This happened to me last month and I wanted to pass along how my iPhone help put some burglars in jail, and some lessons I learned.
Last month I came home from work and my wife and I went to the gym to work out. Our laptops and iPhones were on the counter and we drove around the corner to our local gym. We did a normal 40 minute workout and drove home. As we pulled up to our house we noticed an unfamiliar car in our neighbors front yard. We pulled in to the garage and looked down at the car, the woman said she was feeding her baby.... strange, but ok. We went inside and within 10 seconds noticed we were robbed. Our MacBooks, iPhones, xBoxes, etc was gone. I raced out front and the car was taking off at the end of our street. I immediately called 911 and reported what had happened. It then dawned on me that I could track my iPhone... I had my mother immediately come over (luckily she lived not too far away) with her MacBook. I tried logging on to MobileMe with my neighbor's PC and it didn't like the version of IE (d**n PC's). My mother arrived and I got logged on and found my iPhone heading away from us. I called back to 911 to let them know. Immediately I received a phone call from a local deputy, interested in what I was doing. I explained what happened, the description of the car, and the direction/location. He said thanks, and hung up. I found out afterwards that the info I gave him allowed him to see the car and to trail them. At some point they must have realized my phone had a GPS and threw it out the window because it went stationary on MobileMe. My son drove up to the location and found my iPhone on the side of the road, unscratched. The police followed the car and arrested the woman (her boyfriend was tracked/arrested the next morning). In her trunk was our MacBooks, xboxes, etc. He threw out some items before they arrived at his house and took off. These items were not recovered. He is still in jail, and she has lost custody of their kids. They are drug addicts looking for ways to feed their addiction.
Some lessons I learned... Hopefully it might help someone else out.
Thank goodness I had a passcode on my iPhone. I think that is why they thew it out the window. I've also made sure the wipe after 10 attempts is enabled.
Thank goodness for MobileMe and Track my iPhone.
I regularly use TimeMachine to backup my Mac... but I keep the drive in my bag. Fortunately he did't take my bag(it was right below my laptop with my wallet in it). From now on I'll keep my drive away from my laptop.
I didn't have a very good inventory of what we lost. The insurance company wants receipts, picture, proof of everything that was taken. I bought an inventory program last weekend and started documenting everything.
Michael
Last month I came home from work and my wife and I went to the gym to work out. Our laptops and iPhones were on the counter and we drove around the corner to our local gym. We did a normal 40 minute workout and drove home. As we pulled up to our house we noticed an unfamiliar car in our neighbors front yard. We pulled in to the garage and looked down at the car, the woman said she was feeding her baby.... strange, but ok. We went inside and within 10 seconds noticed we were robbed. Our MacBooks, iPhones, xBoxes, etc was gone. I raced out front and the car was taking off at the end of our street. I immediately called 911 and reported what had happened. It then dawned on me that I could track my iPhone... I had my mother immediately come over (luckily she lived not too far away) with her MacBook. I tried logging on to MobileMe with my neighbor's PC and it didn't like the version of IE (d**n PC's). My mother arrived and I got logged on and found my iPhone heading away from us. I called back to 911 to let them know. Immediately I received a phone call from a local deputy, interested in what I was doing. I explained what happened, the description of the car, and the direction/location. He said thanks, and hung up. I found out afterwards that the info I gave him allowed him to see the car and to trail them. At some point they must have realized my phone had a GPS and threw it out the window because it went stationary on MobileMe. My son drove up to the location and found my iPhone on the side of the road, unscratched. The police followed the car and arrested the woman (her boyfriend was tracked/arrested the next morning). In her trunk was our MacBooks, xboxes, etc. He threw out some items before they arrived at his house and took off. These items were not recovered. He is still in jail, and she has lost custody of their kids. They are drug addicts looking for ways to feed their addiction.
Some lessons I learned... Hopefully it might help someone else out.
Thank goodness I had a passcode on my iPhone. I think that is why they thew it out the window. I've also made sure the wipe after 10 attempts is enabled.
Thank goodness for MobileMe and Track my iPhone.
I regularly use TimeMachine to backup my Mac... but I keep the drive in my bag. Fortunately he did't take my bag(it was right below my laptop with my wallet in it). From now on I'll keep my drive away from my laptop.
I didn't have a very good inventory of what we lost. The insurance company wants receipts, picture, proof of everything that was taken. I bought an inventory program last weekend and started documenting everything.
Michael
