Over the past few months Portland area schools have been victimized by a number burglaries targeting computer equipment. One of the schools had enough and installed GadgetTrak software on a number of laptops. Within a week the school was broken into again, but this time they stole the wrong laptops. The software was activated and started sending photos of who was using the stolen computer and location, with this information the police were able to work with GadgetTrak to identify the location of the device. The police recovered the laptop and identified key suspects for at least four of the school burglaries that have occured over the past few months.

Another laptop has been recovered thanks to GadgetTrak. A Mac was stolen from our customer Kari Hardre during a home burglary along with jewelry, the GadgetTrak software activated and sent location, network data and images of the thief back.

“They kicked the front door in, so I would invest that $50. It’s an investment well worth it,” said Kari Hardre.

A customer who installed GadgetTrak software on his MacBook had it returned to him yesterday. The MacBook went on long journey from Portland to Missouri after the customer’s laptop was stolen from his residence during a burglary.  After a few weeks the laptop connected to the Internet and sent its location and photos of the person using the system in Missouri. Over the course of a few days several photos and locations were captured, as well as the name of the person using the system and other data, all provided to law enforcement.

The laptop exchanged hands a few times with a full audit trail left thanks to  GadgetTrak’s software, which has had a number of successful recoveries over the past few months including one in Brooklyn, New York and another in Oakland, California all of which unveiled larger crimes and theft rings. If you are part of the press and would like more information regarding this recovery including the contact details of the police detectives who worked on the case feel free to contact us directly at 503-799-8610.

The headquarters of a prominent start-up in San Francisco was broken into, seven laptops were stolen from the premises. All of these laptops had security cables attached, however they were quickly and easily cut  and the laptops taken. On one of these laptops an employee had installed GadgetTrak’s laptop security software.  The device owner activated tracking for the device and contacted GadgetTrak. Within a few hours the device was connected to the Internet, the location of the thief as well as a photo of him was taken and emailed to the device owner as well as the Flickr account they had setup.

Using the data GadgetTrak ‘s software provided, the police arrived at the location in Oakland within a few hours and were able to identify who the perpetrator was as well as where he was staying.  Two of the laptops had been sold before the thief had arrived at the location the photo was captured. Using the photo the police were able to identify the person and get additional information regarding the burglary.

“The problem with traditional theft recovery applications has been that it relies only on the IP address, which requires the police to get a subpoena and it can be a long process taking days, weeks and even months. With GadgetTrak’s software we had the location and a photo of the thief immediately, this allowed us to move quickly and within a few hours we were at the location and had the indentity of the suspect” said Detective Marc Hinch of the Oakland Police Department “Having the ability to work directly with the device owner who had access to the data, as well as 24/7 access to GadgetTrak’s recovery team for technical assistance was also a huge help.”

GadgetTrak has recovered a stolen iMac in New York that had GadgetTrak installed. The system was stolen two weeks ago and then connected to the Internet two days ago, the device was recovered this morning.  GadgetTrak’s MacTrak software captured a photo of who was using the system as well as pinpointed the location within a few meters, all of the data was uploaded automatically to the device owner’s Flickr account and email. The NYPD followed up and recovered the system, along with two other stolen laptops from different cases.

The device was tracked using GadgetTrak’s Wi-Fi positioning to a tattoo parlor in Brooklyn, where the iMac and the other laptops were found in a back office.

We received an email from our customer with a photo of him and his recovered iMac, as well as this great testimonial:

” After a previous burglary of my home, I installed GadgetTrak on my iMac desktop, a computer I cherished for its power and sleek appearance.  Sure enough, six months later, I was robbed again.  However, with the help of GadgetTrak and the NYPD, I got my computer back!  Like insurance, this software was something I debated on getting.  When I did, I hoped I would never have to use it and was only buying peace of mind, yet it has proven its value fifty times over.  The police were able to recover two other stolen computers as well.  Words cannot express my gratitude for this genius software. ” - A

GadgetTrak has recovered another stolen mobile phone for one of its customers, this time in Edmond Oklahoma. GadgetTrak Mobile Security was installed on an AT&T Tilt that was given to one of the customer’s children who attends the local high school. The phone was stolen from the student a few weeks ago.

GadgetTrak’s recovery team worked with the device owner as well as the Edmond Police department to track the device down.  The device was returned to its rightful owner this morning.

If you are a reporter and would like more information regarding the story including police report number and contact details for the Edmond police department and detective who assisted the GadgetTrak recovery team please contact 503-799-8610.

