A Cochrane man used his computer skills to track his stolen computer when he noticed someone had used it to log onto social media.
On the morning of Monday, January 16, someone stole a truck from along Meadow Way in Cochrane and then went next door and lifted a laptop out of a nearby car.
The owner of that computer is Stu Gale who is a computer and home automation specialist.
Gale remotely logged on and watched as someone connected to a facebook account under the name JazzDawn.
“It had a considerable amount of information on it including her contact info and chats that had started with friends,” says Gale.
Gale discovered the woman’s phone number and her friends’ phone numbers and called one of them.
“I told the person she was on a stolen laptop and needed to return it,” says Gale.
The facebook account went dark just minutes after that call.
Trackers have been built into most laptops, phones, and even cars which allows you to figure out where they are and who’s using them.
However, if you decide to track down someone using a stolen item, privacy experts warn you need to be careful not to run afoul of the law while tracking down your stuff.
“If you take someone’s facebook you repost it publically and it was set to private then that's a form of privacy invasion so you really need to be careful what you are doing probably a better thing to do is take it to law enforcement,” says University of Calgary security expert Tom Keenan.
Gale did take all the information to Cochrane RCMP who says they are confident an arrest will follow.
(With files from Kevin Green)
