Database Users

identety theft

Dear all,
I have a hermes device since it was released on stores and now I want to sell it. The problem is that somebody told me that there are people that can bring back all the numbers, SMS-s that I have sent and received (that are deleted now) and all the SIM cards that I have used (I have more than one SIM card).
If this is true than I have a problem because I don't want somebody to know my business secrets or anything else that is personal about me.
I have a htc tytn running latest htc wm6 rom.
Thank you.

ahmadinejad said:
Dear all,
I have a hermes device since it was released on stores and now I want to sell it. The problem is that somebody told me that there are people that can bring back all the numbers, SMS-s that I have sent and received (that are deleted now) and all the SIM cards that I have used (I have more than one SIM card).
If this is true than I have a problem because I don't want somebody to know my business secrets or anything else that is personal about me.
I have a htc tytn running latest htc wm6 rom.
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you completely flash the ROM, I am not sure how someone could do that. A full ROM flash overwrites all of those areas (I think).
It *is* kind of funny that your post is called "identity theft" and your nick is "ahmadinejad". Unless your real name is that - or unless you are THAT Ahmedinejad. Woah - they give you the Internet in Iran.

todd_jg said:
If you completely flash the ROM, I am not sure how someone could do that. A full ROM flash overwrites all of those areas (I think).
It *is* kind of funny that your post is called "identity theft" and your nick is "ahmadinejad". Unless your real name is that - or unless you are THAT Ahmedinejad. Woah - they give you the Internet in Iran.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I heared it works like in PC when you recover files from hard drive. I know that law enforcment have that kind of software (for mobile phones and ppc)but they are not my concern.
I think that also a number of private companies use that kind of thing, so what if "pirates" have it or can be aquired in a cracked version.
FYI, I'm not from Iran.
Thanks

well just reflash the phone four or five times and even if they worked for the cia or british intelligence they wont get **** of the phone. As , if you believe it is like a pc, in that data can be recovered it is only three layer deep and then major corruption of data becomes a serious issue. But i agree with todd. Basically feel paranoid by all means but just flash the phone with no data synced three or four times and nobody will be able to retrieve anything.
How much do you want for it anyway, and why so worried about phone numbers?

todd_jg said:
If you completely flash the ROM, I am not sure how someone could do that. A full ROM flash overwrites all of those areas (I think).
It *is* kind of funny that your post is called "identity theft" and your nick is "ahmadinejad". Unless your real name is that - or unless you are THAT Ahmedinejad. Woah - they give you the Internet in Iran.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lawl, my sentinments exactly!

scousemartin said:
well just reflash the phone four or five times and even if they worked for the cia or british intelligence they wont get **** of the phone. As , if you believe it is like a pc, in that data can be recovered it is only three layer deep and then major corruption of data becomes a serious issue. But i agree with todd. Basically feel paranoid by all means but just flash the phone with no data synced three or four times and nobody will be able to retrieve anything.
How much do you want for it anyway, and why so worried about phone numbers?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wouldn't a hard reset achieve the same result?

Yes,
a hard reset would do it too!

HD2 StolenToday-No help

So, unfortunately on my way to work this morning at 5:30 am, while on the train my phone was grabbed out of my hand by a teenage boy and then her ran off the train ):
All i was doing was silencing the alarm, he timed it perfectly. SMDH
Well, i spent all AM calling toll free # to toll free #. T-Mobile/Microsoft/HTC.
What i do not understand is how NONE OF THEM were able to track the phone for numerous reasons (allegedly)
Esp. since i was unable to do it via. the Microsoft my phone website.
Also, what is the point of having to report it stolen and file a police report for the claim when I still have to pay the same thing I would if i was neglectful and lost/broke it....?

Oh sry one more question, why isnt the memory card covered if it came inside the phone?

That sucks! It sounds like the kid knew to pull the battery as soon as he got out of sight.
If he's smart, he'll probably leave the battery out for a few days, or only boot up the phone once in the early morning.
Without the battery to power the GPS, the different recovery methods won't work.
If the kid also flashes a new ROM right away, then myPhone will never find it. Not sure about HTC's method, which may include using the unique ID.
There's a cab floating around here somewhere which will email you if someone switches SIM cards on your phone, or if you send your number a special text. This only works if they don't flash a new ROM first though. And it's a little late for you

iSEX said:
Oh sry one more question, why isnt the memory card covered if it came inside the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Memory cards are an accessory and those are never covered
On the flip side of that, when your new phone arrives, it could very well have a new card in it anyway. Especially if they are loading them at the factory before packaging.

its no good to you now, but remotetracker can survive a hard reset if the sd card doesn't change, or be cooked in with your settings permanently, and it can cope with sim card being changed.
it also allows you to lock up the phone, wipe the card, show message on screen, get call and txt details, get location on cells when gps can't, recover any files you like, via email or even ftp. loads more, amazing piece of free software.

I wish i would have knew all of that ):
I havent even had this phone for a full month yet.
he is very bold though. smh he didnt even turn it off. me and someone called and he answered and had a whole convo! grrr
it really sucks that t-mobile cant blacklist the IMEIs like t.mobile does.
OH, AND ITS CURRENTLY BACKORDERED!!! Ugh when will it be over

Snarksneeze said:
That sucks! It sounds like the kid knew to pull the battery as soon as he got out of sight.
If he's smart, he'll probably leave the battery out for a few days, or only boot up the phone once in the early morning.
Without the battery to power the GPS, the different recovery methods won't work.
If the kid also flashes a new ROM right away, then myPhone will never find it. Not sure about HTC's method, which may include using the unique ID.
There's a cab floating around here somewhere which will email you if someone switches SIM cards on your phone, or if you send your number a special text. This only works if they don't flash a new ROM first though. And it's a little late for you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SMH. What upset me was that they didnt even attempt to track it. Esp. microsoft. i told them when online it wasnt letting me do so and they said its only an online feature and they cant help. like wth is CC for?
They treated it like it was lost although i had a police report.

taking the easy option. no one cares about anything today. lazy [email protected]$

iSEX said:
I wish i would have knew all of that ):
I havent even had this phone for a full month yet.
he is very bold though. smh he didnt even turn it off. me and someone called and he answered and had a whole convo! grrr
it really sucks that t-mobile cant blacklist the IMEIs like t.mobile does.
OH, AND ITS CURRENTLY BACKORDERED!!! Ugh when will it be over
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't believe he answered the phone!
Keep trying with myPhone and the second you get his position, send it to the cops!

UPDATE**
To make things worst, I woke up this morning only to check MMP, and I can see the contacts/pictures & texts that the person who has my phone are sending/saving!!! And yet Tmobile are still saying they cant track the phone number....B.U.L.L.S.H.*.T.
DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW LONG IT MIGHT BE ON BACKORDER??? ):

iSEX said:
UPDATE**
To make things worst, I woke up this morning only to check MMP, and I can see the contacts/pictures & texts that the person who has my phone are sending/saving!!! And yet Tmobile are still saying they cant track the phone number....B.U.L.L.S.H.*.T.
DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW LONG IT MIGHT BE ON BACKORDER??? ):
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If he is saving the pics the nit should be updating his postion, so it will tell you where he is.

hope ya harvesting numbers, i'd be harassing all his friends, and posting their number and his pics and such

zelendel said:
If he is saving the pics the nit should be updating his postion, so it will tell you where he is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
View your phone's last known location BETA
See your phone's location the last time it contacted My Phone.
We don't have a location. Find out why
It still keeps saying this. It wont tell me where she is located ):
It seems like a lost cause.
Im wondering why i can see this though, is it due to my email still being attached to the phone?

samsamuel said:
hope ya harvesting numbers, i'd be harassing all his friends, and posting their number and his pics and such
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Click to collapse
Ugh. I wish I was able to see the persons number who actually has the phone. smh i'm shocked it isnt letting me.

iSEX said:
Ugh. I wish I was able to see the persons number who actually has the phone. smh i'm shocked it isnt letting me.
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Click to collapse
well he's still using your number right...? you said you were able to call and talk to him, so the phone won't know what his number is. However, I'd put money down on the fact that the very first number he called when he got the phone, was his own, so he could get your number off his phone's incoming call. Call the very first number that appears in your t-mobile call logs as happening after he stole it, and I'll bet the same guy (him) answers as when you called your number.
Either way, I would follow samsamuel's suggestion and start putting pressure on every single person in his contact list, or even put a post up on craigslist addressed "to everybody on this a$$hole's contact list, he stole my phone"...and post every single name in there, and whatever choice commentary you feel would help flush him out
Shoot, start posting every single one of his text messages online....especially the most private or embarassing ones for he and his friends. Watch his messaging activity too and I'm sure you'll spot and e-mail address or facebook/myspace account name, something you can use to smack him in the face with info....you may not know who he is, but you certainly have access to enough info about him to make him regret it.
I'm guessing at this point he still has no idea that you can see all that about him, so use your advantage here wisely....

sirphunkee said:
well he's still using your number right...? you said you were able to call and talk to him, so the phone won't know what his number is. However, I'd put money down on the fact that the very first number he called when he got the phone, was his own, so he could get your number off his phone's incoming call. Call the very first number that appears in your t-mobile call logs as happening after he stole it, and I'll bet the same guy (him) answers as when you called your number.
Either way, I would follow samsamuel's suggestion and start putting pressure on every single person in his contact list, or even put a post up on craigslist addressed "to everybody on this a$$hole's contact list, he stole my phone"...and post every single name in there, and whatever choice commentary you feel would help flush him out
Shoot, start posting every single one of his text messages online....especially the most private or embarassing ones for he and his friends. Watch his messaging activity too and I'm sure you'll spot and e-mail address or facebook/myspace account name, something you can use to smack him in the face with info....you may not know who he is, but you certainly have access to enough info about him to make him regret it.
I'm guessing at this point he still has no idea that you can see all that about him, so use your advantage here wisely....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was yesterday. Afterward i suspended my acct and he must have sold it to or gave it to a female b/c she is in the pictures and by the text language I can tell its a girl...
So as of ystrday after I cut the service off, the sim card has been changed to hers but TMO wont help smh.
But you gave me a great idea. i know 9/10 i wont receive my phone back but i can make the person with it extremely annoyed *runs to craigslist* LOL
TMOBILE should really think about using some of the features Sprint/Nextel and others use....

iSEX said:
That was yesterday. Afterward i suspended my acct and he must have sold it to or gave it to a female b/c she is in the pictures and by the text language I can tell its a girl...
So as of ystrday after I cut the service off, the sim card has been changed to hers but TMO wont help smh.
But you gave me a great idea. i know 9/10 i wont receive my phone back but i can make the person with it extremely annoyed *runs to craigslist* LOL
TMOBILE should really think about using some of the features Sprint/Nextel and others use....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahhh gotcha. Ok well yeah then I think the best you can do is just be very crafty with how you use what you can see. I still feel confident that they have no idea that myphone is doing it's thing, so just don't tip that hand too soon I know I'd have a bit of perverse fun coming up with ways to take advantage of all that!
It's interesting that myphone still updates to your same account even with a new sim/number....I guess it makes sense, since you log into an msn account to use it, and it probably only cares what data there is to back up, not what phone number or carrier account it's tied to.
Even though the myphone site won't tell you where it is, do any of the other "now what?" (premium) services show as possible? It says you can wipe the phone remotely if they work, but you may lose the insight myphone is giving you for now. But, it may become the final option at some point
EDIT: I guarantee you that T-mobile has the ability to do more to locate the phone....but without a supoena in your hand, you may never benefit from that

if u use mircosoft myphone u can lock ur phone and locate it

wingtytn said:
if u use mircosoft myphone u can lock ur phone and locate it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately thats wasnt working. its said it couldnt locate.

QUESTION:
I was just in my Gmail and noticed they deleted a few non-important emails i received ystrday. i jusat changed my password on all of my accts. thats means the phone will pront the password to be updated on there and if she doesnt know it she wont be able to access it right???????

[Q] Lost & Found t-mobile Hero in London

Hi all
It just happened that I find a t-mobile Hero on a bus 52 to Victoria Station (I got off at the Royal Albert Hall and I notice it just before I got off)
I'm thinking about call one of the contacts on the address book but the screen is locked.
I haven't got any calls from it, so I can tell anybody that that phone is lost.
I'm reluctant to go into a T-mobile store because maybe they just get the device and keep it for them without even notifying the owner.
What would be your best advice in order to give it back to its right owner before s/he block the mobile's IMEI?
Regards!

Better to call the carrier, they have all his/her info
Great that you are so honest +1
Sent from my HTC Hero using XDA App

melvie said:
Better to call the carrier, they have all his/her info
Great that you are so honest +1
Sent from my HTC Hero using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He does have a saint in his name.. I would call one of the contacts if you can get into the phone, ask them whos phone this is... ( or you could root it for him and return it, he would probably be happier)

nijnvy said:
He does have a saint in his name.. I would call one of the contacts if you can get into the phone, ask them whos phone this is... ( or you could root it for him and return it, he would probably be happier)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lmao. Yeah, send it back with flash working and oc'd to 800+, so it keeps their hands warm on cold November nights like now.
They usually block them straight away. Ring 'mum' or 'dad'. They're probably on shopping holiday from Croatia.
And it was all yellow...

Brings you back to that song ...
All I want for christ-mas is root (Oh dear)

It may be possible you could adb in and pull the contacts database and get home?
Not sure - i have never tried. But I really do respect your honesty on this!
/me tips hat!

spikey68 said:
Lmao. Yeah, send it back with flash working and oc'd to 800+, so it keeps their hands warm on cold November nights like now.
They usually block them straight away. Ring 'mum' or 'dad'. They're probably on shopping holiday from Croatia.
And it was all yellow...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how did you get to Croatia?

zolmajstor said:
how did you get to Croatia?
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Click to collapse
It was a pleasant evening, I walked.
Hush...

This is the big failing of the pattern lock screen system... It stops malicious use, but also stops legitimate things like this.
I've always been in favour of setting a custom message on the lockscreen using CMParts, but this isn't a custom ROM (I presume).
What's worth a look is to try "adb devices" with the device connected. See if you can get it to show. This will only happen if the user has enabled USB debugging, which would suggest it could be rooted.
If it's rooted, it would be possible to retrieve enough info to contact the user. If it's not rooted, it's not going to let you get at anything...
I'm aware that any info here would help someone who had stolen a phone, so I'm not going to give away any of the tricks to get into the device by bypassing that screen.
Still, it's good to see some honest people about here... One suggestion. Remove the SIM, and put it into another device (non smartphone). See if there are any contacts on the SIM (presuming it's not PIN protected. If it is, you're stuffed from this respect, as some people might have used an older contract sim in the Hero as an upgrade phone, perhaps with a few phonebook entries you could try out?
Failing that, I'm not sure how else you could really do this You could go into the network's store, and give them the SIM, and ask them if they could get the owner to contact you, if you gave them an email address. They would probably be able to do that, as there would be no data protection issue.
HTH
P

captainstu72 said:
It may be possible you could adb in and pull the contacts database and get home?
Not sure - i have never tried. But I really do respect your honesty on this!
/me tips hat!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That will only work if rooted, since you can't access /data without root on the Hero.
If you could root the device, you could sort it easily. The trouble is that it's a bit iffy... If the OP PMs me, I will give him a few suggestions in private, as he's got a long history on XDA. I reckon I can get the contact info out the phone (just had an idea )
Hmmm... Necro fail Doh!

Take the sim card out and put it into another tmobile phone, as the contacts may be stored on there, i know i do to save the hastle when getting a new phone, or use a micro sd card reader check whats on the memory card there may be some contact info.

I am glad to know that there are honest people like you in this world..

[Q] event log showing when SD card removed?

