Laptop Thieves! Beware!
Another laptop gone!
It has bring to my attention that thieves now have the technical means to identify electrical products hidden anywhere within a vehicle INCLUDING THE BOOT??!!!! Laptop coumputers being the main target.
The question again and again raises in my mind, do thieves really do have the ability to detect laptop computers hidden anywhere in a car? How do this detector works? Detecting ELECTRONICS PARTS? Aren’t there a whole lot of car parts nowadays that are at least partly electronic?
The story begins……
Last Friday, few of my colleagues went to have BBQ steamboat buffet at one of the Korean Restaurant(SEOUL) at Kerinchi (Along Federal Highway - opposite ANGKASAPURI). There are 6 of us. One of my colleague drove his brand new HONDA CITY (WNJ XXXX) with another 2 of my colleagues left office first. Another 3 of us had some work to do and decided to leave later by LRT PUTRA. Those of us who took LRT reached the restaurant 20 min earlier.
Half way enjoying our meal + CHIT CHAT with my oily spectacles, we heard an announcement from the speaker. ” OWNER CAR WNJ XXXX, PLEASE REPARK YOUR CAR.”. This colleague of mine quickly went down to so-called repark his car at the basement carpark. He left for more than 30 minutes but never came back. We tried to give him a call but failed. 3 of us decided to go down to look for him.
At last, we found him in front of his car with 2 security guards. Guess what? Another case of car broke-in with laptop gone!!!! The thief(ves) broke his driver seat mirror, open his boot plus the petrol tank cover , took his laptop from the boot. Just that. No one sees. Car alarm doesn’t went off!
Questions:-
1. Why no one sees when the guards said they petrol each level.
2. Why car alarm doesn’t went off?
3. Do the theives really use laptop detector or they followed my colleague from office?
4. Why CCTV only installed at lift and staircase exits?
This is not the first time i’ve heard of this. I myself experienced it. I heard stories like, they put laptop in car boot, the car is parked inside the house(porch) and same thing happen!!! Some more ridiculous case like, laptop put on sofa in the living room, and whole family were upstairs, next seconds, gone!
How do we stop this?? Can police do something? What we can do now is, bring along your laptop where ever you go. Never ever leave your laptop in car, even for 1 minute.
I have a thought in my mind, why not we set up these theives! Put a laptop in car, and we observes from far. Do you think we can trapped them? Or is this done with the help of “internal/inside people” ??
We lauched a police report, went back home. And….i have not even had my ice-cream!!!
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Lincoln Said,
November 2, 2005 @ 10:54 am
I strongly believe that this laptop detector is an urban myth. An “turned off ” lap top will hardly emit any electricity beyond that of a watch battery .
If your car was broken into because of your laptop , it is likely someone was observing your behaviour or was following you . Or a complete random act.
Silhouette Said,
August 23, 2006 @ 1:23 pm
“This is not the first time i’ve heard of this. I myself experienced it. I heard stories like, they put laptop in car boot, the car is parked inside the house(porch) and same thing happen!!! Some more ridiculous case like, laptop put on sofa in the living room, and whole family were upstairs, next seconds, gone!”
Well… my 2 cents. Why would you leave a few thousand ringgit worth of equipment in your house (porch) or your sofa in the living room where it’s easy for someone to steal? Would you scatter RM4000 worth of RM100 notes all over your sofa and walk upstairs? It’s essentially pretty much the same thing.
I agree with Lincoln. I find it hard to imagine that such a detector exists. I think it’s more a case of thieves tailing people whom they know have laptops. Perhaps employees leaving an IBM office or Microsoft office carrying a laptop bag. Imagine their glee to tail these people home to find out the that jackass leaves his laptop in his car boot while he goes inside the house to sleep.
Senor Jay Said,
August 23, 2006 @ 1:59 pm
This laptop detector business is urban legend… I was once with 3 other ppl in a car, all carrying laptops with us. Went to a hotel for dinner, and we were going to jockey park the car. As we pulled up to the jockey area and got out, I was the ONLY ONE who was going to leave my laptop in the car. Mine was the only one in the boot however, while the others had theirs with them because they were going to carry it to dinner with them for security’s sake. This is where stupidity came in: We got out of the car, and 3 of them started discussing whether or not to bring along or leave behind the laptops - out in the open with hotel employees nearby. It was then that I decided to take my laptop with me, while they left theirs in the boot. After dinner, when we got back to the car… someone had smashed in the window and all 3 laptops were stolen. Inevitably, this whole laptop detector story bubbled up, but I think it’s just natural stupidity that did the trick.
The Unlawyer » Laptop Theft and Occam’s Razor Said,
August 24, 2006 @ 6:05 am
[…] So, is this “special gadget” just another urban legend? Some say that this phenomena can be easily explained away as nothing more than just a matter of astute thieves who keep a sharp eye out for people carrying the tell-tale padded laptop bag and trailing them until the time is right to strike. […]
WL Said,
August 24, 2006 @ 6:27 pm
Silhouette: “Would you scatter RM4000 worth of RM100 notes all over your sofa and walk upstairs” - definately need to put in room and lock it.
Senor Jay: You lost your laptop too? Aiyo, never never ever leave your laptop in the car. No one will pity one. People will just say you are stupid to leave your laptop in car.
zeph Said,
December 12, 2008 @ 3:25 pm
as mentioned, the only way they are able to detect is if ur laptop is on with the rf detector. for the post of car alarm not going off, maybe it did but turning it off is kinda easy these days. and most people turn a deaf ear. most will think “oh some woman just pressed the wrong button again” (sorry if that sounds sexist).
and yes i do agree with the fact, a lot of us just do silly stuff like discussing our private stuff in public. we’re easily giving away information to people who could make good use of it for themselves. why would u wanna let people know u got a stash of cash in your car for example. u coming out of the bank and looking stupidly panicky(not sure if this word exists) is already a good enough hint that u have something that they want.
*rant off*
Calvin Foo Said,
July 28, 2009 @ 4:57 pm
The logic is rather simple. Imagine during off office hour, a group of office attire, smartly dressed guys, car pool, parked their car in the basement, came out to the mall (happy hour or dinner), but not carrying any suit case or laptop bags.
Isn’t that indirectly they are telling the world “hey, we are leaving our bags in the boot”?
You don’t need a metal detector to tell that
seo company Said,
August 11, 2009 @ 12:08 am
If they stole my laptop l would be fuming has l do seo