His iPhone is stolen in New York and lands in China with its new owner. Now they are great friends

One of the biggest panics of the technological age is that our iPhone is stolen or lost. Sometimes we are lucky and a charitable soul returns it to us, but unfortunately this is not common. Then there is scandalous stories at the most like the one experienced by Matt Stopera, editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed and who became famous in China for years thanks to the loss of his iPhone.

Stopera lost his iPhone almost ten years ago in New York, and far from any recommendation, he did not activate the iPhone’s lost mode. This could have meant the end of any clues to the device’s location. However, the thief made a serious mistake and the journalist was not only able to access his iPhone, but he did so in a rather curious manner.

It all started with an oversight in the worst possible place.

We have already said that losing an iPhone is not the most pleasant thing. That wasn’t the case for Matt Stopera, who in early 2014 was at his favorite bar in East New York. There were a lot of people and that might have helped Stopera accidentally lost his iPhone. Or rather, that he inadvertently helped them steal it.

He left his iPhone on a bar table to greet someone else. An almost instinctive act which cost him dearly. So much so that when he wanted to notice it, his iPhone was no longer on the table. From another phone, he called that line and checked for what he calls “the death signal,” which is nothing more than the automatic announcement that precedes the voicemail. Sure enough, someone had stolen his iPhone.

When Stopera tells this story, he praises the thief’s criminal eye, as he claims that this bar and that night “were a perfect place to steal cell phones.” He even bets that he could have probably stolen twenty iPhones that night alone.

So far, so normal. An unfortunate robbery, but ultimately nothing special. In these circumstances, Stopera bought another iPhone and continued to live his life normally. Until they started happening”Paranormal phenomenons”.

A double miss gave Matt Stopera the final clue

First of all, Stopera’s mistake must be highlighted. You haven’t locked your iPhone and this allows the thief to continue using it. The most common thing is that in a few minutes you log out of iCloud and the iPhone is factory restored. The thief will then be able to keep it on his own account or, failing that, resell it to a third party. This has not happened either.

The thief also did not log out of the Stopera account. The reporter probably didn’t think much of it until what used to be called paranormal phenomena started happening. And, without knowing how they got there, they had photos of an unknown Chinese man on their new iPhone.

He found some photographs of orange trees in his gallery, accompanied by a mysterious Chinese citizen. And yes, I knew it was Chinese because the metadata of the photos reflected the location where these photos were taken.

At first, he may have thought that his account had been hacked. The explanation was quite simple. The stolen iPhone was still active with his account and therefore all the data of the new owner was synchronized with the Stopera content. In fact, this new Chinese owner would also have the Stopera photos.

“I became a celebrity in China and made a friend for life”

Although he has told it in various interviews, the impact of this story began with an article published by Matt Stopera himself in BuzzFeed. And while it is true that it caught the attention of his readers, it has nothing to do with what happened in China. Someone translated this story and Matt and the new iPhone owner went viral in China. At least, for the most part.

With a certain grace, the Chinese nickname the Brother Orange to this compatriot who now had Stopera’s iPhone. This other one, for his part, opened an account on Weiboo, which is the main social network in China and is similar to X (formerly Twitter).

His list of followers was growing by the minute.. Thousands of people started following him. So much so that he finally had to take the impact of the story seriously to travel to China himself and meet the new owner of his lost iPhone. Invited by him too, since on the same Weiboo he publicly invited him to “try the local food”, attesting that he would be well received.

Beyond taking photos with each citizen who recognized him, Stopera had an important encounter with the other side of his fame. He Brother Orange His real name was Li Hongjun, he was 30 years old at the time and lived in a small town in the Meizhou region of China.

What is curious about this story is that Matt Stopera was received like a hero, a king or any head of state. Presented with flowers and other gifts, dozens of Chinese citizens greeted him at the airport. And yes, Li Hongjun was also there as a host and he didn’t forget his iPhone. Stopera’s old iPhone.

But how did the iPhone get from New York to China?

Yes, okay, the iPhone would arrive in China by plane. However, beyond this obvious joke, the truth is that even today, it is unknown what happened between this story. When Li Hongjun met Li Honjung (AKA, the Brother Orange), could know that Chinese citizen received iPhone as a gift from his nephew.

However, Li was completely ignorant of the origin. I didn’t even know where I had bought it, or anything. Given the close connection between them, it was obvious that In no case were they responsible for the theft. Not even the famous one Brother Orangenor his nephew.

Most likely, this iPhone stolen in New York ended up being one of the middlemen in a long chain. It was likely sold illegally on the black market in the United States and was eventually sold in China. Li Hongjun’s nephew did not know its origin when he bought it and was in no way worried that it would be stolen.

Images and information | Matt Stopera

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