Mobile phone found @ Hauptbahnhof #19 Tram Station - Munich

Was on top of a BILD Newspaper Rack.

Batteries about cooked off, so I've turned it off since I don't have the right charger for it.

SMS, written in English, came in this morning, right before I noticed the near dead battery, from an outfit called Desperate Housewives here in Munich stating that their business had switched over to Catering and that they were no longer doing house cleaning services.

Those are the clues I'm working with and am hoping that's enough to get this back to its Rightful Owner.

Thanks!

you haven't actually included any information on what you found but I'm assuming it is a mobile phone?

Good on you for making the effort to find the owner.

@Owain, caught that about the same time you did, just fixed it in the Edit.

Yes, it's a Handy/Mobile, and I also left out that it was there atop the BILD Rack at around 02h00 this morning.

Aside from recharging it, couldn't you remove the SIM card and put it in a different phone and wait for the owner to call you? Perhaps there are even contacts in the SIM card you could call.

Have you turned it over to the Lost and Found at Hauptbahnhof or the MVV? Once the person realizes it's gone s/he might retrace her/his steps and look there first.

Or go to a cell phone shop and ask them for an emergency charge, most of them will do it for free and on the spot. Call "Mom" or any other obvious number (if the phone is not properly PIN protected) and say that you found the phone. Can a phone be traced by the SIM card number? That would be another possibility.

Agreed. This is an easy problem to solve. Fire it up and call some people on the SIM card.

If it's currently turned off, won't it need to be unlocked with the PIN before you can access the SIM contacts?

there are shops around HBF that unlock phones cheap. perhaps the person you reunite the phone with can reimburse you.
think it's probably a good idea to hand it in at HBF to be honest.

When the owner calls it, put on an Italian accent and pretend to be back in Bologna and ask if they are enjoying paying roaming charges. Twice!

What phone is it? If you really want to find the owner, Get a charger, charge it and start dialing. Should it request for a PIN ,Lost and found or unlocking it... would be your options.

By the way, it's not mine

Cheers.

Lost and found will check the SIM-card and inform the provider, who will then contact the owner. That's at least what they've told me a couple of years ago when I lost my cellphone.

At least we all know that `Desperate Housewives here in Munich stating that their business had switched over to Catering and that they were no longer doing house cleaning services`.

Yeah, could be just the most round-the-houses plug for a business ever.

As to the phone...as has been pointed out...

1. Try the SIM in another phone and if it works ring a couple of the numbers.
2. If it's PIN locked then hand it in to the Lost & Found office if you wish to do a good deed.

Or search on TT for confessions of too much drinking at the Oktoberfest.
Here is my candidate for the owner of the phone: