What to Do If Your iPhone is Stolen in Brazil

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My iPhone was stolen in Brazil! 😞

I was walking along Copacabana Beach, and a thief opened my purse and snatched my phone. I had barely looked up for 3 seconds, and it was gone! They are so quick, and it was very crowded. I could not see who did it or which direction they took off in.

I have an iPhone 16 Pro, and Find My is activated. I was able to track it down 4 miles from where it was stolen in Centro (the Center) of Rio de Janeiro. I brought my laptop, but you can also track your phone through a browser by going to icloud.com/find.

They turned off my phone (screen is black in the Find My App), but I was able to locate it when they turned it on briefly.

The location seems to be just underneath this police station in Centro.

It’s in the Uruguaiana marketplace, which is notorious for selling stolen phones and a bunch of other counterfeit knick-knacks.

On December 31st, 2025, a ring of phone thieves in Centro was apprehended. 7 people were arrested. see more

So I’m hopeful the police will eventually find my phone.

I do not recommend going John Wick and tracking your phone down yourself. It can be dangerous and potentially fatal.

Instead, here are the proper steps to take:

File a police report. In Brazil, I filed with the Special Police force for tourists (DEAT) in Leblon. Make sure to get your IMEI number to include in the report. This can be found in your Apple ID account or through your mobile service provider (I use T-Mobile). When your phone is found, the police register your IMEI and make an attempt to contact you and return your device. They also recommended that I go to the location and call the police at 190. This is their equivalent of 911. If you are a resident, you can file a police report at any police station or online.
Mark your iPhone as LOST in the Find My app so that your cards are deactivated, and your username and password are REQUIRED to unlock it. Thanks to Apple’s Activation Lock feature, without your Apple ID information, the phone hardware becomes useless. I leave my email (not the one used for my Apple ID login) and another phone number they can contact. I also leave a message for them to leave it in a restaurant so that I can claim it, since they cannot use the phone anyway.

LEAVE your device in your Find My account. Eventually, scammers will try to text and email you, asking you to remove the device so that they can reset it and use it. YOU MUSTN’T DO THIS. Leave your device in your profile so that they can never use your phone without YOUR PERMISSION.
Continue to track your phone’s whereabouts. Doesn’t guarantee that you’ll ever get your phone back, but it’s fun to see what scammers do with a phone they can’t even use. My theft happened on NYE 2026. So I am looking forward to seeing what adventures my phone will go on.

Follow My iPhone

Jan 1, 2026 – Already in the Uruguaiana market the next day.
Jan 2, 2026 – Moved 4 blocks north and turned on and alerted with Find My. They turned it off shortly after.
Jan 3, 2026 – Phone is now showing as offline, and no location found. They may have possibly placed it in a Faraday bag to block transmission. They can also reset your phone, but they won’t be able to activate it due to the activation lock feature. I’ll most likely end up reporting my stolen iPhone IMEI: 350328822565801 and blocking it with various mobile service carriers.

Here is a script of the text I would use in my lost message:

Você poderia deixar meu celular em um restaurante para que eu possa buscá-lo? Não é possível usar este telefone a menos que eu forneça minhas informações pessoais, o que não farei. Meu e-mail é hello@alexgoesglobal.com e meu Instagram é instagram.com/alex.goes.global

Translation:

Could you leave my cell phone at a restaurant so I can pick it up? It’s not possible to use this phone unless I provide my personal information, which I won’t do. My email is hello@alexgoesglobal.com, and my Instagram is instagram.com/alex.goes.global

Regardless of my experience, I still think Brazil is a beautiful country and am excited to discover more of what it has to offer!