The lawyer named the procedure for finding a phone or wallet.

Finding a phone, wallet, or keys on the street is not always easy to take for yourself. Despite the widespread opinion that "found, not stolen," the law establishes clear rules for handling other people's belongings. Lawyer Diana Mangutova told Izvestia on August 12 where the boundary between discovery and theft lies.

According to the expert, the discovery is regulated by civil law and does not automatically mean ownership of the found item. According to Article 227 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a person who discovers someone else's property is obliged to try to return it to its owner or report the discovery.

If an item is found in a public place, such as a cafe, shop, bank, bus, or taxi, it should be handed over to the institution's administration, driver, or responsible employee. If it was not possible to identify the owner, it is necessary to contact the police or local authorities.

Only if the owner does not appear within six months, the found item can become the property of the finder. At the same time, a person who acted in good faith is entitled to a reward of up to 20% of the value of the find.

"The principle of "what's fallen is gone" has nothing to do with the law. The finder does not get the right to pick up the item, but the obligation to take action to find the owner," explained Mangutova.

Many people believe that theft is possible only by secretly breaking into someone else's property or taking things out of their pocket. However, the situation with found items can be more complicated. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, in its resolution No. 2-P dated January 12, 2023, clarified that failure to report a discovery does not in itself constitute a crime. It becomes important to have an intention to appropriate someone else's property.

According to the lawyer, such an intention may be indicated by specific actions: the person took the SIM card out of the found phone, removed the case, hid the thing, started using it as his own, or did not attempt to find the owner.

To prevent the discovery from causing problems with the law, the lawyer advises you to adhere to several rules. First, you must immediately try to find the owner. If a phone is found, you can check recent calls or contacts marked like "mom", "husband", "home". You can view documents or business cards in your wallet.

Secondly, it is better to transfer items found in public places to employees of the organization or a responsible person. For example, the phone on the bus should be given to the driver or a representative of the transport company.

If it is impossible to find the owner, it is safer to contact the police or local authorities. However, it is not necessary to change the found item before applying. The expert does not recommend taking out the SIM card, removing the case, using bank cards or other elements of someone else's property.

"It is precisely such actions that can prove that a person did not want to save the find, but to appropriate it," said Mangutova.

According to the lawyer, the law does not punish a person for the very fact of finding someone else's thing. Responsibility may arise if he ignores the obligation to find the owner and takes actions that show the intention to keep the property for himself.

Lawyer Alexander Khaminsky reported on July 22 that storing and forwarding passport photos in the memory of a mobile device or via messengers significantly increases the risk of becoming a victim of fraud. Having obtained a copy of the document, criminals are able to issue microloans in the name of the victim, register third-party accounts or create fake documents.