Facebook, you’re my hero: tech savvy student uses social media to recover stolen laptop

23.03.2011

A tech savvy student has used his internet prowess to track down a thief who broke into his dorm and stole his laptop.

Massachusetts college student, Mark Bao, used social media sites Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to track down the culprit and recover his stolen MacBook Air. The laptop was taken back in February after a fellow student broke into his room at Bentley University.

The 18-year-old used an automated backup syncing service to hack into the stolen computer’s hard drive and browser history. Using this access point, Mark discovered that the thief had taken photographs and posted a video of himself on YouTube dancing to Tyga’s ‘Make it Rain’.

The student-turned-detective was then able to trace the burglar back to his Facebook page in order to identify both his name and place of study. Mark, an entrepreneur and founder of two companies, hilariously recorded his entire journey on twitter.

Astonishingly, the laptop was returned to Mark yesterday after he revealed the criminal’s identity to the police.

Unfortunately, not everyone can be as lucky and technologically able as Mark. According to John Carrington at the Metropolitan Police, a laptop is stolen every 53 seconds in the UK, and it is a well known fact that university campuses are prime targets for theft.

For students and teachers alike, prevention is easier that cure. Security cables and lockdown systems are secure and cost-effective ways to prevent laptop theft and are perfect for use in university bedrooms and libraries.

It might be an idea for Mark Bao to use these simple security measures in future!

Find out more about security cables and lockdown systems