500 EURO reward for finding car by finding laptop

Komawi writes "Greetings, On the night of march 11th my car was stolen (Mercedes Benz, I'm realy fond of that car!), but also my laptop with in it a wireless networkcard with the following MAC address: 00:30:BD:9C:BD:B2 Also a mobile phone was stolen, with IMEI number 351083531088913. If anyone has a way to locate these goods and by this I get back my car, a reward of 500 euros will be given! The goods were taken from Alkmaar, The Netherlands somewhere between 2004-03-11 23:00 and 2004-03-12 07:30. May the force be with you!"

Comments

Running distributed.net?

[Nugget]

Were you running dnetc on the laptop? We've recovered a few pieces of stolen computer equipment over the years when the theives plugged the boxes back in to the net and the installed client software sent back completed work.

Sorry to hear about the theft. I can only imagine how awful it feels.

Re:Running distributed.net?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, you told us your cell's IMEI and your laptop's MAC. How about your car's numberplate?

Re:Running distributed.net?

[Decado]

Next story will be "I tried ringing the stolen phone, did anyone hear a phone ringing?"

First post

[Anonymous Coward]

...I got your car too

FF

[MouseR]

First fool!

(I actually believed it)

Found.

[blitzoid]

Found it.

Oh, right, you wanted that stuff back. Sorry, I made way more than 500 euros just by parting it out.

Oh crap!

[Dark Lord Seth]

For sale:

Second hand Mercedes, second hand laptop and second hand mobile phone.

Total price: 501

Re:Oh crap!

[richie2000]

I mean, if you know the car's stolen, you can just go up to it and steal it again yourself.

That's actually illegal in Sweden. There are cases when someone who was trying to sell their car loans it to a prospective buyer for a test drive who then promply drives away with it (which technically isn't "theft" since he was given the keys, it's more or less a misdemeanor amounting to "borrowing with intent" (egenmaktigt forfarande, bork, bork, bork)). The rightful owner tracks the car down, takes it back, is caught by the police and prosecuted for the same crime as the "thief".

Re:Oh crap!

[Shanep]

which technically isn't "theft" since he was given the keys, it's more or less a misdemeanor amounting to "borrowing with intent"

There was a case in Australia, where a taxi passenger pulled a knife on the driver. The driver said something to the effect of, "here! take the money!", handing the knife wielding passenger his money bag...

The thief was not charged with theft because the taxi driver told him to take the money!

Re:What?

[YetAnotherAnonymousC]

I'm usually the first to bemoan non-news postings, but the fact is that slashdot is also a community (see "Ask Slashdot"). While posting every single theft report doesn't make sense, you have to admit that it would be cool, in this case, if the slashdot community came up with a way to track this auto down using technology, yes?

the MAC address is Belkin

[REBloomfield]

so he might be telling the truth....

My Beounty

[Devil Ducky]

Strangely enough my car was stolen too, yeah that's the ticket. So, I'm offering $500US to anyone who retrieves my Mercedes Benz with a wireless capable laptop and a cell phone in it... just send me the car, the laptop, and the phone and I will send you your $500. Thank you for your support during this trying time.

Re:My Beounty

[glpierce]

"just send me the car"

Hmm... I know I had a car-sized cardboard box around here somewhere...

Hmm...

[Sirch]

The thought that it's April Fool's Day immediately leads one to question the validity of any story on Slashdot or any other news outlet. Although I doubt this is an April Fool's Day joke, how do we know that it's real? How do we know that this person isn't actually looking for someone else by searching for their MAC address? OR something more sinister?

The other thing about April Fool's Day is that noone ever believes me when I say it's my birthday. Which is kind of depressing.

Re:2004-03-11? He's going to need lots of luck.

[jdonnis]

No, civilized countries write dates either as DDMMYYYY or YYYYMMDD, you don't just juggle the digits around.

Nobody would write time like HH:SS:MM ? Of course not, it would be just as ridiculous as writing a date like YYYYDDMM it doesn't make any sense.

Or you could write dates like most airlines do 01APR04 or in this case 11MAR04..

You poor poor man

[Em Emalb]

I so sorry about your loss.

I cannot help with your laptop theft, but oh Holy Day! I have been the pleasure of telling you that there is most definitely good news for you today sir!

I am Abdul Shakalakabangbang, from New Timur. Our Prime Minister, may his soul flatulate freely in heaven, was tragically killed in a mushroom stuffing contest. Since I his trusted most aide, he leave me lots of money. Due to political unrest, and a bad case of hemorroids, I am needing to remove this money from the country. This is where you can help me, my new friend.

