Getting your phone stolen isn’t as bad as it used to be.
Before the advent of smartphones, your options for getting a stolen phone back—or preventing someone from accessing your data—were pretty limited. Now, thanks to the advent of mobile phone wiping, apps like Find My, and IMEI locking that allows a phone’s original owner to stop it from accessing the network, losing your phone or getting it stolen isn’t as much of a headache or security concern.
That said, it’s still really, really annoying. California TikTok user Matt Swartzen (@matt__swartzen) knows this firsthand. In a video with over 2.1 million views, Swartzen explains how he discovered his AirPods and laptop were stolen—and how he got them back.
What Happened To This Man’s Stolen Goods?
According to Swartzen, he parked his car in Sacramento, California, to go to a meeting. Inside the car were a pair of headphones, an upgraded MacBook Pro worth over $4,000, medication, and more.
When he returned to his vehicle, he found that someone had smashed a window and stolen all of his valuables.
“Because I own only Apple products, I was able to go to the Find My app and see the last seen location of all these products. I had a MacBook Pro and AirPods,” he explains. “At first, they were both showing at the same location. But then later on the laptop appeared again in another location, and it was a mobile repair store. And then, it showed up a little bit later just down the street. It looked like it was at one of a couple different houses.”
Concerned, he called the police. The police told him to hang out at a coffee shop near the last known location to meet with a sheriff. Several hours later, a sheriff arrived to begin the search. Soon after, the sheriff called to tell Swartzen that he knocked on a few doors but didn’t find the laptop.
Consequently, Swartzen decided to take matters into his own hands.
The Search Begins
Seeing that the police were going to be of little assistance, Swartzen began heading to the known locations of his items.
First, he went to the mobile phone repair store. The store informed him that someone had arrived earlier trying to sell a laptop, but that they didn’t know the password, so the laptop couldn’t be sold. While the business had security cameras, Swartzen was told they “don’t record.”
From there, Swartzen decided to head to the last known location of his AirPods. Upon arrival, he was surprised to discover that his headphones and medication were simply on the ground.
“He just took everything and just threw it,” Swartzen surmises.
Inspired, Swartzen decided to head to the last known location of the laptop. Upon arrival, he saw a dumping ground under a bridge. After a short search, he was able to find his laptop—a little dirty, but still working with the screen intact.
“It’s completely usable,” he states.
Given that the dumping site was hard to access, the last known location was visible at the spot, and that the laptop did not show signs of being thrown, Swartzen speculates that the thieves wanted him to find it.
Swartzen previously posted this video onto his Instagram in October 2025.
Why Did The Thieves Dump The Items?
We can’t be sure of why the thieves dumped the items instead of trying to sell them. That said, there are other documented cases of this happening.
The reason, it seems, is because Apple’s security frequently makes it difficult for devices to be traded secondhand. If one does not know the password, some aspects of Apple’s security are near-impossible to circumvent unless one wants to spend a significant amount of time cracking the software.
As a result, many thieves realize it’s a better use of their time to simply break into more cars and steal more items in hopes of something they can resell quickly, rather than spend a significant amount of time trying to break into a laptop that may be low-value.
That’s not to say that every Apple product will always be dumped. Thieves will sometimes sell stolen iPhones in bulk to people who plan to tear them down and reuse their parts. Furthermore, some thieves will play on the fears and inexperience of those from whom they stole phones in order to socially engineer them into removing their device from Find My.
If your Apple devices are stolen, it’s best to mark them as lost on Find My. Then, one can remotely wipe them (as long as they’re backed up). Finally, they can file a police report—even if, as in Swartzen’s case, they’re not particularly helpful.
Commenters Have Theories
In the comments section, users had their own ideas about what went on here.
“They stashed it until they could find a buyer or figure out how to gain access,” speculated a user.
“The guy at the Computer store is his friend and tipped him off so he went through and looked for cash or anything they couldn’t be traced,” suggested another. “He put the computer somewhere slightly safe where he could leave it for a few days and see if you were tracking it.”
Further commenters simply mocked the police for their poor response.
“So basically the police didn’t do anything,” stated a commenter.
“Imagine if the police actually did this investigative work instead of private citizens,” offered a second.
@matt__swartzen Needless to say I didn’t get much work done today 😅
BroBible reached out to Swartzen via TikTok and Instagram comment.