Absolute Busts Baggage Burglars

 Hectic February travel offers ideal conditions for opportunistic computer thieves – crowded airports, packed buses and frazzled travelers. Consider that 12,000 laptops go missing from US airports in a normal month, and one can only imagine the theft toll with travelling at its pique.

Each year, Absolute recovers thousands of laptops stolen en route. A few of our favorite traveling tales:  

Absolute Busts Baggage Burglar, Theft Ring, $11,000 in Collateral 
Over $11,000 in suitcase-swiped items, including several stolen laptops, we were covered thanks to Absolute’s latest efforts.

A busy traveler contacted Absolute after his checked baggage arrived in Chicago one laptop lighter. Absolute was quick to determine that the machine was being used by two unauthorized users: an airport employee, who (rather ironically, we might add) worked in the customer service department; and her husband, who (less than coincidentally) was a baggage handler. Absolute passed this information on to police.

A visit to the suspects’ residence resulted in police recovering the traveler’s laptop along with two other stolen machines. The husband confessed to the baggage burglary, admitting that since working at the airport, he had stolen at least 10 other machines. He also implicated a number of other airport employees who made up an intricate theft ring, the leader of which was later caught with a bag full of stolen laptops, cameras and MP3 players – over $11,000 in collateral. Several arrests were made, and the laptops reunited with their owners.

Conniving Cabbie no Match for Absolute
A dubious driver and dramatic getaway provided for another interesting Absolute recovery.  

A road-weary Computrace LoJack for Laptops customer placed his laptop in the cab he had hailed, but before he could get into the vehicle, the driver sped off. He immediately called the driver, but was told that another passenger had just been dropped off and that his laptop was already gone. The cab company confronted the driver also – only to have him feverishly deny any knowledge of the laptop’s existence. Enter: Absolute.

After receiving the theft report, Absolute began to track the laptop’s location and use -details that showed that the driver in question was in fact using the machine. Absolute passed this evidence on to police who continued the investigation.

Police ran the drivers name, only to find that he had already registered a hefty number of complaints in his day as a cabbie. Yet confronted by police, the driver alleged that he was no thief – instead, the laptop had been given to him by our victim, in lieu of cab fare (perhaps not the most equal trade?). Less than convinced by this dubious account, police arrested and charged the dishonest driver. 

Absolute Shows No Sympathy After Shuttle Sob Story
A busy traveler, an opportunistic thief and a convincing lie were all it took to convert a laptop into criminal proceeds, and punch the latest notch in the belt of the Absolute Theft Recovery Team.

A Computrace-equipped laptop was left behind on an airport shuttle bus by a traveler rushing to catch his flight. Absolute was quick to track the stolen machine, pinpointing its location to a nearby residence and providing police with the information they needed to confront the laptop’s unauthorized user.

This user explained that, while waiting to board a shuttle bus, she was approached by an unknown male with the laptop in hand. The man recounted a convincing sob story of how he was hard on his luck, low on cash and stranded in the area. To help pay for his airfare home, he was selling the laptop for a mere $600. As a gesture of goodwill, and knowing that her daughter would soon be requiring a laptop for school any how, the woman a paid the full amount and happily took the laptop home. 

When police informed the woman that her laptop was a stolen item, she was extremely cooperative and released the machine to authorities. The laptop has been returned to its rightful owner, while the investigation continues.
Please note that indictments and criminal complaints are merely unproven accusations and the accused in all cases are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

 (1) Ponemon Institute, 2009