Email from Police

1644 Views 16 Replies 12 Participants Last post by jcgriff2, Jun 13, 2008

Promagstyle

Discussion Starter · Jun 3, 2008

I recently purchased a brand new Acer Desktop with Vista Home Premium installed on it and I just had it for about five days.

I have recieved an email from the Police station, saying that they have tracked my computer saying it was stolen a few weeks ago. They are telling me that I should turn it into the Police station.

Why are they saying that my computer that I recently bought from a vendor says that it is stolen? How do they know where the computer is and how did they track it?

Can the police track the new computer that I am using by its Vista CD-KEY or Serial Number of the computer?

I guess I have to turn this computer into the police anyways and I hope they get the culprits who stole this computer and gave it too the vendor to sell it. It was too good of a price anyways $570 for an Acer P4.

Can the police track the new computer that I am using by its Vista CD-KEY or Serial Number of the computer?

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1 - 17 of 17 Posts

dai

· #2 · Jun 3, 2008

there are tracking services available,as soon as it goes online it sends a signal pin pointing it's location
here you would not receive no email just a bang on the door and a pair of handcuffs

peterhuang913

· #3 · Jun 3, 2008

They probably track you by your IP. Just bring it to the police, show proof of purchase, and see if they will get your money back.

sobeit

· #4 · Jun 3, 2008

The email sound suspicious. I doubt the police will email if they know you have a stole computer. They would come and get it.

In the past theres been scams about turning your computer or yourself into the police that came via email.

IMO, just delete that email

Glaswegian

· #5 · Jun 3, 2008

I agree with sobeit. It's like the police sending an e-mail to a bank robber and saying "We know you have the cash, just bring it along to the station and we'll say no more about it."

Delete it.

dai

· #6 · Jun 3, 2008

see if it links back to someone you know
http://www.johnru.com/active-whois/trace-email.html

Done_Fishin

· #7 · Jun 3, 2008

sounds like a scam to me .. try getting in touch with ACER and see if they have any records of it being stolen .. someone might be trying to make you return it so that it can be put back in the loop again and then sold again to another unsuspecting customer. It could even be the vendor who is doing it .. reports it stolen , sells it, possible anonymous tip off, possible bogus message from authorities but maybe from vendor, laptop is returned, vendor gets it back ... all hypothesis I know .. but ...

Promagstyle

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jun 4, 2008

Damn it, too make things worse my roomates threw out the original packaging stuff. The Acer box and manuals within it.... even the garbage truck came and took it away.

ebackhus

· #9 · Jun 4, 2008

You can check the serial number at Acer's site to see some basic info on it. Like the others have said, though, the police won't email you with their suspicions. I used to work in the burglary department of the San Antonio Police Department and emailing suspects was simply unheard of. It might be a good idea to get as much info about that email as possible and report that. If it's really a scam it's likely you weren't the first target...

jcgriff2

· #10 · Jun 6, 2008

Assuming the United States here...

1. Is the computer now in the same State in which it was purchased?
2. Was it (#1) when you received the email from the "Police"?
3. Did the email "originate" from a local Police Department (township/boro) - where you are now currently located?
4. Was it from a County Sheriff's Office (again, the county that has jurisdiction over the city you are currently located in)?
5. Any State Police involved?
6. Campus Security involved?
7. Was there a phone number on the email that you received... and if so, did you perform a "reverse trace" on it?
8. If #1 not true... then local Police have no jurisdiction over this matter... this would be a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2314 - involving the inter-state transportation of stolen goods.
9. Absolutely ignore the email... in fact, I would send one back from another computer - different IPO - different email address telling them to "pound sand" as the FBI would be the ones involved here... as it did cross state, if not Federal lines at some time. ICE would also most likely be involved.

In my opinion, it is a hoax, but I would nonetheless follow up on the serial number itself as suggested by others that have posted before me.

How "official" is the document? Can you post/screen-shot any of it removing any "incriminating" evidence?

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

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DonaldG

· #11 · Jun 7, 2008

I must agree with most of the above - sounds like a scam or a bad joke from a so called friend!

justpassingby

· #12 · Jun 10, 2008

+1 for the hoax

How would the police know your email address anyway ?

carsey

· #13 · Jun 10, 2008

Isp??

Done_Fishin

· #14 · Jun 10, 2008

I believe but I am not sure that one might be able to get the IP address which would be Dynamic in most cases, it would be easier to get a static address since it doesn't change.. but you'd have to be extremely fast to catch the e-mail address from it .. it would mean getting a court order to force the ISP to search for what circuits were connected at the day & time .. then look up the user .. without a really good excuse for the court, I think this would be more than local Police might want to do.

justpassingby

· #15 · Jun 10, 2008

Yes, it would need an attorney to force the ISP to disclose its log, see what client was connected and give the e-mail address of that client.

truthseeker

· #16 · Jun 12, 2008

Promagstyle said:
I recently purchased a brand new Acer Desktop with Vista Home Premium installed on it and I just had it for about five days.

I have recieved an email from the Police station, saying that they have tracked my computer saying it was stolen a few weeks ago. They are telling me that I should turn it into the Police station.

Why are they saying that my computer that I recently bought from a vendor says that it is stolen? How do they know where the computer is and how did they track it?

Can the police track the new computer that I am using by its Vista CD-KEY or Serial Number of the computer?

I guess I have to turn this computer into the police anyways and I hope they get the culprits who stole this computer and gave it too the vendor to sell it. It was too good of a price anyways $570 for an Acer P4.

Can the police track the new computer that I am using by its Vista CD-KEY or Serial Number of the computer?

This never happened at all. You are just fishing for information to see if you can be traced because I suspect you have bought a stolen PC and a bit worried if it actually can get traced.

If I were you, I suggest you never buy any stolen property, because sooner or later it will catch up to you, it always does.

Live a honest life and you have nothing to fear.

jcgriff2

· #17 · Jun 13, 2008

Done_Fishin said:
.. it would mean getting a court order to force the ISP to search for what circuits were connected at the day & time .. then look up the user .. without a really good excuse for the court, I think this would be more than local Police might want to do.

justpassingby said:

Yes, it would need an attorney to force the ISP to disclose its log, see what client was connected and give the e-mail address of that client.

Click to expand...

I agree that a court order and the presence of an attorney (District Attorney) obtaining such (and having a good reason to do so) is the way it should work (or appear to work) in a Free and Democratic society. But it simply does not work this way. You may find records of such attempts within the courts, but I doubt you'll find an affirmation by a Federal Appellate Court here in the United States, anyway - especially post-9/11.

Such a request would have to be made at the Federal level, which would then (most likely) fall under the "jurisdiction" of FISA - and if for some strange and extremely rare reason that non-public method failed, the Federal Agents wanting this information could then very simply invoke the Patriot Act to get the job done. As far as the technology hoops they would then need to jump through to obtain the actual information, I do not know very much about.

Outside of a non-Federal trial for a crime such as murder, I cannot see the local police spending the resources on something that they would then need to explain at some point to the city council during budget hearings. The city council would much rather hear about the amount of projected revenue from speed-trap quota traffic tickets for the upcoming fiscal quarter.

JC

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