Stolen Laptop Recovered!

[sbtc1268]

I have been using LMI Free for several years on all of my computers at work... including a laptop which was stolen while I was on a business trip to Los Angeles in July 2008.  I recently recovered that laptop, and there is absolutely no way that ever would have happened without Log Me In... Thanks!

After reading many "stolen laptop" posts, I thought I would share my story for anyone finding themselves in the same situation.

The laptop was stolen out of my car in downtown LA... although the police were kind and the detective initially interested, after several months, nothing.  Peeking at my LMI account the laptop would show up online for a few minutes each month, but I could never "catch" the computer online... that changed in December.  The computer started showing up online for hours each day.  While working on other tasks at home and at work, I kept a browser window open that was logged onto the laptop.  I had to suffer through hours of mindless myspace surfing and posting until late one night the user logged onto a government site to fill out a gevernment form... BINGO!  Name, Address, Phone Number, Social Security Number, Drivers License Number... and even more (screen print!)

I called the detective figuring that this would now be an easy recovery... no reply to my many messages.  So back in LA for another trip in January, I took a shot at recovery on my own.  I created a "throw-away" myspace account and messaged them at their myspace account, let them know that I had their personal information, and that I would be turning it all over to the detective (the one who wouldn't return my calls!) if they didn't return my laptop.  After several back and forth messages, they agreed to anonymously return the laptop to the convention center that I was working at.  I had the laptop back the next day.

A little bit of social engineering, a little bit of luck, and Log Me In!

[KGHalbe]

Although It was a happy ending for you, it is a shame that the police wouldn't become part of the recovery and put the people where they belong.

I am sure that your main concern was the recovery of the laptop, as would be my main concern - but there is still one thief left on the streets to steal from someone else.

Glad to hear that you did get it back, and the LMI software was instrumental in having that happen.

[jeffreymb]

My laptop was stolen from a Newak Airport restaurant on January 9 of 2009.  I had LMI Free installed.  I had to catch my flight to Vegas (I live in NJ) and couldn't file a police report then (actually, later on I found out that Police Reports can just be mailed to the Port Authority Police.)  I also figured a Police Report would do nothing toget the machine back - it's just more paperwork for the police...  The laptop was in a separate small case - by itself - not even with a power adapter (it was in standby too...)!  All along, I thought the machine was lost and probably turned in to a lost and found department, because there was NO activity that I could find on LMI.  So I was e-mailing the PA police, Newark Airport and Continental Airlines daily to see if t was in storage - somewhere...I did that for more than a month - no replies...

Anyway, as you can image, I had TONS of personal information on the machine including my Tax Returns...  That was the most worrisome.  The GOOD news was that I had done a complete GHOST backup the night before my trip - so I didn't lose any data.  Two weeks after, I had spent about $1,500 to buy an exact replacement of my year-old Sony SZ off of eBay.  This way I could simly re-image the drive - no muss, no fuss (it worked perfectly.)  But I still diligently checked my logmein account daily to see if there was activity.  There was nothing for almost 2 months.  Then, in early March, I was able to see that there was activity at several IP addresses.  I used IP-adress.com to give me a rough idea of the street addresses.  Guess what?  It was all over Newark, NJ and the surrounding towns.  This told me that this was DEFINITELY an airport employee that stole it.  Also, my machine had a Windows Login ID and Password that was broken pretty easily, I'll guess.  If you really want to protect your data, you really need BIOS based and HDD encryption.  I had planned on wiping the drive clean through LMI, but I could no longer login.

So I filed a (two-month-delayed) police report with the PA Police.   They actually gave a **bleep** and called me back quickly.  So, for the last 5 weeks, I have been checking LMI several times a day and feeding the information to the detective in charge.  Problem is, the IP's seemed to change often - they were not consistent.  I figured the thief was just pirating his neighbor's WIFI.  Last week, the detective called me and told me he had a solid lead.   