I need to know if there is any record or event log kept in the phone as to when an SD card is removed or inserted, or when the phone is turned off, battery removed, etc., and if such a log exists, how to view it.
I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S / Sprint Epic 4G, firmware version 2.2.1
I've tried searching for "event log" to no avail, "SD card removed" mostly turns up people who are getting messages that their SD card is not there, etc. Not sure if there are better search terms to use to find the answer.
Long Story: My phone was stolen from my office, I sent several texts to it from other phones informing the person who had it that the phone had GPS tracking software enabled and I was recording everywhere the phone went (complete bluff). The next day, I was contacted by someone who was in possession of my phone, her story changed several times, from the person who stole it was a friend and felt bad and gave it to her to give to me, to she didn't know the person, to the person being her brother who found the phone in a 7/11 bathroom.
I find their frequent story changing very suspicious and suspect they are covering for the person who actually stole my phone, but I don't want to go to the police and press charges against someone who might just be a good Samaritan.
The phone was returned with the SD card removed. I suspect the theif thought it was a SIM card or something that could help locate or identify the phone and ditched it. Her "brother" told me he found the phone at 5:00, and is willing to say the same in a police report. I need to know if the SD card was removed from the phone before or after 5:00 before I decide to attempt to press charges against the people who returned the phone to me.

Sorry that happened. While I don't know the answer, the subject relates to a great free app I've put on my phone & is getting more popular called Android Lost. It helps track and remotely lock/wipe (including just the SD) and control the phone in lots of cool ways. Hoping it'll help other folks. The SD card use log though is not one of its features, so I'd be interested to hear if that's possible at all.

DroidApprentice said:
Sorry that happened. While I don't know the answer, the subject relates to a great free app I've put on my phone & is getting more popular called Android Lost. It helps track and remotely lock/wipe (including just the SD) and control the phone in lots of cool ways. Hoping it'll help other folks. The SD card use log though is not one of its features, so I'd be interested to hear if that's possible at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the response! I actually found out about Android Lost while I was trying to figure out what I could do to find the phone, but it was too late. I was able to remote install it via the android market web page (I see that it is installed now that I have the phone back), but it seemed to require manual activation from the phone to work before I could do anything, so it was too late.
There was another app called Plan B that supposedly will work with a remote install even without any use of the phone, it did install but it never worked. Tried it on a friend's phone right in front of us and it didn't work on his either, so I can't recommend Plan B to anyone who comes across a similar problem in the future.
I guess the real lesson here is, install and register Android Lost before the phone is lost! Which I have now done.
Now my goal is to try to find out who in my office is a thief, but without screwing over someone who might potentially be a good Samaritan just returning my phone to me.

stufff11 said:
Thanks for the response! I actually found out about Android Lost while I was trying to figure out what I could do to find the phone, but it was too late. I was able to remote install it via the android market web page (I see that it is installed now that I have the phone back), but it seemed to require manual activation from the phone to work before I could do anything, so it was too late.
There was another app called Plan B that supposedly will work with a remote install even without any use of the phone, it did install but it never worked. Tried it on a friend's phone right in front of us and it didn't work on his either, so I can't recommend Plan B to anyone who comes across a similar problem in the future.
I guess the real lesson here is, install and register Android Lost before the phone is lost! Which I have now done.
Now my goal is to try to find out who in my office is a thief, but without screwing over someone who might potentially be a good Samaritan just returning my phone to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dont press charges just tell him to box you. if hes a man he will.

schnowdapowda said:
dont press charges just tell him to box you. if hes a man he will.
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Click to collapse
She was a woman with a 4 year old kid. The problem is that I don't know for sure if she is somehow involved with the person who stole the phone or not. I know she lied to me several times about how it was "found" as she says, but I want to be sure that the SD card was removed after she claims it was found before I go forward.

stufff11 said:
She was a woman with a 4 year old kid. The problem is that I don't know for sure if she is somehow involved with the person who stole the phone or not. I know she lied to me several times about how it was "found" as she says, but I want to be sure that the SD card was removed after she claims it was found before I go forward.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Combine the ideas. Box her 4 year old until she gives up the real thief.
(don't do that)

othan1 said:
Combine the ideas. Box her 4 year old until she gives up the real thief.
(don't do that)
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Click to collapse
LOL AMAZING LOGIC ROFL
But nah, this iswhere something like what htc has going on with the sense3.0 where you can remote wipe,track, lock,blahblahblah through the web
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

