Mr Zou told Hunan’s Xiaoxiao Morning Herald he had been “bluffing” and had not expected to recover the iPhone 4, which is worth around £270 in China, or its contents.
So he was “stupefied” when, just four days later, a parcel was couriered to his front door. There was no sign of the iPhone inside but the package did contain 11 pieces of paper containing each and every telephone number and email that had been stored on the stolen device.
“All of the numbers were handwritten,” said Mr Zou. “It would take a long time simply to write the numbers 1 to 1,000 let alone all those names and telephone numbers. It must have given him a swollen hand.”
Two clear morals emerged from his story, a relieved Mr Zou told journalists.
“Don’t just give up if you lose your phone – sometimes bluffing works,” he said. “But it is also best to save your contacts to your SIM card so you spare the thief some writing.”