When you find an iphone is it best to activate it or sell it?

I found a brand new iphone and the woman did not have a password on or find my iPhone. I was going to return it but she called me obsessively and kept telling me if I don't return the phone it's stealing. I told her to relax and that I will meet with her after the weekend but she said you, I want my phone now". I got fed up with the rudeness and I removed her SIM card and now I plan to keep it as a spare phone or sell it. What do you think is best?

Just give it back? If she can't wait a couple of days for you to have time to do then that's too bad, she shouldn't have misplaced it.

You can't activate it, it's associated with her cellphone account, and by now it's most likely flagged as stolen.

Selling it would be illegal as it's not your property to sell.

If the phone is on and has service or internet they can track the phone to your current location.

To be on the safe side I would return it to the woman or give it to the police. You wouldn't want the phone to get tracked down to your house and get in trouble

As the other person said, they can track you, it may be flagged as stolen and it's illegal to sell. Ik that she's very annoying but keep calm, count to 10 and take a break. Try to record all conversations you have in case she tries to press charges so you have evidence. Go along with the plan and meet up in a very public space to give the phone back and make sure she doesn't get any of your contact details so she can't harass you. Just do the right thing and you'll be fine.

Best of luck,
JoJo

The best course of action WOULD have been to figure out the carrier (by dialing 611) & hand it to a store rep for that carrier OR turn it into the police.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ACTIVATE OR SELL THE PHONE! -- The original owner can contact their cell carrier & report the phone as stolen, which places that phone (via it's IMEI number that's hardcoded into the phone at the manufacturer's level, since each device must have a unique number) on the national blacklist for all carriers, rendering the phone useless as their carrier's automated systems will IMMEDIATELY SUSPEND SERVICE to that phone. To add insult to injury, the cell carrier can refuse to restore service to the affected number until the line holder can move their SIM card into a different phone (as they have to update the IMEI number in their systems to a phone that's NOT on the blacklist).

Any phone that is reported as stolen gets placed on the blacklist for a MINIMUM of 2 years (some carriers may leave phones on the list indefinitely) & allows the phone's carrier to BLOCK unlock requests (as one condition to unlock a phone that it was never reported as lost or stolen).

Not returning the phone to the rightful owner can be constituted as theft, which the courts can force you to return the phone OR pay the replacement price of the phone. Selling the phone in question practically double-downs your troubles since you have the rightful owner wanting their phone back & the new buyer of the phone will likely be demanding their money back once their services get suspended (as you're committing fraud in the process, as the phone is not yours to sell).

If you don't want to deal with the owner in person, just hand the phone (w/ SIM card installed) to the police & let them deal with it's return (as a neutral 3rd party).

Don't be a jerk. Her rudeness doesn't mean you get to keep the phone. But you don't have to jump up and take orders from some rude, stupid broad who can't hold on to her phone either. Return it at your own pace, but return it.

Why not tell her to get her stupid self somewhere near you and collect it.
Just hand it in to the police let them find her stick the sim back after jetting it go flat.
Then drop it into a police station saying where you found it.

Neither. Either constitutes theft.