Isn't it illegal for taxi drivers to pick up their mobile phones?

It is illegal for a taxi driver to find a mobile phone and not return it. Because if you find a mobile phone in a taxi and don't return it to the owner, it will constitute unjust enrichment. The lost person can ask the person who found it to return it. If you don't return it, it's illegal. When the obligee receives the lost property, he shall pay the finder or the relevant department the necessary expenses for keeping the lost property.

The taxi driver's behavior of taking the mobile phone for himself not only has the intention of illegal possession, but also conforms to the objective behavior characteristics of theft. Moreover, if the mobile phone involved is of great value, the act will constitute a crime, which is an illegal act of theft. Where the obligee offers a reward for finding the lost property, he shall perform his obligations in accordance with the agreement when collecting the lost property. If the finder encroaches on the lost property, he has no right to demand the cost of keeping the lost property, nor has he the right to demand the obligee to fulfill his obligations as promised.

Legal basis: Article 270 of the Criminal Law of People's Republic of China (PRC).

In the crime of embezzlement, those who keep others' property illegally and refuse to return it in a large amount shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than two years, criminal detention or fine; If the amount is huge or there are other serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than two years but not more than five years and shall also be fined.

Whoever illegally takes forgetting things and buried objects of others for himself and refuses to hand them over in a large amount shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

This crime can only be dealt with if it is spoken.