HILLIARD, Ohio (WCMH) In Australia, a young woman sought a miracle by reaching out to social media sleuths to help her retrieve a lost iPad after receiving an email suggesting someone was attempting to access it in central Ohio.
In a Reddit post titled, “My lost iPad turned up in Columbus Ohio all the way from Sydney Australia,” the woman explained the situation.
“I’m posting this cause I don’t know what to do,” the woman wrote on the Columbus Ohio subreddit. “I lost my iPad two years ago, and I was pretty devo [Australian slang for devastated] because all my photos and 2d animation projects are in that iPad.”
Alongside a screenshot of a map indicating an address in Hilliard (around 13 miles from Columbus) as the location of her missing iPad, she debated about the steps needed to reclaim her device.
“I’m not sure what to do, I’d feel pretty silly calling the local police as I live in Australia, but then again it is my property and it BOILS MY BLOOD that all someone is happily in possession of it while I mourned the loss of my projects, photos, and it wasn’t bloody cheap either- I still haven’t gotten a new iPad because I can’t justify the cost and felt I had to take the L [loss],” she added.
Turning to the digital community, nearly 10,000 miles distant, for advice, she hit post and hoped for the best. After receiving hundreds of comments, many expressing interest in the story and appreciation for the Columbus Reddit community, someone mentioned a potential lead on the location of her lost iPad.
“Looks like ‘e-Cycle’ is located in that shopping center, a wireless buyback company that recycles electronics,” the commenter suggested. “Maybe try calling them?”
The original poster replied that she sent the company an email and was waiting to hear back, then a breakthrough update was posted.
“I’M SO OVERWHELMED, I can’t believe the response this has gotten, I actually feel quite emotional and now I really wanna visit Columbus, Ohio if it’s filled with bloody legends like all of you !!!!
“An employee [of the electronics store] … saw this post … and I’ve sent them through my serial number,” she wrote. “So my fingers are crossed that they will find it and hopefully we can sort something out that it can get posted and make its way back home!!!! Feels very finding Nemo to me right now 🐠🐨🥹❤️”
Finally, the e-Cycle employee posted the happy conclusion to the story.
“Hello everyone! We located the lost iPad and we are waiting for her to email us with her contact information so we can ship it back to her,” the worker shared.
In an email to local affiliate WCMH, a representative from e-Cycle detailed how the iPad from Australia ended up on its workbench in Hilliard. Since the company specializes in processing and recycling mobile phones and tablets, it sometimes receives found items. After holding the devices for a period, “in case the rightful owner reaches out,” the items are powered on for “data eradication.” It was at this point that the Australian woman received the message, two years after the device was lost.
“It is not uncommon for people to email us, having seen their device show up at our location,” said e-Cycle. “In those situations, we always work with each person to reunite them with their missing devices whenever we can.”
The company confirmed that one of its employees saw the post and alerted e-Cycle coworkers.
“We understand that [the Australian woman] may have lost her device while traveling in the United States a few years ago,” e-Cycle noted. “We confirmed the serial number … and were able to locate the device in our facility and pull it aside. We then requested her contact information, and we are now in the process of getting her iPad returned.”
The device recyclers also imparted some advice.
“We strongly encourage all mobile device owners to password-protect their personal devices, set up automated data backups to the cloud, and familiarize themselves with how to mark a device as Lost/Stolen if they misplace or lose it,” said e-Cycle. “Setting a device in Lost/Stolen mode will send the user notifications about the device’s location. That way, a person has a better chance of locating their missing device.”
