Someone stole my PC!

[davve146]

I know the title may seem a bit clickbaity, but it is in fact true that my PC was stolen the other day. Or so I think. There was a break in in my house the other day and the window to my room was open. With a 2000$ pc with RGB for days it's definitely stolen.

 

Therefore I'm posting because I'm wondering if there is any way for me to remotely view my the activity on the pc. An event viewer of sorts. I have checked my Google activity and that seems untouched, however my PC user is not connected to my Microsoft account so I'm not sure if it's possible. 

 

If there is any way of figuring this out or any other thing I should do please let me know below. Thanks!

 

[Valkyrie Lenneth]

any1 that isnt a dumbass would format a pc atleast when stealing it

 

unless u know mac adress of ur network card u prolly wont get far

[Sir Asvald]

Nothing you can do, report it to the police. Are there CCTV cameras near your place? If there is let the police know.

[Spotty]

Not really any way to track it. Report it to police and provide them with the details of the parts of the computer and if they stumble upon it they might be able to return it to you. If you have pictures of your computer, include them in your police report if possible as that may help them identify it if it's a non-standard enclosure (ie. anything that isn't stock standard HP/Acer/Dell towers).

Best thing to do would be to keep an eye on local classifieds and facebook buy/swap/sell sites, as well as local pawn shops. Hopefully they take it to a pawn shop instead of selling it privately, as a pawn shop keeps records on the people pawning items, making it easier for police to track the person, and if it is stolen the police confiscate it and will return it to you. If you see it posted for sale on a buy/swap/sell page or on craigslist or whatever, record the details of the post (URL, screenshots, the sellers information) and forward that information to the police ASAP.
 

It's too late now, but there are small tracking devices that work with a phone sim that will track your devices for you in the event they are stolen, much the same way as "Find my Device" in iOS and Android devices. They're commonly used for motorbikes, but there are smaller sized ones these days that can work with pretty much anything. You may have to speak to your phone provider or other provides to see if they provide service for locator/tracker devices and how much the plans cost or if they can be bundled on to an existing account. Realistically though the cost of the tracker vs the likelihood of your house being broken in to and your computer tower being stolen isn't really worth it. But I just thought I'd mention it as an option.

[LogicalDrm]

If you haven't enabled the Win10 feature for it, no. Report it to authorities and contact your insurance company.

[aezakmi]

4 minutes ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

If you haven't enabled the Win10 feature for it, no. Report it to authorities and contact your insurance company.

who has insurance for a PC?

 

 

serious question

[Lurick]

3 minutes ago, aezakmi said:

who has insurance for a PC?

 

 

serious question

I do

Edit:

I actually have insurance for my PC and all my network gear because it's worth a good bit. I think it was like $50 or something for the year to add the rider to the policy.

 

10 hours ago, Valkyrie Lenneth said:

any1 that isnt a dumbass would format a pc atleast when stealing it

 

unless u know mac adress of ur network card u prolly wont get far

MAC address is link local, knowing it does nothing aside identifying a network device connected locally.

[Razor Blade]

3 minutes ago, aezakmi said:

who has insurance for a PC?

 

 

serious question

It should be covered under renter's or maybe even home owner's insurance. All you have to do is provide proof of what you spent...which should be really easy if you bought everything online. Depending on what was stolen and it's value...and your deductible it could be worth filing a claim.

[Lurick]

Just now, Razor Blade said:

It should be covered under renter's or maybe even home owner's insurance. All you have to do is provide proof of what you spent...which should be really easy if you bought everything online.

Was about to edit my post but with homeowners insurance you generally get some coverage but if you want full coverage for a specific item, ie. a single computer, then you can add a rider for that item up to ~$10k or $20k (I think the limit varies by company) without needing to provide anything extra to have it added for a few bucks a month. Anything over the limit and you need to have more documents to support it when adding the addition to the policy. Just make sure you have plenty of photos and have receipts backed up somewhere

[Razor Blade]

6 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Was about to edit my post but with homeowners insurance you generally get some coverage but if you want full coverage for a specific item, ie. a single computer, then you can add a rider for that item up to ~$10k or $20k (I think the limit varies by company) without needing to provide anything extra to have it added for a few bucks a month. Anything over the limit and you need to have more documents to support it when adding the addition to the policy. Just make sure you have plenty of photos and have receipts backed up somewhere

Agreed. Depending on the policy it will usually cover items up to a certain value. Over a certain value is when you need a rider so best to check with your insurance agent for sure... If it were me that lost a $2000 PC it would likely not be worth filing a claim with insurance...but if I had something like a $10k workstation or server? yeah it would be worth it for sure.

 

P.S. I wish I had a $10k workstation....

[TetraSky]

Most home insurance should cover things like your computers and other electronics for up to a certain value. (Mine cover everything up to $100k, since I'm just renting)
It's recommended that you take pictures of your items(inside and out) and keep them somewhere safe along with your invoices to prove you actually owned said items prior to getting robbed.

That said, unless you had specifically installed tracking softwares on the computer and that the thief didn't just format the drive, you're SOL.

The only thing you can do is report to the police (if that isn't the first thing you've done, there's something wrong with you) and hope that they catch whoever stole your shit and bring it back to you... Or check the classified ads on sites like graigslist if you see your PC and report to the cops...

[LogicalDrm]

16 hours ago, aezakmi said:

who has insurance for a PC?

 

 

serious question

As said before, that would be covered in home insurance. Sure there are things that lower sum you will get. But $2k build, less than 6mo old will be still at full value as its calculated what buying same stuff new would cost.

 

My own coverage has €150 limit before insurance company will cover anything. So changing glass on phone is nope, but they did pay 1/3 for repairing laptop I stepped onto.

 

E: to add. My home insurance has €5k top limit. Thats what I've set myself and it should cover everything if house burns or has other massive damage. Or is robbed fully.

Edited September 9, 2018 by LoGiCalDrm

[Chronified]

Check your modem settings to see if the MAC address has been stored somewhere, mine does.

If you're lucky then Net Neutrality is dead in your area and MAC address' are being forwarded to your ISP (not all do this, for obvious reasons). 

Then you can contact the local police and get permission to contact your local ISPs to do a MAC search, which does the obvious. If you're lucky x2 then they'll contact the ISPs for you, if you're not they'll make you call to do it, make sure to get the name and number of the officer that helps you.

Do not contact your ISPs before contacting the police, they do follow up with them to make sure you've reported it as stolen first (hence getting the officers info). 

 

Source: My PS3 was stolen years ago (ex tenant kept a copy of the key) and I had a picture of the MAC address, was tracked down to an exact address across town and retrieved by police for me. 

[Pixel5]

15 hours ago, aezakmi said:

who has insurance for a PC?

 

 

serious question

you dont have insurance for the PC you get it for everything inside your house, its usually the same insurance that also covers fire damages or other elemental damages.

[IrishDunner]

I have mine lojacked

[Tog Driver]

Hang on, you left your window open and someone climbed in? or the left via the window and left it open?

[Guest]

Unless you have a Mac with the Apple iCloud setup, I’d say no. 

 

Some report showed some iPad theif’s selfie pictures accidentally uploaded to iCloud.