Hi,

I had a computer stolen, and a few weeks later, I was able to locate it online, and download information off it. I have detailed information of the person, and I have forwarded the information to Police. Unfortunately, the investigative offices shift ended Friday afternoon, just hours before I obtained this information.

I'm a little nervous, because we had another electronic lead before, but the lead went cold - and a search warrant could not be obtained because the recent activity was not recent enough (10 days)

Do you think I have provided enough information for Police to get a search warrant? If so how long would that take?

I'm talking to the police tomorrow, but was hoping to educate myself in the mean time.

Thanks!

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Originally Posted by remote_access

Do you think I have provided enough information for Police to get a search warrant? If so how long would that take?

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Hello r:

No, that's not enough information. In order to go into a mans home, you have to swear on an affidavit that you KNOW the computer because you SAW it. Suspecting that a computer is in a house is not enough to get a warrant.

excon

How are you able to locate it online. Is this a legally accepted method that the court can use to issue a warrant.

Good New! We are getting our computer back, and the police are moving in for an arrest tonight! I can divulge more info now.

June 19th at 2:30am, my works warehouse was broken into. The alarm went off, however the thief was able to take an iMac computer. Because I'm in charge of IT, I had remote login software installed on all our computers so I could remotely manage them. I use www.logmein.com (it's a free service and I highly recommend it) So if someone had a problem, I could login to the computer and fix it with out having to travel to our different offices.

A few days after the computer was stolen, it "phoned home" into the logmein website. The thief plugged it into an internet connection and the computer popped up online again, which I could see from the logmein control panel.

When the iMac phoned home, it broadcast the IP address it was using. We were able to trace the IP address to the thiefs ISP - which was Bell. In order for Bell to tell you the customers name and address connected to the IP address, you need to present a search warrant. This is where the things became extremely frustrating.

In order to obtain a search warrant - the police need to provide approx 30 pages of documentation which can take anywhere from 1 - 3 days to fill out. On top of that, the IP broadcast information has to be very recent as well. The officers in charge of our case had to leave for another case and weren't able to act very quickly - by the time they were able to get the paperwork together, the thief was not online with the computer anymore, and the cops where not able to submit a request for the search warrant.

Then we got a stroke of luck.

The thief sold the computer to someone, who later in advertently enable another piece of remote management software I had on the computer - mobileme.com which is just for Macs.

2 weeks after the trail went cold, the computer popped up again online via Mobileme.com - I couldn't believe my eyes. Mobileme does not work in all situations (it depends on the type of router you are using etc to work) Mobileme did not work with the thief's internet setup - but it worked with the person who bought the computer off him. This was a game changer, because I could now log into the computer completely undetected and view all the files.

Luckily, the first thing the person did was put his resume on the machine. I grabbed it along with all his photos and his web browsing history for 5 days. From reading his resume and seeing his photos and browsing history, it was clear this guy was not the original thief and most likely purchased it from the thief. I discussed it with the police and we both agreed that this guy was not the thief. The cops just ended up calling the guy, and he was very co-operative and told the police where he bought the computer from. The police believed the story, because they town the guy bought the computer from is the same town that I told the police that the IP address was attached to. The person also pointed out that there where other computers for sale as well.

So there you go. I have learned a lot from this experience, and I am setting up our other computers to deal better with these situations.

Chuck - Your IP address is as good as your fingerprint - and has been used to apprehend thieves. If your IP address has been linked to a crime then it's game over - the fat lady has sung - your in deep trouble. The problem is, for the ISP (bell, rogers etc.) to divulge your information - they need to be presented with a search warrant or they risk a lawsuit.

Programs like LowJack are specialized for this type of thing. I was lucky that the programs I installed for another purposes where able to provide Lowjack type functionality.

If you're a thief and you are reading these forums - and from browsing the threads - I know you do - take my advice - don't steal computers. It's not worth it - it really isn't. Not only are 2nd hand computers not worth much money - but from the research I have done, the software I used - although not meant for theft recovery - has been responsible for sniffing out the identities of many thieves. Most major P.C. makers now offer theft recovery built straight into the computers hardware - meaning that wiping the hard drive clean will not remove it. As soon as a computer goes on line, it's game over - cops will get the IP, question the person that IP address belongs to and the trail will eventually lead to you.

If you have a laptop - get Lowjack or similar software - everyone goes online with their computers these days, and not only will you have a better chance of getting your computer back, but you can help apprehend someone who will perhaps go on to steal other computers.

While we struggled with the search warrant, there is a bill in the house of commons right now, which will fast track the process of linking IP addresses to individuals without a search warrant - the request just has to come from law enforcement.