House Break-in, Question re: Find My Device iCloud feature

Hello all,

Well, this sucks. My mother's house was broken into today. They kicked in the door and took a Sony flat-screen TV, her 11" MacBook Air w/Henge Dock, and her 27" LED Cinema Display. The silver lining is she wasn't home, the animals are unhurt and didn't run away, and they didn't ransack the place - those were the only items taken and everything was left neatly otherwise.

My questions are the following:

She has iCloud and the Find my Device option was enabled on her laptop. After logging in and tracking the device it currently says "offline." I'm not sure what to do at this point. I checked the "e-mail me when this device is found" box, which I assume will just send her iCloud an e-mail if/when the laptop connects to Wi-Fi.

However, I'm not sure whether to click the "Remote Wipe" button or "Remote Lock" button, because I don't want that to affect our ability to locate the device in the event that they do turn it on and connect to Wi-Fi. In other words, if I remote wipe, will I still be able to track its location after that?

I tried calling Apple, but the automated answering machine said "Apple does not have a system for reporting lost or stolen devices," so I got the impression that they don't want to be involved with helping recover something. I was hoping they could monitor it or trigger some super-duper stolen item recovery mode to help notify us if it was connected to Wi-Fi.

Anyway, I would greatly appreciate any advice on the matter... What happens if they connect and then disconnect when I'm not sitting there clicking "refresh" over and over on the Find my Device screen? Will I miss its last location??

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help...

Peace said:

Call the police ?

I wouldn't wipe it just lock it. If its locked you can still track it .

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Sorry forgot to mention police were contacted and came out, and devices were reported stolen. They said that if the items described came up at a pawn shop it would raise some flags and they might be able to recover it.

They tried locating fingerprints but said the burglars must've worn gloves because there were none to be found.

If the device is locked, do you think that will impede the robber's ability to login to Wi-Fi and thereby impede the chances of locating it?

My inclination is just to check the "e-mail me when the device is found" box and leave everything else as-is...

Does anyone know - When it sends the e-mail after the device connects to Wi-Fi, does it give the most recent location? Or do you then have to login while it's still connected, refresh, and hope you caught it in time to find the location?

Oh I'm sure there are ways around the remote lock feature... My concern is mainly 1) Locating it if at all possible so this ****** gets caught, or 2)If that's impossible, at least wipe my mother's data.

Update: They got on Wi-Fi. Have an exact location, took screenshot with Satellite view even showing the house where it is. Suprise, surprise, it's in a part of town known for drug dealers... Will update if it gets recovered. Called cops.

Ugh, cops say they need serial number or proof of purchase to prove it's hers. Logged onto her Apple account but when she purchased at Apple Store she didn't have an Apple ID yet so it wasn't associated with her account for some reason... She also didn't have a receipt mailed to her. Is there any way for her to get her serial number another way?

Gav2k said:

On the box

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Thank you!!! I am praying she saved the box... She is digging through closets atm. One problem also is the location is not precise if I understand correctly - only gives a estimated location based on Wifi and the robbers may even be leeching off someone else's wifi... So I don't know how likely it is that cops can execute a search warrant based off this.

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She found the box! Calling police w/the serial number... My concern is whether they'll be able to search any houses in the area based solely off this location data given that it is based on Wi-Fi...

Wow, well as I suspected the police can't do anything right now based on this info. I just spoke w/a Sergeant who was very friendly and trying to be helpful, but legally there's just no way they can pinpoint which house to check - the most they could do would be a "knock and talk," but he said that he wouldn't want to tip them off and then it wind up being destroyed or what-not.

He said if it was at a Panera or something like that, they could easily walk up to the person using the MacBook Air and ask to check the serial number. So he said my best chance would be to keep watching the location and see if we locate it somewhere more "distinct" where they can see it. There was a car in the driveway with tinted windows - he was hoping it was somewhere clearly visible, but fat chance on that.

/sigh... So I guess we'll just keep watching the location. We changed all her passwords (thanks for the suggestion on that), but I'm still ambivalent about the remote wipe/lock. On one hand, it would be nice to send them a F-U (such as an on-screen pop-up message). On the other hand, we don't want to tip them off that we're onto them...

Suggestions?

...

Edit: Trying to think of some message to pop up that might actually trick them into going somewhere public with it... Like "The owner of this device has won a prize redeemable by showing the laptop to an Apple sales rep at location XYZ" or something lol. Any good suggestions? These may not be the brightest tools in the shed, so you never know...

Sorry one more question/suggestion - is there any possible way to activate the video camera next time the person logs in and take a snapshot of their face?

jkeekij said:

Not with iCloud. With the right software it's possible. One example is Prey, and it takes photos when reported stolen.

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Bah, if only... I can't remember if I enabled the remote login feature when I was setting up her laptop. I'm guessing that wouldn't really help anyway since I imagine it's *very* obvious to the person on the other side if I were taking over the computer remotely.

By the way, it just occurred to me that this probably belongs in the iCloud forum (if anywhere) based on the subject matter. If a mod wants to move it to that forum, by all means feel free.

I will continue to update if we make any progress. Unfortunately I'm not very optimistic. Hopefully homeowner's insurance will cover the losses. Let this be a lesson to everyone that while the Find my Mac feature is certainly very handy, it certainly does not give police the right to start smashing in doors looking for your computer...

TheRealDamager said:

You don't want to hear this, but my advice is to let it go - the likelihood of you getting that computer back in usable condition, or catching the bad guys, is very, very low. I'd wipe it to protect you data (it will also piss off whoever took it), and file a claim with your Mom's homeowners insurance. If the cops wont get more actively involved, it's very doubtful you'll have a "feel good" ending to this story...

Good luck...

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Thanks, and I think you're probably right. It's just so frustrating knowing that it's out there in that one-block radius shown on this satellite picture I'm looking at, but that it's completely inaccessible. Amazing that someone can kick the door in on your house, take crap, and get off scott-free EVEN when you can pinpoint them within a one-block radius...

P.S. To the person earlier who mentioned about it probably being someone we know or things in clear view -- There have been a number of people out to the house recently which makes it even more confusing. My father passed away a couple of months ago, so there has been hospice, home health, oodles of guests, etc.

There has also been DirecTV repairmen, carpet installers, and furniture deliverymen. Also my mother lives in a relatively remote area, so her house is a good half-mile away from any other house. Being on a farm, she hires people to do farm work pretty regularly (weed-eating, handyman type jobs, etc.). So it's very difficult to know. :-/

The laptop made it from the town she lives to a neighboring city 45 minutes away, to a part of town known for drugs. Really sucks.

Well, the saga continues... My mother now got a warning that someone had signed into her Google account from a suspicious location. The IP address was a Verizon phone. So I don't know what's up with that,... someone tethering it to their phone? Would Verizon be able to identify the person assigned that IP or is that too CSI for the real world?

Edit: /sigh, I think that was just her phone (she has Verizon) signing onto her gmail account and it was marked as suspicious because for some strange reason that IP she was assigned is based in Kansas rather than the state we live in. False alarm I think...

Nonetheless, makes me wonder if there's a way to get the IP of her laptop. I wonder if Apple has access to any further information beyond what is available on iCloud...