BALI — It took a stroke of luck and a generous reward offer for a tourist to find his lost phone after dropping it on a beach in Bali.

In a heartwarming incident that has gone viral on TikTok, university student Archie Davey was able to retrieve his missing device thanks to the help of some local private-hire riders.

Mr Davey, who hails from the United Kingdom, was returning from a night out with his friends in Canggu when he realised that he had misplaced his mobile phone, social news agency Storyful reported. He then approached a taxi stand to see if he could enlist some help with searching for his phone.

Mr Davey claimed that he initially offered a reward of 100,000 Indonesian rupiah (S$8.50) to the private-hire riders there, but they were “unmotivated”.

“That’s when I decided to up the bounty to 2 million rupiahs (S$170),” he said.

The average monthly wage of service sector workers in Bali last year was about 2.36 million rupiah, according to global data platform Statista.

With the stakes raised, an unlikely search team was formed.

Mr Davey’s video captures a group of seven men, dressed mostly in Gojek uniforms, wandering around a dark sandy beach in search of the tourist’s phone.

Mr Davey is seen combing the sand with a rake, while the riders walk around him with the lights from their phones pointed to the ground.

Suddenly, one of the men is heard exclaiming excitedly that he “found it” as he rushes towards Mr Davey with a mobile phone in hand. Once Mr Davey confirms that the item is his, the group then erupts in cheers and exchanges hugs.

Mr Davey is then shown handing over the reward money to the eagle-eyed winner.

The TikTok video, which has attracted over 1.7 million views since it was shared on Dec 6, generated an outpouring of positive comments.

Many viewers were heartened by the camaraderie between the tourist and the riders, and praised Mr Davey for his generosity.

One viewer wrote: “Gojek (riders) are lifesavers.”

Another said: “I love Gojek and Grab drivers in Bali. They’re (some) of the nicest people I’ve met.”

Someone commented: “It may be cheap for you, but man, thank you. You just made someone’s day. (The amount) is a lot for us Indonesians.”

Several online users joked that Gojek had launched a new search feature called “Go find”.

One person quipped: “It’s more advanced than Find My iPhone”, in reference to Apple’s device location tracking feature. 

However, some TikTok users claimed that Mr Davey had been “scammed” and should have offered the riders a lower reward amount instead.

Speaking to Storyful, Mr Davey described the moment as “pure delight” and expressed joy in knowing that he was contributing to the community.