NSW police officers have schooled a woman on the importance of a security PIN after her iPhone was handed into the station sans a passcode on Sunday.

While most people would look to recently dialled numbers for clues, the canny officers turned to Facebook, where they posted selfies and made puns on the owner's page to notify her of its recovery.

"You should probably put a password on your phone," a status read with a picture of a constable attached.

"When you are ready to pick it up it will be at Albury police station."

The post received 149 likes and 152 shares as owner's friends had a laugh with police.

But the joke didn't end there, with the officers posting a picture of the phone in a holding cell.

"If you're worried about the battery going flat, don't. By the time you pick it up it will be fully 'charged'. It's a great 'cell' phone."

Albury police Inspector Anthony Moodie commended his staffers on the "novel way" of reuniting the phone with its owner.

"It doesn't surprise me the creative ways they come up with in getting property back to owners," he told the Border Mail .

"There is no issue about accessing the phone, using it for legitimate purpose to track down the owner.

"Phone users should use the locking mechanisms on their phone so if someone should get a hold of it, they can’t gain access to their private lives."