A victim of phone theft was stunned after receiving an anonymous envelope that contained not only his SIM card, but 11 pages of handwritten notes detailing over 1,000 names and phone numbers from his stolen iPhone's contacts list on November 19.

"It would take a long time just to write out the numbers 1 to 1,000, let alone corresponding names and numbers. I guess his hand must have gotten pretty sore," said Zou Bin, identified under a pseudonym.

The bar worker in Changsha, Hunan Province said his iPhone4 went missing days earlier, after sharing a taxi home with three strangers on his way back from a friend's wedding in Yiyang.

He admits that he was a bit drunk and fell asleep during the 80-kilometer drive, which ended when the driver woke him up - and with the young passenger sitting next to him - on his way to Changsha's train station - gone.

Zou used a colleague's phone to "frighten" the thief, sending a text saying, "I know it was you..." along with an address to return the phone.

Xiaoxiang Morning Herald