. but seriously I would give it back and I would fell worse if they texted me.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

I'd return it solely for the look on thier face when I give it back. That and knowing I did a good deep, if they give me a reward, then its off tp the food bank.

 

[Nex-Falx]

I believe in Kharma, because I once found an Ipod and returned it, and then I won one in the school raffle...
So I'd have returned it...

 

[Stilt-Man]

Later on she makes ME delete everything pertaining to the woman who owned the phone. As I was forced into doing that, the owner sent a message: "we can't get back home without that phone, PLEASE bring it back."

Just out of curiosity, how were you "forced" into doing that?

I wouldn't keep the phone. I would return it to the person that messaged you. So you deleted half the stuff -- so what. If the person is that desperate to get the phone back, they probably won't care.

Regardless, it's not yours. You might have found it, you might not believe their sob story, you might not think they deserve it since they lost it in the first place, but that doesn't change the fact that it doesn't belong to you.

On the other hand, I'm reminded of the first case in the second Phoenix Wright game...

 

[Frankydee]

Hell I would've seen if I could find a close contact to get in touch with to come pick it up. I wouldn't have anything else to do with it.

Seems like at the moment there isn't much you can do about it if the memory was wiped.

 

[Captain Schpack]

That's when you say Fuck You to your cousin and hunt that woman down. It's her phone and she needs it. I apologize if I'm trolling but your cousin's a bit of a douche.

 

[stone0042]

I'd give it back, but then again I'm a good person

 

[feather240]

I assume they have their contacts for the way home on speed dial without knowing the number, and their friends only have their cell number, so they're screwed, but instead all you have to do is, uh, figure out a way to explain another way for them to get home, and your guilt will go away.

 

[Swaki]

I'd give it back, but then again I'm a good person

thats not even being a good person, thats being a non evil and/or totally self absorbed person.

[sub]not saying that your not a good person[/sub]

 

[BonsaiK]

Recently on a trip to a casino my cousin found a phone. clearly it was in someone's back pocket but it must have fallen out. Seeing how no one was looking for it near the ride/game she kept it.
Later on she makes ME delete everything pertaining to the woman who owned the phone. As I was forced into doing that, the owner sent a message: "we can't get back home without that phone, PLEASE bring it back."
I felt guilty and wanted to give it back but my cousin reminded me about how over half of that lady's stuff is gone forever and I might get arrested.

So of course my cousin got the phone but I scared the shit out of her by saying she can be tracked due to the gps on the phone. (there was no gps but my cousin still FLUSHED the SIM card)

My question is: Would any Escapist out there have done the same? (or returned it)

Also I highly doubt they couldn't have gotten home without a phone.

They probably could have gotten home somehow but that phone might have been the connection to their ride or something. You probably just ruined their day.

If you find a phone, hand it into the police, or a "lost and found" section of wheterver you happen to be (if that applies). Anything else aside from leaving it alone is a criminal offence.

Stolen phones can be traced with their IMEI serial and also permanently deactivated so they are worthless anyway no matter what SIM card goes in. Why people continue to steal them is anyone's guess. More modern phones can also be traced with their own internal GPS.

Your cousin is a hardcore idiot. You should have stood up for yourself. Flushing someone's SIM breaks several laws and is also a 100% messed up thing to do, it's like finding someone's book of emergency phone numbers and ripping out all the pages just because you can.

Hand that phone in. Don't fuck with it any more. The damage you did, well you could always say it was like that when you got it. But if you keep that phone you're gonna get in way more shit than if you just be honest because if you use it you WILL get caught.

 

[kid_with_camera]

She's spoiled. She also plays sports. I'm the gamer who barely sees the light of day. If I didn't help her right there, for the next 5 days she would have broken my phone, ipod and thumbs. In that order.

 

[Femaref]

damn, wrong poll option.

- kept it
+ searched for the person

 

[BonsaiK]

She's spoiled. She also plays sports. I'm the gamer who barely sees the light of day. If I didn't help her right there, for the next 5 days she would have broken my phone, ipod and thumbs. In that order.

No excuse. If you don't stand up to a bully they will continue to exercise power. There is only one way to deal with this situation and that is to let her know that her behaviour is unacceptable, and stick up for yourself. Anything else is weaksauce.