Tonight, I just got a call from the detective.  My laptop was recovered!!  AMAZING!!  I’ve been tracking the IP addresses for the last 5 weeks and it paid off!!  It’s tagged as evidence right now, so I won’t see it for a while.  He said he will speak with his supervisor – they may be able to release it back to me soon.  After all, I can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the laptop belongs to me (serial number, service tag, software, receipts, ORIGINAL CARTON!, etc…)…   I wonder if he wiped my stuff clean?  Maybe I can steal some of HIS personal information??  I can re-image it from a backup anyway – won’t have to buy any new software or anything. Now I have an extra top-of-the-line Sony Laptop in the house – coolm but I DID pay for it....  I guess my wife can use it for school… Detective couldn’t tell me much, but he did say that it was in someone’s house.  They were granted entry and the person basically spilled the beans and admitted that he stole it.  I’m certain he worked in the airport restaurant, but the detective couldn't tell me.    Now I will be subpoenaed to testify and I will have to spend some time in court.  Small price to pay… 

So, in short, I do highly recommend logmein.com.  I also highly recommend BACKING UP OFTEN!!!  And DON'T put your laptops in an obvious laptop bag - too easy to leave behind and too easy for someone to spot an opportunity and grab it quickly.  I normally use only a backpack, but on this trip, I thought it would be smart to have a laptop bag also - WRONG!!!

I hope this story helps someone else recover a stolen laptop.  Good luck!

[KGHalbe]

Thank you for the story.  I always like hearing of stolen laptops being recovered, and the thief being held responsible.  I wish I would hear more stories, with the same ending.

So, did you remember to put LMI on the comptuer you bought from eBay ?  lol  

[jeffreymb]

Yup!   Funny, my first instict was to try to remotely wipe the drive clean, but this thief had cracked my Widows Login Password and I couldn't take over the machine anymore.  Turns out to be a good thing, because the machine would never have been recovered if I was able to wipe it.  But seeing the IP addresses daily was critical for catching this guy.  Now, I just have to wait until the court releases the "evidence" (my laptop).  This was a crime of opportunity for this guy.  I don't believe he was in it to sell the machine or steal my identity.  He just wanted a free laptop...  I wonder if he could actually end up in prison for this?  I wouldn't think so, but I guess if has has had prior arrests & convictions, anything's possible.

Well, I have learned from my mistake and I will not let something like this happen again.

Jeff

[MarcusO]

I've got a laptop that was stolen last week (from a client of mine).  Right now it has LMI Free on it but I have it set to upgrade to LogMeIn IT Reach as soon as it gets network connectivity.  My goal then is to remote in and use the remote command prompt to secretly remove the sensitive data without interupting the user, then 'screen watch' until the idiot logs into his MySpace/Facebook.

If its a savvy user my guess is they'll wipe the drive before even turning it on.. if not I plan to setup the IT Reach to notify me each time it comes online so i can quickly get to screen watching/remote deleting personal files.

Wish me luck! :\

[KGHalbe]

THINK before you do anything.  You may only have one chance - and if they see the notification window, they may get wise to you.  Go slow - you know you can access the computer, they do not know that.

Before you do anything, I would get in touch with LMI as they may have some tips or hints that you might not think about.  They have been through this before, you haven't (I am guessing).

I hope you can locate an address, or get enough information so that the police will then be able to use that information and catch the person who has the laptop.

Good Luck !!!! 

[Jago]

One more success story!

The laptop of my 83 year old mum was stolen, three weeks ago.

She started computing at her 80th birthday when we gave her an old computer as a present.

Lateron, when she gained experience, we bought her a laptop and to be able to assist her in the jungle of programs, mail and internet, we installed LogMeIn Free.

Luckily, because I noticed that the laptop was online, one week ago. I notified the police immediately because the user was using MSN and Hyves (similar to Facebook) which almost immediately gave me enough info to locate the user. In two more login sessions, I finally discovered the address. All was handed over to the police by e-mail including screenshots.

It took me some effort to get the police into action, but yesterday they called me, because they need from me some more personal information and a signature to make the info legitimate to use for the case. At that time they informed me that they had collected the laptop and are now in the process of tracing back and see if more cases are linked.

I was so lucky that the user did not erase the disk or disabled LogMeIn before using it and did not get warned by the notification window. Furthermore, the user was kind enough to show me personal pages which presented all the info we needed.

Thanks LMI!

Jago

[Maflagulator]

:(

UGH!!  Just rented a car last weekend, and to keep my netbook from being noticed (and stolen) I placed it under the front passenger seat...which in my hast I left it there after I checked the car back in.  

Dealing with the Lost & Found at the rental agency to contact the next person who checked out the car that I checked in hasn't helped.  That customer claims that they found nothing in the car at all, not even the electronic toll pass transponder that I also neglected to remember.  The guy returned the car at a different location than the ATL airport, and they claim they didn't find anything in the car as well.  At first I didn't expect it to get returned at all, but they showed me their lost & found area which had countless cameras, laptops, NAV units, etc....so if the employees were honest enough to turn those items in, why not mine?

