Police in the United States have recovered a stolen laptop after its owner secretly took photos of the suspected thief and recorded his location.
Joshua Kaufman of Oakland, California, was dismayed to hear from police that his case had been given a “low priority,” and that he was unlikely to recover his property.
Mr Kaufman set up a website called “This Guy Has My MacBook”, where he posted images taken from the laptop’s built-in camera. The site quickly became an internet sensation, and growing media interest led to police re-examining the case.
Mr Kaufman used an application called Hidden to take the photos secretly, and also to track the location of the person with it. He began spreading the word on Twitter on Tuesday morning, receiving over 26,000 links to his website from Twitter users and over 40,000 Facebook links.
Oakland police arrested a suspect, named in reports as Muthanna Aldebashi, late on Tuesday evening.
According to Mr Kaufman: “The police used evidence I had gathered using Hidden . . . that he was a driver and tricked him into picking them up.”
Police took laptop from the suspect's home later that evening.
Mr Kaufman told his Twitter followers: "The officer was so kind on the phone: ‘It's these kinds of partnerships that make things happen.'"