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“I currently have possession of the flash drive again! We had a visual ID of the individual from the security camera, and the person’s name.  When I first purchased GadgetTrak, I just thought it was cool, I never thought that I would actually have to use it.  Thanks for all of your guidance and assistance in helping me recover my flash drive!”

Sohail - Dallas, Texas

Last week GadgetTrak customer Sohail had his 32GB Corsair Flash Voyager  stolen. He manages technology for a business, and had some sensitive information was on the device, luckily he had GadgetTrak USB installed on it and promptly activated tracking. Within a day he began receiving tracking notifications, the device was connected to the thief’s home computer and accessed multiple times over the next few days.

In addition to tracking data collected from the thief’s residence, additional connections were made from a computer lab at nearby university, over the next few days additional connections were made in other labs, one of which required an ID card to access where a security camera was also present.  The police assigned a detective to the case and the GadgetTrak USB tracking data and other evidence revealed the identity of  the individual who had Sohail’s flash drive, he was confronted by the police and the device was immediately returned.

A customer in Anchorage,  Alaska had his phone stolen, luckily he had installed GadgetTrak Mobile Security on the device.  Today he has his stolen phone back and the mobile thief is behind bars. Here is is his story:

I own an AT&T Tilt. Recently it was stolen, 3 days later the thief was in jail and I had my phone back. I was working out at the Alaska Club and some one broke into my locker and stole everything I had in there, my wallet, car keys, cell phone, and a birthday present that I had bought for my 2 year old son.

Prior to all of this I had purchased GadgetTrak,  and had it installed to my AT&T Tilt cell phone. I had set up the software and everything so that it would alert my wife as well as my more “private” email account when ever it was turned on.

I gave the information to the Anchorage Police Department that I was getting from the phone (via SMS) to my email account, as well as the GPS positioning of the phone, and the APD was able to locate and collect my phone from the thief as well as arrest him. We are now awaiting our court date to finalize the charges. Sadly the APD was not able to recover the birthday present that I had bought for my son, but at least they were able to put another THIEF behind bars where they belong.

According to the thief he had no idea that the phone was being tracked. The APD has linked him to several other thefts from other Alaska Club locations.

The ONLY reason I am endorsing this product is that it worked, I got my phone back, and the person that stole it was arrested.

- Phil (Anchorage, Alaska)

GadgetTrak has recovered another iPod for a subscriber this month with another pending. Mario Xavier in Oregon lost his iPod and had it recovered using the GadgetTrak service last week. Mario was quite surprised when we called him and told him we knew the whereabouts of his iPod. Within 24 hours Mario had his iPod back in his hands and we received an email from him a few days ago “I just wanted to let you all know how glad I am regarding your service. I just got my iPod back and it’s all due to GadgetTrak. Thanks again!”.

We also have another iPod recovery still in progress, connection data was sent to us after an iPod was stolen in a middle school, a police report has been filed with the GadgetTrak data collected. We were able to provide detailed information regarding the whereabouts of the device and who had it, the school administrators and police are investigating further.

Since GadgetTrak launched its patent-pending system for recovering portable electronics last March, we have been happy to report several recoveries for our subscribers. The recoveries that we are able to report on the site are published with the permission of our subscribers, there have been quite a few others in the past few months and not just iPods.

Over the past year we have also made vast improvements to our  GadgetTrak USB software including the ability to get around common firewalls and additional measures to avoid detection on multiple operating systems.  We have also greatly improved our technology to protect our subscribers privacy, such as strong encryption of data sent between the host system and our server.  GadgetTrak now has two patents filed for our theft recovery solutions with more innovative solutions on the way.  GadgetTrak USB is also now being bundled with Seagate/Maxtor external hard drives, providing additional protection for their consumers.

….

With Christmas fast approaching, a lot of people will be getting gadgets for Christmas. Many of these gadgets will be stolen. The recovery rate for GadgetTrak subscribers has been above 90% over the past few months. People ask how did you do it? I will run through two recent iPod recoveries.

Newmarket, Ontario Stolen iPod Recovery

In Nemarket, Ontario an iPod was stolen from one of our subscribers Geoff, who had installed the GadgetTrak USB software on a friends iPod, as he had an extra license. His friends iPod was stolen a few months later.

Geoff logged in and flagged the device as stolen as well as notified us directly. Reviewing the case, the iPod in question was stolen in a high school so we assumed that the thief was a fellow student in the school. After a short amount of time a connection was made with forensic data. With the information provided by the GadgetTrak agent software we were able to work with the school administrators to identify the student who had stolen the iPod, the iPod was recovered from the student and it matched the serial number of the iPod registered with us. The iPod was given back to the owner.

