Absolute Recovers Missing Laptop Hours Before it Leaves the Country
Courtney Bailey, a student at the University of Central Florida, is a firm believer in Computrace® computer tracking and theft recovery software. When Courtney’s missing Dell Latitude notebook computer was detected at the Gainesville Regional Airport, allegedly in the hands of another student ready to leave the country, local law enforcement was able to recover the machine with help from Computrace.
Ms. Bailey purchased her Dell notebook from the university bookstore, and wisely protected it with a subscription to Computrace - a computer theft recovery service by Absolute® Software that tracks, locates and recovers missing computers. If a computer protected by the service is declared lost or stolen, Computrace reports its location using any Internet connection.
Unfortunately, during the summer of 2007, she left the computer at a friend’s apartment and when she tried to pick it up a few weeks later, the notebook was nowhere to be found. There were also no suspects and no leads.
The initial investigation indicated the laptop was being used by an exchange student who lived in the same apartment complex from which it was stolen but a police visit to the apartment provided by Computrace tracking data found no one home. Within hours, information transmitted from the laptop led police to the local airport and the race was on to apprehend the suspect before they could leave the country with the computer.
“Computrace saved the day for me,” insists Ms. Bailey. “My computer was literally an hour away from leaving the country, but when the Absolute Theft Recovery Officer assigned to my case noticed that it was calling in from the Gainesville Airport, they kicked the investigation into high gear to make sure my computer was rescued.”
“I am also grateful to the Gainesville PD detective who had the foresight to immediately notify airport security, and for the officer at the airport who kept a sharp lookout for it,” recalls Bailey. “If even one of those things did not happen as quickly as they did, there would have been no way to retrieve my computer.”
Smart detective work by airport security ensured the allegedly stolen Dell computer did not leave the country. A large group of international students waiting in a boarding lounge at the airport were questioned; a female student was found playing card games on Courtney’s computer. The notebook was confiscated and the suspect is under investigation for possession of stolen property, with other charges possible.
“Notebook computers are designed to be portable, and this makes them easy targets, but I would have been heartbroken if I had been forced to replace it,” explains Bailey. “I highly recommend Computrace by Absolute Software. This is the type of product that every student or indeed anyone who owns a laptop computer should subscribe to, because it really works.”
