Filed under: Odds and ends, MobileMe
Apple thefts continue, but don't work so well for the crooks
Another day, another dumb criminal gets snared by Apple technology. In this case, 2 dumb criminals. This latest foiled crime involved the theft of 4 iPhones from the Apple Palisades store in West Nyack, New York. According to the Journal News up that way, the two crooks ran from the store, and police put out a description of the thieves. The phones were also tracked using the built-in iPhone GPS, and the info led police to a hardware store parking lot in Orangetown.
Meanwhile, our friend 'Jim' says he is getting good cooperation from his local police in apprehending the thieves who stole his MacBook and iMac. As you'll remember from our previous coverage, Jim has the Back to My Mac feature of MobileMe and using the screen sharing function saw someone filling out an online job application, which helpfully listed their address, phone number, name and Social Security number. Then yesterday, Jim snagged a picture of one of the alleged crooks who had used the built in iSight camera to pose for a snapshot..
As Jim continues to make contact with his stolen laptop, he finds more goodies. Someone logged into their MySpace page, and Jim was able to copy and download various pictures of the alleged perps. He also retrieved one of their cellphone numbers.
Police have made a couple of visits to the address, but haven't found anyone at home. They are persisting and will undoubtedly find them, likely ruining their day.
[Thanks to Jim R. for the West Nyack tip]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Michelangelo said 2:28PM on 9-02-2009
Thanks to these ongoing articles I've been convinced to purchase MobileMe. My in laws Mac was stolen last year and they lost everything, never to recover their beloved Mac again. I would be heartbroken, so it's better to the safe than sorry. That and MobileMe seems to have a ton of cool features! Thanks.
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Galley said 2:39PM on 9-02-2009
You can find MobileMe online for around $70, so it's well worth it for that price. Even decent web hosting will cost you that much.
MRCUR said 4:20PM on 9-02-2009
I'd really recommend this combined with MobileMe: http://www.orbicule.com/undercover/
fishbert said 3:03PM on 9-02-2009
perhaps 'Jim' could tell the police when the guy is home...
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Greenie said 3:07PM on 9-02-2009
I sense another line of ads coming in the same flavor of the "how my Mac saved Christmas" ones long ago.
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jmcmurtrey said 3:19PM on 9-02-2009
My wife was in San Antonio on business yesterday and had her phone stolen. When she called me to let me know I tried to find it using mobile me, but the crook turned it off. I sent a message saying I'd offer a reward if they just returned it, but after several messages, and 24 hours, I was never able to catch it online. I did get to use the remote wipe feature, which said that it was started about an hour ago. Now we're out an iPhone 3gs.
My only complaint is that it doesn't somehow work when the phone is off. I don't know how they'd do that, but it would be a nice to have feature (I'm sure they could make it work as long as there was battery life).
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G Money said 3:57PM on 9-02-2009
Too bad they can't disable the phone completely and the only way to re activate it is by taking it to the apple store..
balls said 5:12PM on 9-02-2009
@G Money: They can disable it, if you notify AT&T. They'll man the IMEI (iirc) from their network. However all it takes is a software unlock, and it'll work on other networks, perhaps even AT&T.
MikeWard1701 said 6:05PM on 9-02-2009
In Europe when a phone is reported stolen its IMEI is blacklisted, and the blacklist applies to all Eurpoean networks.
The only way to get the phone to connect to a network again is to change its IMEI which is dificult, risky, and illegal.
jake said 3:52PM on 9-02-2009
Strange that the people aren't home every time the cops show up. Unless of course the thieves are cops.
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Payload said 4:37PM on 9-02-2009
I don't understand how find my iPhone helped them find phones stolen from the store. New in the box they wouldn't be powered on, and display phones would be tethered to an alarmed anti theft device. Say they got out of the store with the phones, does Apple really have "Find My iPhone" turned on and tied to a Mobile Me account on their display phones?
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Joey said 5:08PM on 9-02-2009
No one said they were new in the box. I'm sure they were display models on the sales floor that are tied to the stores mobile me account. Yes the stores have thier own account. These idiots don't care if they set the alarm. That is why they ran.
Yoshi1080 said 4:51PM on 9-02-2009
Back To My Mac never worked for me because of some mysterious network problems. Also didn't really see a use for it since my Mac had to be awake for it to work. With Snow Leopard's Wake on Demand I might give it another try, though. I also have .Mac but I don't really get what it has to do with it. Didn't Back To My Mac work as well without it?
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breadbaker said 5:05PM on 9-02-2009
'tis a nice feature... not considering the price.
After all.. I have yet to get my iPhone or Mac stolen to see the sense in having an overpriced service like that on my monthly bills.
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puhsitch said 5:56PM on 9-02-2009
Isn't that kind of like saying you don't see the sense in seat belts because you've never gotten in an accident?
Anyway, MobileMe is pretty great, especially if you have more than one Mac or work from multiple locations. Having the iDisk available on any computer and being able to access my desktop from my laptop are particularly invaluable to me.
pathumx said 5:31PM on 9-02-2009
I remember someone mentioning something about writing a script that takes a picture using the isight and then emailing that picture as soon as the person logs in. where can i find this script? i was thinking about creating a "guest" account as suggested in a different post and putting the script in that account.
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Tommy said 11:52PM on 9-03-2009
I'm mobileme'd and undercovered up. I'll never get "stole" on again, or if I do, I'll catch the mother#@$*er.
If I was "Jim" I would not go back to work until I found my computer.
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Jon said 12:25AM on 9-03-2009
You guys really need to stop publicizing this. It's not a helpful feature if everyone and their mother knows how to disable "find my iphone."
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airmanchairman said 4:28AM on 9-03-2009
@Jon, trust me, the criminal confraternity are already wrapping their heads around this new GPS / Cloud / Security model that has caught their less-intelligent brethren on the hop.
The more arrests by the cops, prosecutions and convictions brought in a court of law will pretty much publicise this more than any blog comments here or anywhere.
Good thing worth preserving is that technology has suddenly caught them on the hop, and the advantage needs to be pressed home by the industry as a whole, not just Apple, because we all know the race between detection and criminal evasion is never-ending.
Many days are for the thieves, but just ONE day for the owner of the house, as the old saying goes....
samuel said 11:01PM on 9-03-2009
OrangeTown, RocketLand.. where is this magical place
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