I do have a PW on the system, yet it is fairly simple.  I have not noticed it listed as available under my account setup.  

Is there a way to request LogMeIn to email me each time the system comes online with the IP address so that I don't miss it when it DOES come online?

Feel quite foolish for losing it, let alone even bringing it for no reason other than "just in case" when I've got my iPhone that does nearly everything that I need...I even have LogMeIn on that as well.

Message Edited by Maflagulator on 09-09-2009 05:00 PM

[Maflagulator]

ok, not recovered YET, but very soon.  LMI helped me in the following way:

I had originally setup my netbook with an LMI access code.  I had forgotten it since I had reinstalled the OS on my main machine, requiring me to remember it but I couldn't.  Because of this I had setup a PW on the netbook and had been using that.  HOWEVER, the theif found a way around my PW for my logon as I could no longer login.  This forced me to recall that PW, so I got lucky and got it.  Had I not, then I would have only been able to watch the IP address.

Laptop was taken from the rental car last Saturday as I mentioned earlier, which was the 5th.  On Tuesday (Sept. 8th) the car rental place informed me that they, nor the post-customer recovered my items.  That night the netbook was turned on for the first time.  Wednesday (9th) I was able to log in, close the LMI banner quickly without them noticing me, watched the user goto many websites about Muslim culture in west africa.  Senegal specifically.  During this time,  I wanted to turn on the webcam sw to take a look at who it was, but did not for obviously reasons.  Around midnight, they did a search for "webcam games" and went to a site that had something called "Dress Me Up" which TURNS ON THE WEBCAM so you can take a snapshot of yourself and then superimpose jewlry onto yourself.  The lighting was poor, so the user started adjusting the netbook to get the best picture because they were a black person in a dark room (no offense to anyone of course, just a fact)........I'm preparing to hit PRINT SCREEN on my system for this moment...............then Comcast decides to do maintenance in my area overnight, cutting me off from getting a good image!!!  Oh the humanity!!

The next morning I logged in again and noticed no activity for a few hours leading me to get brave enough to activate the webcam.  The image that came up was total darkness, telling me that the lid was closed on the unit.  This meant that I could pry where I wanted without anyone in the house noticing activity for at least a while.  I went to their internet history and found that they hadn't LOGGED OUT of their Yahoo email account.  Rrummaged through there for details and found phone numbers, address, family photos, and even the theif's green card because he had to give some sort of permission for his son to travel from Africa to France, then to USA without an adult companion.  BUSTED!!

I spoke with the manager on shift last night (10th) who acted a bit stunned by the whole situation.  Asked me to call back in a couple hours while he looked into it.  When I did call back, he was worried that he might say something that he shouldn't, but did admit that "we are familiar with that name....but without saying too much, you are on to something...." and asked that I call in the morning to speak to the general manager to pursue this best.  This morning (11th) I spoke with said GM who appologised profusely and assured me that this manner will be handled in my best interest.  He was very impressed with the LMI service after I explained how I was able to get so much information, even sounded like he would want to get his own account with LMI!  He also expressed thanks for helping them uncover a "bad egg" within their establishment.  I gave him an additional name that I came across a couple times.  He immediately recognised that name as well, but stated that "that is an ex-employee we had to let go due to an issue with his paperwork.  Basically to work here legally" which eliminated me pinning the wrong individual.

So today the GM will be getting with the HR manger and the security department about this issue so everyone handles it as effectively as possible.  They anticipate termination of his employment and will threaten to press charges unless he returns the stolen property immediately. 

Being fired from your job at age 61 for theft is probably more harsh than anything that the police would do to him which would end up wasting more tax dollars than my netbook was retailed at.  I'm satisfied.

Thank you LMI!!

(BTW, I did contact LMI about this issue.  The ONLY thing they could help me with was the suggestion of making a police report.  No option to elimnate the LMI banner at all, nothing.  Apparently they do not want any involvement in a matter like this.  I suppose it could drag them into court for assisting a victim in a worst case senario.  A criminal could hunt down their victim for getting them caught and causing harm to them, leading LMI liable for making it all possible on top of providing assistance.  Something that they would want no part of.)

I had also contacted the ATL Police Department about this, gave them my information and even let them know that I had the IP address...they had no idea what an IP address was.  I was told an officer will contact me shortly to make the actual police report and provide me with a case number.  3 days have passed and no one has called me.  I should've told them it was a few thousand worth of theft maybe?

Message Edited by Maflagulator on 09-11-2009 05:54 PM