Is there any way to track the use of an IMEI on a stolen iPhone 5?

Question

I've had an iPhone 5 stolen.
Battery was dead so 'Find My iPhone' was no use -so far.
Problem is... my SIM-PIN is disabled so I need to deactivate the SIM in order to prevent fraudulent use of my contract account (if someone transferred the nano-SIM into another handset) -and to get services back.
Once I do this, the phone will have zero network coverage and shall be unable to receive "Find My iPhone" messages or transmit its position.
So, the difficulty here is that, in order to protect use of my phone account, I have to give up on any possibility of recovering my phone.
Also, the handset's PIN is enabled so a well-intentioned person who might find my phone would be unable to connect the phone, even to their WiFi, to provide it with coverage in order to receive my 'Find My iPhone' message.
I'm trying to figure out how I might use the IMEI to be made aware of the phone coming back up on a network somewhere at some future date? If so, I could contact the relevant network and track the calls and recover the phone.
I assume that as there is a handset PIN in use on the phone -some jailbreaking or similar shall be required to hack the phone and reset it?
If someone is going to that effort then clearly, the phone has been stolen rather than 'found'.
Any ideas?
Regards,
EUPREMIER

Answer 1

Apple, as I'm sure you know, now manage official phone 'unlocks' directly rather than the Newtork doing so.
When a GSM Network Provider buys a consignment of iPhone's they are locked to that carrier and may only be officially unlocked if said carrier requests it. If so, it is Apple who do this, via iTunes.
I am therefore inclined to think that part of the any generic iTunes syncing process involves the transmission of key hardware data, including IMEI, to Apple whenever the handset is synced.
If this is the case and, as each iTunes account is linked to a credit card, were Apple to maintain a database of genuinely stolen phones (ones reported to Police) they could advise said Police force when a stolen phone stuck its metaphorical head over the parapets once again? They would be able to identify the name & address of the new user.
I have spoken to the Police here in Ireland today and they regularly engage with Apple on such matters.
This may not be tracking as we know it Jim, (not using GSM Triangulation or GPS) but it's arguably even more targetted and leaves an indelible fingerprint of guilt on the thief.
The laws here are simple in this regard, if you are in possession of stolen property, knowlingly or otherwise, you forfeit the goods once the Police show up. Whether you get prosecuted depends on whether you stole the goods or were duped into purchasing them.