If you feel most strongly you can help this poor man, please contact me and let us know.

thanks,

Dr Shakalakadangdang

Foolerisms

[meta-monkey]

I think this is a bit of a twist on the April Foolery. Notice the department for this article: "real-submissions-unedited dept." I'm sure people submit inane "stories" like this all the time, and they're usually promptly deleted. I think somebody actually did submit this story in all sincerity, and the joke is that /. actually published it...

License plate?

[martingunnarsson]

You'd think the license plate number would be a better clue than the MAC address and IMEI code of the electronics, but what the hell, this is slashdot!

I think I found it

[jayayeem]

Is this your Mercedes

Info on the mobile phone.

[shakey_deal]

IMEI number analysis results

Manufacturer Siemens
Model type S55 S30880-S5720
Reference S30880-S5720
Production date N/A
Phone version N/A
Phone GSM phase GSM Phase 2 or higher

IMEI number break-down

Type Approval / Allocation Code (TAC) 351083
Final Assembly Code (FAC) 53
Serial Number (SNR) 108891
Check Digit (CD) 3
Full IMEI presentation 351083-53-108891-3

may be joke but..

[westcourt_monk]

How about a site that publishes MAC addresses of stolen laptops? Hmmm? Include 802.11 MAC as well and those centrino chips become useful ;) Migh tbe a nice feature on /.

Re:What?

[TOGA! TOGA TOGA!]

besides, how cool would a story be:

today, a notorious car thief was caught by a mob of computer nerds...

I Found it!!

[Otis2222222]

It was in the conservatory, stolen by Professor Plum, using the lead pipe. Where do I collect my (insert fancy Euro symbol here)500 Reward?

Re:2004-03-11? He's going to need lots of luck.

[Draknor]

Well, actually you'll find that alot of people in the UK will say "Meet me on the 17th of April, 2004". There is a world outside the US, you know.

Hahahahaha! April Fool's!! Good one!





.... oh wait, you weren't joking.

Re:Did you try calling your own GSM?

[fuzzybunny]

Bummer, you're probably right about the Merc, and I'm sorry to hear about how the burglars/phone co./cops treated you.

However, a friend's GSM phone was stolen in Italy (out of her car, along with a lot of other stuff.) TIM helped them find it after they called the phone. The police located a bunch of Romanian illegals living in an apartment in Milan, showed up with a couple of burly cops, got most of the goods back, and beat the living unholy shit out of the guys, several times, threw them in a cell for a couple of days and deported them, with a very clear message that if they ever ran into them again in Italy, they'd wish they'd never laid eyes on the country.

So there is always the off chance...

Tips and Tricks to Avoid Laptop Thefts

[wehe]

Here are some tips and tricks for Theft and Loss Protection for Linux Laptops and Notebooks. Some of these tricks are useful for other operating systems, too.

Re:2004-03-11? He's going to need lots of luck.

[realkiwi]

Like we say "come and spend your holiday in Russia, your car is already here!".

Most Mercedes stolen in western Europe get a second chance in eastern Europe.

Re:2004-03-11? He's going to need lots of luck.

[dorward]

YYYY-MM-DD is quite standard

Quite standard? You can't get more standard then ISO-standard! :)

Engagement

[pjt33]

Having fooled at least five people today by claiming to be engaged, my aim for next year is to get engaged on the 31st of March.

The Geek Army Unleashed!

[BigBlockMopar]

with the following MAC address: 00:30:BD:9C:BD:B2 Also a mobile phone was stolen, with IMEI number 351083531088913
Next story will be "I tried ringing the stolen phone, did anyone hear a phone ringing?"

What I'm really worried about is the poor thief. After all, he's just unleashed an unemployed geek army, ready to do battle.

"Cornelius! Look! I saw that MAC address! Hit the gas! Rev up that little Honda Civic! Think of all the anime posters we can buy when we get the reward!"

"Eugene! I was playing with my scanner and I found that IMEI, so I triangulated its location! We can buy t-shirts on Thinkgeek with the reward money! Go Away Or I Will Replace You With A Very Small Shell Script!" [snorting laughter]

And pretty soon, there are 2,500 unemployed virgins with masking tape holding together their glasses converging on the thief's doorstep.

Dude, wherever you are, turn yourself in before it's too late.