I know there have been
other posts on l
aptop thefts recently on the tubes, but I just had a family member have a laptop stolen and wanted to put together a list for him to follow to try and get it back.
1. Contact the police, file a theft report. You probably had more than just the laptop stolen, such as property damage and other items taken. If you want to file an insurance claim to replace your laptop, you will most definitely need a police report .
2. Setup an eBay advanced search monitor to see what
laptops were recently posted in your area. Keep in mind that monitoring eBay is no easy task; however there are
several softwares that can help you with this.
Hopefully the seller is wise to the eBay process and is using all the optimization techniques, such as location of sale, system specs and an actual photo of the laptop. They may wipe the laptop if they know what they are doing or use a stock photo for the item.
If you see your laptop come up for sale, start an e-mail conversation with the seller. What you are trying to do is track down the IP address of the suspect.
Ask for what accessories come with the laptop. For example, if they also took your laptop bag they may be willing to add that to the sale. These accessories could help you confirm that the item being sold is your laptop.
An example of the advanced search page on eBay
An example of the Item location field of an eBay laptop salefor laptops being sold in your area. Remember, the criminals will be removing the post as soon as they make the sale. You would be wise to use an
RSS aggregator to monitor the RSS feed of your custom search and have it
sync up very often to archive all of the posts that show up on the list.
If you can get an e-mail from the seller you might get an IP address from the e-mail headers. Also, you might get lucky with a phone number. Also, like the eBay suggestion, ask what accessories come with the laptop to help id it.
4. Consider adding an e-mail confirmation tracer to the e-mail you send to suspects. Even if they don't reply, once they open your e-mail you will have the IP address. If you become convinced this is your laptop, you will have some of the info you need to track them down.
5. Monitor the newspapers, pawn shops and other non-virtual methods to fence stolen goods. Acting quickly is the only way to stay ahead of the criminals. They aren't looking to hold on to your laptop any longer than they have to. They need the cash. A good tip comes from a comment posted on the
XKCD blog:
Check the pawn shop regularly but DON’T tell them what you’re looking for. If they know you’re looking for a stolen computer it’ll just disappear.
6. Get the IP address. Say you do find your laptop for sale online, now what? Getting an e-mail from the suspect will help you get information on where the suspect is e-mailing from. Start a conversation with the seller. Make it seem you are interested (no threats) and ask for some information on the laptop before you finalize the sale. Like I mentioned before, ask about the accessories and what software it comes with to help you id your laptop.
What you are trying to do is get the
IP address of the suspect. This will give you some clue as to where they are located. You will need to examine the details of the e-mail you receive. Most e-mail software will give you the option to view full header details or save the e-mail out to be examined with an editor. Look for the "Received:" details. There will be several lines marked "Received: ". Look for the original source that is not a local intranet IP address.
In this example of an e-mail header, the source IP is 206.112.95.3 using any of
several online IP tracing tools to determine the physical address or city/ISP of the computer being used to send and check e-mail by the suspect.
Keep in mind that there are many ways to spoof IP addresses. Also, not all e-mail systems log the source IP address of the sender. If you cannot get an IP address on the first try, on the next e-mail you send be sure to add an e-mail tracer as suggested in step 4.
If you use an e-mail tracer as suggested in step 4 you should rely on the reports they generate for your trace. Because these tracing systems do not rely on e-mail routing servers to provide the source IP address they may provide much more reliable tracing information. See this
sample report from one of the e-mail tracing services.
An example of an IP report, location, ISP, map, etc. you should
engage the help of the local police force to bring the thief to justice. However, to make sure that you don't loose your laptop to another buyer you may need to purchase it from the criminal.
I do not recommend harming anyone or opening yourself up to criminal prosecution if you do find the location of the suspect. Remember, that might not even be your laptop they are selling. It is also possible they are not the thief.
Use the information you gathered above to help the justice system work. Make sure to keep all shipping receipts, monetary receipts and communication as exhibits if you need them for a trial. Act as if you are just a P.I., not magnum though.
9. After you get your laptop back, you should use
theft deterrents,
data encryption, computer "
phone home" software and
identification marks on all laptops that risk being stolen.
technorati: laptop, loss, theft, tracking, encryption, tracing
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Created 53 weeks, 5 days ago