Laptop stolen, have thieves IP address - is there a tool I can use to get an address?

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › Laptop stolen, have thieves IP address - is there a tool I can use to get an address?

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10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1953061 7-Feb-2018 15:59

I've actually had my Macbook stolen a while ago. Tracked it down to a pawn shop, and police were kind enough to follow up, and a few weeks later we got it back.

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robjg63

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#1953064 7-Feb-2018 16:03

Dynamic:

surfisup1000:

.....However, if "find my iphone" (or similar) says my phone is in someones house I expect this is sufficient evidence to search that place . Even if it was just a lost phone.

Unfortunately not. There have been a couple of cases publicised where the Police have declined to follow up on confirmed GPS Tracking information.

https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=Phone+tracking+app+%27insufficient+evidence

https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=Theft+victim+traces+phone+I+couldn%27t+have+done+it+without+the+driver

I know several people that have had things stolen:

1) A bike - they chased the kid who took it to their property and called the police from outside - the police werent interested

2) Stolen phone with GPS tracking turned on - went to the house and asked for the phone back - of course a denial was issued - The police said they wouldnt be investigating.

3) Nicked laptop with some tracing software - managed to turn the camera on and get pictures of the 'borrowers' - Police not interested

4) Campbell live a couple of years back - house broken into - gear taken - turns out neighbors had a very sharp CCTV which had excellent pictures. Cops called 3 times and weren't interested. TV gets involved and the bothered to turn up - they recognised the thief.

I agree with the comments about these 'small' crimes being apprenticeship for bigger crimes. Guess we need more cops.

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#1953113 7-Feb-2018 16:20

I know someone who was burgled recently, lost a lot of high end gear. Theyve got very good footage of the sods, including full on faces (they did'nt even try to hide themselves), AND even know their names and addresses. Info was passed to cops. Not interested.

Thankfully insurance paid up but still frustrating as hell to know these guys are probably out there a few times a week doing the same thing to others knowing they'll get away with it.

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tripp

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#1953126 7-Feb-2018 16:43

This is the issue why the stats keep going up. Police don't care and the people stealing know it. You get a few young people doing it and thinking they can get away with it in time this will turn to bigger and bigger stuff.

I think a new approach is needed, start to ring fence resource into groups that deal with 1 area of crime, when the stats say that area is not doing well then put more resource into it and make the stats public.

surfisup1000

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#1953151 7-Feb-2018 17:27

tripp:

Police don't care and the people stealing know it.

I think it is more a case of being under resourced.

Politicians balance peoples wish for low taxes versus better government services.

Lower taxes seems to be winning the day just now.

Although, it is not just about money. Back in the day, labour were throwing tons money at healthcare with no improvement in outcomes.

National concentrated on improving outcomes as opposed to just increasing budgets , and that approach seems to work better.

The same might apply to policing I'd think.

surfisup1000

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#1953154 7-Feb-2018 17:32

robjg63:

I agree with the comments about these 'small' crimes being apprenticeship for bigger crimes. Guess we need more cops.

I had my car stolen, cops phoned me several weeks later that it turned up on some street.

But, they told me not to retrieve it until they'd done their fingerprinting. Cool! thinks me. So will that be today or tomorrow???? Maybe a week was the reply.

So, that same day I retrieved my car which was in fine working order albeit for damaged door lock and missing ignition barrel .

I wasn't going to walk around for another week while the cops find time to do their fingerprints.

Lias

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#1953159 7-Feb-2018 17:47

surfisup1000:

tripp:

Police don't care and the people stealing know it.

I think it is more a case of being under resourced.

Politicians balance peoples wish for low taxes versus better government services.

Lower taxes seems to be winning the day just now.

Although, it is not just about money. Back in the day, labour were throwing tons money at healthcare with no improvement in outcomes.

National concentrated on improving outcomes as opposed to just increasing budgets , and that approach seems to work better.

The same might apply to policing I'd think.