S7 Edge Stolen

Hello guys, yesterday my S7 edge was stolen and I was able to track the device till one location, but couldn't find the device or the robber once I got there. I had the SM-G935F international variant (Exynos) - stock and first question I would like to ask is: Is it possible to turn off the device from the lock screen without the pincode/fingerprint? Because I think it was not possible when I had it.
I'm just asking because once I have reached the location the google maps timeline, stopped recording the movement of my device.. and have stopped since there..
Around 3 hours later my girlfriend (I put her contact as security), received a message on her device saying the SIM card had been changed. I had the device with 4G (wifi I'm not sure) and the lock screen was secured. I tried using Samsung find my mobile and was even more useless than google maps timeline, because It couldn't locate the device even when google maps could.
I went to the police and they say that, they could locate (but It's going to take a while) the sim card that was put on that IMEI.
Do you guys know another way that could help me know some information sooner? At least something I could help the police with..
Hope you can help me in some way.
I'm in Czech Republic btw.
Best Regards,
Neto

damn man, I'm so sorry for u, f*cking crappy ppl...
the easiest way to track ur phone is to detect via SIM/IMEI, for that u have to know that new code that was inserted (not easy for us, but police should have), all other services (google, samsung,whatever) works just when de phone is on and have a network connection/GPS active (that cannot be turned off with the phone locked), sad is, the phone can be turned off w/o problem at any moment. Last updates with google apps, doesn't let u use your phone even giving a factory reset because u need to put the last google credentials used in that phone (but I don't know if u have to activate that in some settings, in my older phone it was on by default)....
sad is no much to do here, hope police in your country is more competent that mine's

I also advise going the police route.
File an official complaint and ask for a file number so you know it's official and the investigation will be active.
Keep us posted on how things go.

I've already talked with the police, gonna know if they can find them by the EMEI..
Wish tracking devices were made much more simple..

Brother's stolen phone (iD*ot 6S) was found by czech police within two days (in Prg), so finger's crossed for you! If you are from Prague I could ask him which office he went to.

Not sure there is anything you can do at this point, but I will recommend an app that I use called Where's My Droid. You can get the paid version (I would highly recommend paying the small one time fee for this) and it does quite a lot. You can track it online from a computer, and even through text messages. You can use text message commands to take pictures from the front and rear cameras, get GPS location, lock the sim and prevent others from being used, and even change your pin through text. You set up the keywords needed so that others cannot send out a generic code to lock you out of your own device. I would highly recommend that app for your next phone. It may not prevent a theft, but at least you could get a picture of the criminal and provide that to the police as well.
Good luck on finding your phone, and I feel for you.

Outbreak444 said:
Not sure there is anything you can do at this point, but I will recommend an app that I use called Where's My Droid. You can get the paid version (I would highly recommend paying the small one time fee for this) and it does quite a lot. You can track it online from a computer, and even through text messages. You can use text message commands to take pictures from the front and rear cameras, get GPS location, lock the sim and prevent others from being used, and even change your pin through text. You set up the keywords needed so that others cannot send out a generic code to lock you out of your own device. I would highly recommend that app for your next phone. It may not prevent a theft, but at least you could get a picture of the criminal and provide that to the police as well.
Good luck on finding your phone, and I feel for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you man, I will do that once hopefully I have my phone back. Does it drain a lot of battery?

Hgneto said:
Thank you man, I will do that once hopefully I have my phone back. Does it drain a lot of battery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's a screenshot of how much it has used.

Outbreak444 said:
Here's a screenshot of how much it has used.
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Click to collapse
wow. Wish I wouldn't have took a lot of measures in order to save battery and making the tracking of my device harder.. never again.. :crying:

Yeah, it's unfortunate, especially for a new phone that's not cheap.
One workaround I did when I broke my phone screen out of anger right after I upgraded was open a new line on my account so I only had to pay the upgrade price for the phone again. Not sure if you have that option for your carrier or even country for that matter. But hopefully the police can help you out greatly.

I'm sorry about what happened, my s7 edge was stolen too like 2 weeks ago, I feel you bro. ****ing thieves