u/han67302

I lost my phone in Kota Kinabalu, and I have a strong reason to believe it may have ended up in one of these roadside drainage openings.

I’m looking for someone who can open 4 of these covers, shine a flashlight inside, check whether the phone/pouch is there, and close them again.

No digging or entering the drain is required — just a careful visual check.

I’m thinking around RM100 for checking all 4, but I’m not sure if that’s a fair amount in Sabah.

https://preview.redd.it/82pr8ns2n2kh1.png?width=916&format=png&auto=webp&s=f6cbc09541b6c60e0a688fb1b414f7288bd6e3ca

If the phone is found and returned to me, I will pay a RM1,000 reward.

What would be a reasonable amount to offer someone for checking the 4 drains

I lost my phone in Kota Kinabalu, and I have a strong reason to believe it may have ended up in one of these roadside drainage openings.

I’m looking for someone who can **open 4 of these covers, shine a flashlight inside, check whether the phone/pouch is there, and close them again**.

No digging or entering the drain is required — just a careful visual check.

I’m thinking around **RM100 for checking all 4**, but I’m not sure if that’s a fair amount in Sabah.


If the phone is found and returned to me, I will pay a **RM1,000 reward**.

What would be a reasonable amount to offer someone for checking the 4 drains?

Hi, I’m Korean living in KL. Among eating pork, drinking alcohol, smoking, and eating chicken or beef that isn’t Halal-processed, which is the worst? What about homosexual with husband or wife and having straight sex before marriage? Not praying and no following ramadan?

Is it common in Malaysia for people to not return a phone they find? I thought the Quran teaches Muslims to return things that belong to others if they find them. Just genuinely curious about the cultural/religious perspective here.

저는 말레이시아 거주 중인데, (KL)/ 코타키나발루 여행 중 휴대폰 잃어버렸어요.. 구글맵스에 30시간뒤에도 분실 위치가 그대로인거 확인 후 종료되었는데 어디 안보이는 곳에 흘린건지 모르겠네요..

If you lose your phone on the street in Malaysia, do people usually return it if they find it, or just keep it/sell it for parts?

Curious what the general experience is here. 😅

lost my Samsung Galaxy S25+ in KK, Sabah Malaysia about a week ago, and there are these kinds of drains EVERYWHERE here.

https://preview.redd.it/vrmdk6ka92jh1.png?width=540&format=png&auto=webp&s=c215675c9e956e7d3f4bd1061ca7c40a1f6b5eb2

The weird part is that about 30 hours after I lost it, the location was still showing at basically the exact same spot where I lost it. It hasn't shown up somewhere else since.

So I'm starting to wonder if it could have fallen through one of these gaps and ended up somewhere inside the drainage system.

The phone was inside a waterproof pouch, so I'm not too worried about water damage if it’s actually still down there.

If it did fall into a drain like this, would it usually get washed away pretty quickly when it rains, or could it get stuck somewhere and stay there for days/weeks?

And if it stayed down there, when would it realistically have a chance of being found? Like during drain cleaning/maintenance or something?

Just trying to figure out if I'm completely coping here or if this is actually a plausible possibility lol.

I lost my Samsung Galaxy S25 around 2 PM on July 30 in Kota Kinabalu, near Jesselton.

The phone was inside a waterproof pouch, together with card, cash, hotel key

I didn't realize I had lost the whole pouch immediately.

The weird part is that I was able to check the phone's location later from a linked laptop. The last known location was still at the same spot near Jesselton Point until around 7 PM on July 31 — roughly 29–30 hours after I lost it.

After that, the phone went offline / powered off.

Since then No new location has appearer, My debit card had zero transactions before I froze it on August 3 and I checked with the hotel and condo management, but nobody reported finding it. The phone is still showing as lost/locked in Google Find Hub and Samsung Find.

I went back through recent Street View/photos of the area and noticed there are some spot I might drop as picture

https://preview.redd.it/90kvdbowiwih1.png?width=883&format=png&auto=webp&s=da8b1bdb5e2555713a8db6cd78a3a6d719a166f7

My Google

https://preview.redd.it/bj0m2ljyiwih1.png?width=904&format=png&auto=webp&s=79bcf77da02086a7f47d2dded22d2049b626d27c

Suspected location where I dropped

https://preview.redd.it/d5hspqww8wih1.png?width=969&format=png&auto=webp&s=f85b29976a8b8dc1e8729cd81fe22214c930acc4

https://preview.redd.it/ayvgx8dy8wih1.png?width=994&format=png&auto=webp&s=9051fbe77b1349f2935372499543077418ed2a61

suspected area

I lost my Samsung Galaxy S25 around 2 PM on July 30 in Kota Kinabalu, near Jesselton Point.

The phone was inside a waterproof pouch, together with:

• my debit card
• a small amount of cash
• a Grandis Hotel key card

I didn't realize I had lost the whole pouch immediately.

The weird part is that I was able to check the phone's location later from a linked laptop. The last known location was still at the same spot near Jesselton Point until around 7 PM on July 31 — roughly 29–30 hours after I lost it.

After that, the phone went offline / powered off.

Since then:

• No new location has appeared.
• My debit card had zero transactions before I froze it on August 3.
• I checked with the hotel and condo management, but nobody reported finding it.
• I haven't received any message from the person who may have found it.
• The phone is still showing as lost/locked in Google Find Hub and Samsung Find.

I went back through recent Street View/photos of the area and noticed there are open drainage channels and drains very close to the last known location.

So I'm wondering if the waterproof pouch could have fallen into the drainage system and simply got stuck somewhere. If it had been picked up and carried away, I would have expected the location to move at some point, although obviously I can't know for sure.

I'm considering paying a local person RM1,000 (~US$220) if they can find and return the phone/pouch, especially to check the drains around the last known location.

For people familiar with Kota Kinabalu:

How likely is it that something like a waterproof phone pouch could remain stuck in those roadside drains for weeks or even months? And do these drains get cleaned regularly?

Also, if someone found a locked Samsung phone in Malaysia, would the normal thing be to hand it in to the police/hotel/management, or is it more common for people to keep/sell it?

I'm not blaming anyone — just trying to figure out whether it's worth continuing the search or whether I should accept that it's gone.

Any local insight would be greatly appreciated.