[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Silicon Knight:
damn. I am assuming you weren't able to use a FIND MY PHONE type app either ? My T-Mobile protection plan comes with a premium account for Lookout mobile, which when it works is great, but if they take out the simcard and reset it, before you can locate it, its useless. Last time, i wasn't able to do it either, but that was cause like 2 hours before it got jacked I had just factory reset/wiped system, to install a test build of a ROM I've been working on (first ROM I've done that wasn't based of CM or AOSPA, building this one straight from stock AOSP source, just like the Nexus stock firmware is. And adding my own features instead of using others. Tho I did add Halo, cause i love that feature lol as well as app bar, which works in tandem if you set it up right. But enough OT lol) So yea, since I had just flashed that, and was test driving it, didn't have Device Manager or Lookout installed. This time, it just didn't work.

I am really sorry to hear that happened to you bro. I remember back when FIND MY PHONE apps were first becoming relevant, this dude here in Seattle was mugged and they took his iPhone 3G (think it was the 3GS actually) and he had the official iPhone one (which is through iCloud now, I have it for my iPad AIR, which OT again, is my first iOS device since my 4th Gen iPod touch, and I will never be an iPhone guy, but I am loving the iPad. I want that damn 12.1 Note Pro tho lol) and he was able to get the GPS data (which was all that it did back then, as well as Wipe, the Scream feature, and Lock, didn't have signal flare or Lock Cam, etc etc, like we do now) and he gave it to the SPD, and they were able to track it back to both suspects, retrieve the phone, all the money minus 12.59$ and the rest of the wallet contents as well as his jewelry. that was the incident that made the popularity of those apps take off, while also showing the need for such apps, and the need for better refinement of their functionality etc etc.

They need to find a way around people being able to shut it off. There has to be some type of feature that makes it so there is absolutely no way for them to take wipe the phone without A.) the password, which already exists as a feature B.) a special docking device or Computer USB cable that enables the Wipe feature (albeit, this could be bypassed via custom recovery I guess) and finally C.) bringing it to the phones carrier and proving ownership, etc etc. The simcard being removed should have nothing to do with it. But apparently removing that, and wiping the device negates the whole purpose of that feature. So what can you really do.

People are dumb, Steal a phone and within seconds you can wipe and remove simcard, and then the only thing the owner can do is report it and blacklist it, which even then can be gone around if you know how to use the proper JTAG device or if you plan on selling it, or using it, overseas. cause their blacklists obviously don't coincide with our's here in the US. I personally had a friend who legitimately bought an S4 for T-Mobile, and then the dude (this was through craigslist, another reason why swappa is better, so there is accountability at least and proof of purchase and authorized sale of said device) reported the device lost or stolen within minutes of the sale. So he gets the money, and a replacement phone and my buddy is screwed. But he found someone with a JTAG device that rewrote the IMEI (WHICH I do not condone, and is actually ILLEGAL, only mentioning it as part of this topic) and he is still using it on T-Mobile today.