If you needed any more proof of how mobile the world has become, consider what happened to my lost iPhone.

1. If you needed any more proof of how mobile the world has become, consider
what happened to my lost iPhone.
After I left my device in a New York City taxi this summer, I went through the
usual steps to try to get it back. I turned on Apple’s Find My iPhone tool to locate
it, but the phone had already been turned off and rendered untrackable. I called
the cab company that was listed on my credit card statement, but they said the
driver hadn’t found anything. So I changed all my passwords, bought a new
phone and gave up on ever hearing about it again.
But a week ago, someone turned it back on. I got a notification from Find My
iPhone that it had been located -- in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Apple prompted me to remotely wipe the contents of the old phone and display a
message that said, “This iPhone has been lost. Please call me.” In Apple’s
perfect world, everyone who ends up with a stolen phone would return it to its

2. rightful owner. But that's wishful thinking when you consider how pervasive the
problem is. A report by Lookout, a security firm based in San Francisco, found
that one in 10 U.S. smartphone owners have been victims of phone theft. Almost
70 percent of them weren't able to recover their device.
"Naturally, criminals resell phones wherever they can get the highest value on
the black market," said Samir Gupte, senior product manager at Lookout. "Often
times, this ends up being overseas in dodgy marketplaces in regions like Asia,
Eastern Europe and Latin America where the resale value is much higher and
there's likely limited scrutiny on the illegal transaction."
A stolen iPhone is "as good as cash’’ because of the booming secondary market
for the devices, according to Kyle Wiens, chief executive officer of iFixit, which
repairs old phones. But for the new owner, "It’s worthless if you can’t unlock it."
While my phone can still connect to WiFi, it no longer works on AT&T's network
after I told the carrier it was lost, and that's probably another reason it ended up
overseas, Wiens said.
A used iPhone 5S in Bangladesh sells for about 35,000 taka, or $450, according
to ads posted on resale sites. Last month, Bloomberg News found resellers in
Hong Kong hawking the gold iPhone 6 for $3,600 before they were available in
the area. Some obtained their stock from those who stood in line at U.S. stores,
solely for the purpose of reselling them in another part of the world where it
would be worth more.
For those peddling stolen phones, new kill switch technologies that can render
the devices useless will make this business more difficult. That's a big deal given
that phone theft accounts for 40 percent of larcenies in major cities, according to
Lookout.
But Gupte said "we won't see a drastic decrease in phone theft overnight. You
have to factor in the time it takes for these new phones to hit the market and
consumers to upgrade to these newer handset models."
Until then, beware of your phone getting stolen and ending up across the globe.
After I shared my experience on Twitter, others told me their stories. One
person’s phone ended up in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam in two weeks and one
found its way from Israel to Ukraine in 24 hours.

3. As for my phone, the new owner never called me. The device went back offline.
Maybe it's back on the market. Wherever it ends up, I just hope it's back online
long enough for me to wipe the data.