People keep going to
this home looking for their lost phones — and nobody knows why
If your lost
cellphone says it’s at this house, it isn’t
Christina Lee and Michael Saba live in an Atlanta house
where several strangers come accusing them of having stolen their phones.
Strangely, the phones are never there, and it's because missing-phone apps are
mysteriously routing to this home. (Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post)
For months now, angry strangers have been showing up at
Christina Lee and Michael Saba's front door with a curious demand: "Give
me back my stolen phone!"
Sometimes, families will show up; other times, it's groups
of friends or a random person with a police officer in tow, according to Fusion. Despite using different service
providers, everyone who bangs on their door has been led to the suburban
Atlanta home by a phone-tracking app.
The problem — as the couple desperately tries to explain
visitors — is that the missing phones aren't at the house and never have been.
They are not, in fact, thieves. Saba is an engineer; Lee is
a journalist.
The pair doesn't understand why exactly, but both Android
and iPhone users on various networks are being directed to their house by
phone-tracking apps.
Once the awkward situation is explained, most
lost-phone-seekers are understanding. But the couple told Fusion that a smaller
number of people who place absolute faith in their tracking technology are
convinced that the couple is lying, provoking potentially volatile conflicts.
[…]
On several occasions, Fusion reports, the problem has led to
serious misunderstandings, such as an incident in which the couple briefly became
suspects in a missing persons case:
In June, the police came looking for a teenage girl whose
parents reported her missing. The police made Lee and Saba sit outside for more
than an hour while the police decided whether they should get a warrant to
search the house for the girl’s phone, and presumably, the girl. When Saba
asked if he could go back inside to use the bathroom, the police wouldn’t let
him.
“Your house is a crime scene and you two are persons of
interest,” the officer said, according to Saba.
[…]
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