STOLEN PHONE CHASE

An 11-year-old boy's stolen phone was tracked to a house, denied twice, then turned up smashed.

About a week and a half after the phone vanished from a son's bag at primary school, the poster used Find My iPhone and saw it pinging at a nearby house. They went straight there and spoke to a mum, who said her son and two friends had "just been there." She called her child down, and the poster followed her by car to a second kid's house.

When they arrived, all three children were there. The poster kept it simple: "I don't care who stole it just hand it back and it's done." But the kids insisted they "have never seen it and know nothing about it." With the phone still missing, the poster swapped numbers with the two parents and left, already certain one of the three had it.

The next break came later, when the first mum checked her security cameras. In the footage, the second house's kid was holding a phone. She sent the video to the child's dad, and soon after, the guilty kid's mum contacted the poster and asked to come over.

They arrived at the house "teary eyed and apologetic." The poster asked for the phone back. Instead, the mum said her son "has smashed and destroyed it." The poster called it "only an iPhone XE," but also said it was the single thing they relied on to communicate with their son while working full time.

The mum offered to buy a replacement. The poster asked for $100 instead, enough to find a similar phone on marketplace. The mum agreed and said she was happy to pay it.

Then nothing happened. More than a week passed with no payment and no replies. The poster said the mum "has now stopped replying to any messages and won't answer any calls." Frustrated, they sent a final warning: if the money did not arrive, they would report and charge the 11-year-old son.

After another message saying they were going to the police in the morning, the money was transferred the next day. In the update, the poster said it was "all sorted now."