“Great news! We recovered the stolen ipod. The thief was confronted with the evidence, and sure enough, the serial numbers matched. We printed out the GadgetTrak report, and that was just about all the evidence they needed. Just wanted to thank you again for your great service! Apparently the principal, school administrators, advisers, and students are all looking into GadgetTrak after hearing our success story. “- Geoff

Dublin, Ohio Stolen iPod Nano Recovery

Another more recent recovery was in in Dublin, Ohio. A GadgetTrak subscriber Michele, had installed GadgetTrak USB on her step-daughters iPod Nano. On October 18th the iPod was stolen by a fellow student at her high school. The GadgetTrak sticker had been peeled off and the serial number of the iPod was even filed off, however the GadgetTrak USB software gave the thief away.

After talking with the Dublin, Ohio police department we learned that not only was our subscriber’s iPod Nano recovered , but also a large cache of other stolen property. Our subscriber was very pleased with our software and service:

“My stepdaughter got her iPod back today, she said the kid that took it plugged it in and that GadgetTrak saw it and worked with the school. That was AWESOME! You have one very happy teenage girl!” - Michele

Another iPod has been recovered thanks to GadgetTrak. A subscriber reported her daughter’s iPod stolen on October 18th and was returned to her today. The GadgetTrak sticker had been removed and the serial number filed away, however the GadgetTrak agent installed on the device gave the thief away. Here is a snippet of information from the subscriber:

“My stepdaughter got her iPod back today, she said the kid that took it plugged it in and that Gadget Trak saw it and worked with the school. That was AWESOME! You have one very happy teenage girl!“

This is the third iPod GadgetTrak has helped recovery in the past few months, out of six total devices reported stolen, five of them have found their way back to their owners.

We are still learning more regarding the specifics of the case and will post more as information becomes available. What is interesting is the number iPod thefts we are seeing in schools or colleges.

[Update]: We received a call from the Dublin, Ohio police department this morning regarding the theft. We also learned that it was not just our subscriber’s iPod that was recovered but quite a bit of other stolen property.

I just wanted to share a testimonial we received from a customer whose iPod we recently recovered in a Canadian high school:

Great news! We recovered the stolen ipod. The thief was confronted with the evidence, and sure enough, the serial numbers matched. We printed out the GadgetTrak report, and that was just about all the evidence they needed. Just wanted to thank you again for your great service! Apparently the principal, school administrators, advisers, and students are all looking into GadgetTrak after hearing our success story.

-G

Another successful device recovery,  this time in Newmarket, Ontario.  A victim of iPod theft gets their device back thanks to GadgetTrak. One of GadgetTrak’s customers purchased a 5 device subscription and had a device to spare, so he installed it on his friend’s iPod. The friend’s iPod was recently stolen at his school.  Within a short amount of time a connection was made and GadgetTrak was able to collect evidence related to who had the device.

The information GadgetTrak collected was provided to school officials who confronted the individual believed to have stolen the iPod based on the GadgetTrak evidence. The iPod suspect was carrying the iPod at the time and the serial number matched the serial number of the device registered with GadgetTrak.  The device was returned too its rightful owner.

One of GadgetTrak’s customers, Ian from Toronto has successfully recovered his missing USB thumb drive. Ian left his USB thumb drive in the back of a computer in a computer lab. The drive had quite a bit of his work and personal files on it and he was not sure if it was stolen or not. One of his instructors actually found the drive and brought it back to his house, as it was the end of the day. Ian flagged the device in our system when he noticed it was missing that same day. His instructor plugged the device into his computer which triggered the agent and sent Ian information regarding the connection.

Luckily the device was returned the next day to Ian by the instructor, so no further action needed to be taken. Ian told his instructor as well as the rest of his class that the device was being tracked by GadgetTrak and as Ian tells us “they were pretty amazed”.

This goes to show you that devices are not always stolen, many times they are simply left somewhere or misplaced. The number of iPods and other gadgets that are left in computer labs, airplanes, bars etc are on the rise. GadgetTrak not only helps recover devices when they are stolen, but also helps protect in cases where the device is simply left behind. In addition to the patent-pending technology we offer to electronically track devices, we also have the GadgetTrak labels that are put on devices which allow another level of protection without having to engrave your personal details on the device (if someone steals your iPod what would keep them from stealing your identity?).