Laptop stolen; Logmein installed; I see it come online occasionally -- 1

[sweetcow]

My laptop was stolen out of my apartment a few weeks ago. It had Logmein, which is remote access software, installed. I've been monitoring my Logmein account regularly, and have seen the laptop come online 3 times now. I feel like I should be able to take advantage of this and track down the stolen laptop, but I just can't seem to figure out what to do.

1. Logmein provides the IP address of the computers that are logged on. But I was recently informed that "the LogMeIn IP address is only routable on the LogMeIn vpn (established by the LMI clients) not in public IP space." Meaning, I guess, that this would not be useful in establishing his actual location?

2. I could use LogMeIn to Remote Control the computer and either watch him and hope he checks his email so I have an email address; I could additionally install any number of helpful programs: computrace lojack, locatepc, etc. But it seems that whenever the computer is online, he is actively using it, and so would notice if I started remote controlling things.

I CAN use the File Manager and manipulate files on the computer without him knowing, though, so that would be my preferred route.

a. I know he uses Firefox, so I copied over his Firefox profile files today (C:\Users\(yourname)\Appdata\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles), hoping I could grab his PWs. But the files were blank -- I guess he doesn't have Firefox set up to store passwords.

b. Maybe I could access other potentially idenftifying files within Documents and Settings, but I am unable to access this directory (I get a message that I don't have the rights whenever I do).
**Is there any way around this? **

**Are there other potentailly identifying files on the computer that I can copy over and look through?**
**Could I insert some code into a file that runs on start-up (like boot.ini?) that would send his IP back to me, or maybe send other identifying information back to me. Maybe even keylogging information, but that's a stretch I realize...

I would really really really appreciate any help anyone could provide.

 

[mattKnight]

>Do not tackle the perp yourself though

What proof do you have that this user is the person that stole the laptop?

I'd suspect that they may be an "innocent" bod who bought a second hand laptop.

Take Care

Matt
I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my telephone.
My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my telephone.

 

[VinceWhirlwind]

Receiving stolen goods is also illegal.

 

[mattKnight]

>Receiving stolen goods is also illegal.

Correct, but you have to prove that they knew (or that reasonable person would suspect) that it was stolen. With the mystique attached to things technical, this may not be an easy task.

Take Care

Matt
I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my telephone.
My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my telephone.

 

[VinceWhirlwind]

Buying a laptop with no receipt from a shady bloke in the pub for a fraction of its real worth is definite grounds for suspecting the laptop was not his to sell.

You should have no sympathy with somebody who encourages criminals by paying them for the fruits of their criminal labours.

 

[mattKnight]

>Buying a laptop with no receipt from a shady bloke in the pub for a fraction of its real worth is definite grounds for suspecting the laptop was not his to sell

I agree, but that scenario doesn't cover all the possibilities. You simply cannot sit in judgement on the basis of very little fact.

>You should have no sympathy with somebody who encourages criminals by paying them for the fruits of their criminal labours

I don't have sympathy for them. I do however, have sympathy with people who are accused on the basis of very little fact...



Take Care

Matt
I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my telephone.
My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my telephone.

 

[VinceWhirlwind]

He has a stolen laptop in his possession and you call that "very little fact"?!?!?!?

It really doesn't matter whether he is a thief or a thief's sponsor, he's a criminal either way.

 

[sweetcow]

Finally got an update from the police today. The case has been transferred to another detective -- which made me groan upon hearing the news -- but it seems like this one has been much more active at least. I spoke with him on the phone today, and he's run the name through the system / subpoenaed the Ebay ID / is getting the technical team on the case to make use of the IP addresses I collected.

I was kind of hoping they'd just raid the guy's home address, but I suppose they have to go through this information collection process first. At this point, I'm just happy someone's doing something. Perhaps my expectations are low.

Anyway, he mentioned about definitely busting the guy for possessing stolen property, if this indeed is not still the thief currently in possession of the laptop. And I think that's very legitimate. A reasonable person *definitely* would've suspected something. It still had my files on it, my passwords saved into the browser (I wiped all this stuff off upon gaining access to the computer remotely), and the computer's name and even login name were even still my name. On top of that I'm sure he bought the computer under shady circumstances, and I'm sure the guy he bought it from did not have my same name! Alarms should have in anyone's head.

On a worrying note, the laptop stopped logging in about a week ago. I was hoping this meant the cops had busted the guy and confiscated the laptop, and just hadn't communicated this to me yet. But unfortunately that wasn't the case. I hope he just reformatted it / uninstalled logmein, and hasn't actually tossed it or anything.

 

[kjv1611]

sweetcow,

Any news since your latest post? It's been an interesting read. I definitely think this'd make for a popular blog post as well.. You could even post up some of those screen grabs, blotting out any personally identifiable info, of course.

I hate it for your situation. Of course, this thread has been very educational. I've for one never had a reason to worry about this sort of thing, and hope I never do... but you never know.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[james1982]

very very interesting read!!!
I had my laptop stolen but never thought of checking whether it came back online.

Any update from the police yet????
Hope the mug who did this gets caught!