Posts Tagged ‘theft’

A LoJack for Laptops customer recently had his beloved laptop stolen after a vehicle break-in. He has shared his recovery story below:

On March 13th, I was on my way to work and found the back window of my Silverado broken and my LoJack for Laptops equipped Dell – along with my camera and iPod – missing. I immediately called the police and then Absolute Software to report the theft.

On March 25th, I got call informing me that Absolute had successfully led police to my laptop, and that it had been recovered from the suspect identified by the Absolute Theft Recovery Team. Police said that the suspect claimed to have purchased the laptop “on the open market”, and no charges were being filed until further investigation.

Upon receiving my laptop back, I was searching my browsing history and found that a past user had gone onto a manufacturer’s website for camera accessories – accessories for the very brand of camera that had been stolen from my truck. It just so happens that very few cameras of that make and model were sold in our area. I called the detective in charge of the case and informed him of this. He called the suspect and was given a line about checking out camera accessories for his sister. This afternoon, he called to inform me that he had recovered my camera along with many other stolen items, and that the suspect was in custody.

This would have never been possible without LoJack for Laptops protection. My first laptop was stolen and never recovered – it did not have LoJack for Laptops installed. Now I have my stolen laptop back and will never own another laptop without LoJack for Laptops.

Joe Stewart
Austin, Tx

A laptop equipped with Computrace began calling into the Absolute Monitoring Center just one day after it was stolen from a school computer lab. The Absolute Theft Recovery Team was then able to extract information on the laptop’s unauthorized user – enough details for police to identify a residence and visit the user’s home. Let the lies begin.

When police first visited the residence, the user’s roommate denied that the user lived there. Nope. The officer called the residence the next day and was able to speak to the user directly. She reluctantly agreed to meet up with the officer, after he expressed the serious nature of the call.

The two met, and when the officer first asked the user how she obtained the laptop, she claimed to have purchased it from a friend five years ago. Wrong. The laptop had been stolen from the school just weeks prior and was not even five years old.

When the officer questioned this initial story, the user suddenly became fuzzy on the details. Maybe she had purchased the laptop from the friend just a year and a half prior? No – that story didn’t work either. The school was still in possession of the laptop at that time. Try again.

Her story slowly adjusted, with several more stabs at an appropriate purchase time. Eventually, after several failed attempts, the user reached a more probable explanation. Despite the transaction seeming suspicious, she had traded some of her jewelry for the stolen laptop. Bingo - that’s the one.

Police continue to work with the user to identify the thief who passed it on. The laptop has been returned to the school and charges are pending.

Learn more about the Absolute Theft Recovery process

Please note that indictments and criminal complaints are merely unproven accusations and the accused, in all cases, are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Absolute recently recovered a laptop for a Surrey, BC customer. Upon hearing of the successful recovery of his computer, the customer sent us the following recount:

If you use a laptop computer at work or at home, then I’d advise you to read the following story.

In July 2006, my associate and I suffered a break-in at our office. We lost numerous monitors, gadgets, and other stuff – including my new laptop. The police had no workable evidence, leads, or suspects, and so considered our stuff to be long gone.

Luckily, when I bought my laptop, the salesman had suggested I also buy a nifty little product called LoJack for Laptops. Basically, it hides in the laptop’s firmware and pings the Absolute Monitoring Center with its whereabouts whenever the laptop logs onto the Internet. This allows Absolute to track down the laptop’s location – and was a smart purchase, as I later discovered. 

In the months that followed the theft, I gradually became resigned to the loss of the laptop, and more painfully so, the years of family history research it contained. The backup disk was also in the laptop case at the time of theft, so I was more or less pooched. Big time. It was very discouraging.

Then, on February 16, 2009, the Absolute Monitoring Center heard a lonely little ping from the Internet. The Absolute Recovery Team was able to use this to determine the laptop’s location, which they passed on to the RCMP. Yesterday, RCMP visited the identified address, knocked on the door, and got the computer back. 

The machine was recovered, and all of my family data remains intact.

If you get the idea that I am promoting this product, you would be right. If you value your laptop, I would whole-heartedly suggest that you visit the LoJack for Laptops website and grab a copy.

                                                                                                                       Ian Wraight, B.Sc, C.G.A

                                                                                                                       Nutri-Lawn South; Surrey, BC