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An interesting story, I'm glad it worked for the OP...I had been robbed at gunpoint sometime ago in NYC. The cops helped as much as they could but nothing above and beyond...for example, the fact that whoever had my iPod was now using my Netflix account through it didn't really register much interest (and a Netflix rep claimed to not be able to track the IP that device was using...huh?). I did set up a fake account on Craigslist to pretend that I was looking to buy an iPod of my specific make and model (it wasn't a common color/size) and found a couple of people who were selling such an iPod, but they claimed to have original packaging, which would not apply in my case (though I guess if you're good at being a fence you can get packaging from somewhere). Mostly, I learned how annoying it is to search through Craigslist noise. ---- edit: Some commenters have noted that the OP's story sounds fake, on the grounds that a big city police department wouldn't take interest. Well, yes and no. My good friend had her iPhone snatched in a park during the day. She chased the perp on foot and managed to get the attention of police and, in her words, no less than two unmarked police cars suddenly showed up. They chased the perp into the projects but at that point, there was nothing the police could do. But they did take her to the station to look at mug shots and file a report. In my case, I had left my phone unerased for a week (it was Android) and turned on the tracking program, which allowed me to locate him approximately with GPS and even record sound and take photos. I found where he was staying on two different occasions but the police declined to check it out...and I don't begrudge them since a 100-foot radius in a NYC apartment complex is quite large. Also, my detective was involved in investigating an unusually public and brutal crime that weekend and couldn't get back to me. In other words, the NYPD will call out the troops for a crime in progress, or if you have an otherwise extremely solid lead, as in the case of the OP. Otherwise, yes, they will not go out of their way to track your stolen goods, because they operate on the assumption that it's been sold on the street (in my case, I doubted my phone had been sold, because the Android program lets me know how many times someone has tried to unlock the passcode and other usage info about the phone...it definitely hadn't been hard-wiped to be resold yet). |
Car theft used to be a much bigger problem before 1) VINs everywhere and 2) anti-theft systems. The easiest way to steal a high end car now is carjacking (i.e. once all the security systems are dieabled); otherwise, you have to either flatbed it or have the right ECU to swap for a specific model. Opportunistic theft of a late-model luxury car is actually pretty hard now.
European cellphone vendors do this; it really should be done for any product. I'd be ok with the manufacturer charging a small fee to officially transfer ownership, too, guaranteeing that the first purchaser can't then trace the device.