Theft protection software snapped a photo of a would-be burglar, helping police send him to jail and the laptop back into its owner's hands. The as-yet unnamed robber, 19, took games, checks, office equipment and the laptop Sunday from a home in Ann Arbor, Mi. Emailed instantly to the owner as soon as the laptop was cracked open—along with the location of its WiFi hotspot—the payload of data included screengrabs of the alleged thief chatting about selling the hot gear. [Ann Arbor]

  • snowmentality

    The software in question is Undercover, made by Orbicule. I don’t work for them or anything. I have bought and installed the software though. It seems very cool.

    They have a bunch of “recovery stories” like these on their website. Kind of fun to read about thieves getting their comeuppance. 

  • ZikZak

    Kinda neat, but when considering this laptop security software, I’ve got to wonder how likely this scenario is.  I mean, if it warrants headlines when it actually works, it must be virtually unheard of for a thief to be caught this way.  Worth $40?

  • http://twitter.com/iheijoushin Peter G.

    Same thing happened to me last year: http://iamblued.tumblr.com/post/8628573414/proof-that-we-live-in-the-future

    I tracked the guy for a few days before showing up at the police station after figuring out he was staying at a nearby motel.

  • charlesp

    Check out Orbicule’s Undercover, the software responsible for this successful recovery 
    http://orbicule.com/undercover/mac

  • Phil McAuliffe

    These stories always inspire me. Sadly my girlfriend and I had our flat in North London broken into quite a few months ago. Loads of our stuff nicked, the flat turned upside down and our poor stoic cat pretty shaken-up by the whole ordeal.

    My girlfriend had a motion sensitive webcam running. I had prey on my dodgey laptop. 
    The webcam worked and we got a pretty decent portrait of the guy. Sadly Islington burglary squad we’re unable to do anything with a full face photo.

    Any advice from happy mutants greatly appreciated. I’ve considered going slightly vigilantte posting flyers and such.

    • Wreckrob8

      What did the police tell you? I would be more worried about how the burglar got in in the first place and preventing repeat visits. There are plenty of places in Islington which are ideal for burglars. Not very helpful, I know.

  • Gian Paolo Ilari

    I’m so happy Orbicule makes a version of Undercover for PC. Oh, wait, it doesn’t.

  • Sagodjur

    Pics or didn’t happen?

  • jennix

    Note to thieves: take out the battery before you open my laptop or this will happen to you too.  I know it’s a trivial hack, but you’d be surprised just how stupid most thieves are. Also, you’ll need to toss out the hard drive too, ’cause even though my user folder is encrypted, as soon as the OS finds an open wifi, you’re toast.**

    ** this is all to encourage them to just fence the computer and stay away from my personal data.  I have insurance.