Airport laptop theft tracked and returned to owner thanks to LoJack

When Chris Gorton purchased his new laptop in Alabama, USA, he was advised by the retailer to buy LoJack for Laptops to protect his new investment. At the time theft wasn’t a consideration for Chris having never thought about securing his laptop. However, his job involved a lot of travel, spending a lot of time on the road, so he decided to follow the retailer’s recommendation and buy a three year licence.

In December 2007, Chris traveled to the UK for Christmas. After arriving at London’s Heathrow airport, Chris loaded his bags onto a trolley and made his way to the car park. When he arrived at his car he found his laptop was missing. “It was a matter of minutes from the time I left the terminal building to the time I arrived at my car. I didn’t know how, and couldn’t believe that my laptop was stolen so quickly,” Chris commented.

Being one of the world’s busiest airports, it’s hardly surprising that opportunistic thieves are at work in the airport and that laptops can be stolen so quickly. Approximately 67.3 million travellers pass through London Heathrow’s terminals every year, and according to a recent survey by the Ponemon Institute, it is the worst offender for lost and stolen laptops with up to 900 devices going missing per week.¹

Chris was devastated to learn his new laptop had been stolen, “I was initially more concerned about the laptop itself, but then I realised that we had our family photos and other important documents on the machine with no back up, so I would never get them back. I then remembered that I had the LoJack licence and felt a slight glimmer of hope that I might get my laptop back, even if I was thousands of miles away from home.”

After reporting the theft to police, Chris logged into the Absolute Software Customer Centre to enter the crime report details. Once reported, Chris’s laptop started calling into the Absolute Monitoring Centre, reporting its location every 15 minutes. The laptop was located in Slough shortly after it started calling in. The Absolute Theft Recovery Team in the UK worked with local police to track and recover the laptop.

“I couldn’t believe I was able to get my laptop back, I’m really glad I bought LoJack when I did. My friends and family were impressed that my laptop was tracked and recovered in the UK. I now recommend LoJack to everyone. It was a great investment,” Chris said.