Buzzfeed staffer Matt Stopera’s fantastical story about how his stolen iPhone made it from Manhattan to China and turned him into a social media celebrity there is one of the wildest and coolest stolen phone stories of all time, even if it’s making the rounds on April Fool’s Day.
Stopera first reported on his stolen phone in February 2014:
I made a post on BuzzFeed and called it “Who Is This Man And Why Are His Pictures Showing Up On My Phone?” I publish. That’s it.
Within hours, I’m getting tweets from people in China. The story has been translated and put on Weibo, which is essentially Chinese Twitter. It’s blowing up. They are helping me find orange tree man.
He followed up that month with How I Became A Minor Celebrity In China (After My Stolen Phone Ended Up There)
Then things get unbelievably, awesomely, virally weird. It’s a great read, and if it turns out to be an incredibly elaborate hoax, even better. You won’t believe what happens next!
The Orange Bro Mystery (BuzzFeed)