Nadav Nirenberg

Nadav Nirenberg interview on CBC, PRI and NPR - iPhone recovery via fake OKCupid profile by Nadav Nirenberg
FAQ

Yes it's true, and happened New Years Eve/Day. "Jennifer's profile" can be found at http://www.okcupid.com/profile/JennifferInBK, I've deleted my profile. Here's a screenshot of "Jennifer's inbox": http://imgur.com/F5i1F (Other OKCupid usernames have been blocked for privacy)

This story started as a facebook post, which was shared/liked/commented on a ton. A facebook friend/fan of one of the bands I play in posted a screenshot to Reddit/imgur with my name blurred, and it was a popular thread. However, a different redditor/fan gave away my name/website and I started to get attention from fans/blogs. Since my identity was revealed (against my wishes), I decided to go with it and created my own Reddit thread. The next day The New York Post came over to interview/fact-check me (very thoroughly), and published my story, albeit inaccurate/sensationalized. From there, everything spiraled out of control with major networks emailing me for interviews, I never imagined it would be like this. I regret feeding into it, but as a musician I feel I need to take advantage of this momentary attention.

I'm 99% sure it was the cabbie - I was the last customer in that cab for the night, so there's almost no chance another person got in the back seat and found it. My cabbie also didn't work New Years Day, when it all went down. His messages on OKCupid were in broken english, and the guy was clearly not tech-savvy. My phone was lost in Manhattan, but it only took the guy 10 minutes to get to my building in Brooklyn (near the cab company).

He was no hardened criminal, and did nothing malicious - It's not like he pick-pocketed me, he kept my lost property and deleted/ignored my multiple emails/voicemails offering a large reward. He could've taken valuable information for my phone, compromised my email/facebook/apple/bank accounts and more, then wiped my data and it'd be over. Instead, he had fun clumsily messaging girls on OKCupid. We chatted for hours and he never seemed dangerous at all, just naive/inept/lonely.

We had established that he wasn't the guy in his profile (me). I set him up for it by saying I looked a bit different first:

Taken from our OKCupid conversation

I saw him first, and he never saw my apartment - I sent him up the stairs past my apartment and followed him up, so I saw through the peephole that he was a small, clean shaven dude (I had ~6 inches and 50 pounds on him).

The first thing I did was extend $20 as a peace offering, to show I meant no harm. I knew he would be surprised, so I didn't want him to feel threatened. I wanted it over as quickly and peacefully as possible (whole thing lasted 10-15 seconds). I never tapped his shoulder or made any physical contact, besides the $20/phone exchange.

The hammer was in case he was insane, but I kept it down at my side the entire time, I never threatened him. I was nervous/scared but I knew it was a sad cabbie looking for love so I went for it. My roommate was inside our locked door ready to call 911. I avoid physical confrontations at all costs.

I lost the phone ~10pm on New Years Eve and had it back before 7pm the next day. I've since installed Find My iPhone and locked my phone, I know I was stupid. I was not drunk when I lost the phone, it was on the way to the gig.

Flirting with this dude on OKCupid as a girl was weird as hell.

"Jennifer" was hispanic because he had been messaging a ton of hispanic girls, so I went with it.

I'm happy to answer any questions, just sharing a crazy day. I ended up getting a last-minute text for a nearby gig 10 minutes after I got the phone back.

While you're here, why not check out my website/playing? I'm a professional trombone/sousaphone player in NYC, and have recorded/performed with Wyclef Jean, The Wu Tang Clan, Streetlight Manifesto, The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, La Excelencia, Slavic Soul Party and many others.

THE ORIGINAL FACEBOOK POST

As posted by a fan on Reddit. Seen 200k time the first day...

HEY LOOK THIS GOT ME INTERVIEWED ON GOOD MORNING AMERICA & ABC WORLD NEWS, PLUS:

IN-DEPTH RADIO INTERVIEW ABOVE!!

Front Page of Yahoo?! Good Morning America?!

Front Page of Yahoo.com
Chinese/British/Australian/Israeli/
Trinidadian/Canadian/US Newspapers
The Associated Press (Everywhere)
WCBS Radio, CBC Radio, NPR, etc.
Mentioned on the Today Show!
CBS Local <--MOST ACCURATE ARTICLE
CBS News
FOX News
NBC News
ABC News

Toronto Subway?!

WPIX (TV)
REDDIT (TWICE)
CBC.ca
Today.com (NBC)
The New York Post
Huffington Post
Walla (Israel)
Der Standard
AOL
Gizmodo
CNET
NY1
PunkNews.org
DyingScene.com
Geekosystem

I'm even on subway cars in Toronto and beyond!