Partly underfunding, but my personal belief is the it's mostly caused by police HQ choosing to direct the resources they have available to different things. They would rather wage the utterly useless war on drugs, fine motorists travelling a few KM over the speed limit, or make life harder for legitimate gun owners than track down burglars.

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nzkc

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#1953212 7-Feb-2018 18:52

Regarding these comments about police not being interested in cases and evidence provided to them...

Just remember you have the right to complain to the police about the service you have received: http://www.police.govt.nz/contact-us/praise-and-complain

If its a formal complaint its dealt with by the IPCA that, whilst part of the police, are (from what I hear) disliked by the other police officers. I presume because they are....er....thorough. Whilst I'm sure many will say "its just a waste of time", consider this. If you do not complain, nothing changes. If there is enough "weight" of people complaining about the lack of action in these scenarios then things will change. Where the level of "enough weight" is - I have no idea. The police are a stats based organisation. You can change their behaviour by changing their stats.

I should even up the discussion here with - of course you can always praise good officers and good service too. They take this seriously too and have awards that can be granted where warranted.

MadEngineer

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#1953251 7-Feb-2018 19:37

You need to get the two sides to talk to each other: spark and the police. Get something written from spark stating that the police need to authorise a request for spark to get the details of the account holder behind the ip. Hand this to the police asking them to authorise it or at least provide a case id.

Get that (or the case id) delivered to spark for spark to then contact the police with the info.

Force feed and hand hold everyone involved.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

hio77

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#1953263 7-Feb-2018 19:38

surfisup1000:

Will they though? It is just a laptop, and maybe they won't be bothered too much (speaking with experience as a victim and cops not doing their job for whatever reason).

The cops seem slow/erratic at utilising leads such as gps / find my phone / ip addresses. Sometimes they will search a property based on gps evidence, sometimes they say they can't.

However, if "find my iphone" (or similar) says my phone is in someones house I expect this is sufficient evidence to search that place . Even if it was just a lost phone.

Can't comment on if they WILL do it, but the legal process put in place is as stated.

If i was in the same situation, i'd feel pretty brassed off to be ignored like the OP has for what one would class as a 'minor crime'

other 'minor crimes' are acted upon far more consistancy. be it many of them come to the officer rather than be seeked out through the legal process.

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findIPaddress

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Wannabe Geek

#1953600 8-Feb-2018 12:59

MadEngineer: You need to get the two sides to talk to each other: spark and the police. Get something written from spark stating that the police need to authorise a request for spark to get the details of the account holder behind the ip. Hand this to the police asking them to authorise it or at least provide a case id.

Get that (or the case id) delivered to spark for spark to then contact the police with the info.

Force feed and hand hold everyone involved.

At MadEngineer - I think you are right. I am was going to see if I could get the Mac Address of my laptop to confirm it with someone from Spark and find out what they need to pass information onto the police. I do have the case ID ready to go.

hio77

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#1953604 8-Feb-2018 13:05

findIPaddress:

At MadEngineer - I think you are right. I am was going to see if I could get the Mac Address of my laptop to confirm it with someone from Spark and find out what they need to pass information onto the police. I do have the case ID ready to go.

Spark will not be able to do this for you.

Your devices mac address will be translated behind a router.

For spark to even start digging into this, a court order will need to be required from the police.

I'd love to be able to help you, it's a sh!tty situation. but legal process is there for a reason.

think about it with the other shoe, how could one make the same story in order to social engineer details about their target victim?

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MadEngineer

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#1953618 8-Feb-2018 13:31

MAC address of the laptop is of no use unless spark have remote access to the dhcp client list in the router of the suspected premises. That IP address from Dropbox is what spark would be looking up.

Serial number however ...

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

Coil

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#1953620 8-Feb-2018 13:37

What if they were tethered to a phone or using a phone box hotspot.

Probably won't make a difference as Police are pretty much useless unless you owe them money or they can get money from you.

MadEngineer

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#1953626 8-Feb-2018 13:46

Hating on the police like that isn't needed imho. They might be crap in your area of the woods but I've had excellent responses from the police here in Palmy.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

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