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Burgalarized, If You See "Me" Online, pls Help
FatmanGames
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hi guys, I realize that this request is a bit out of the ordinary, and not necessarily the best fit for this forum. I hope this thread doesn't get locked, or get me jailed, but I guess I'll take that risk for right now.
I've played online with many of you in the Penny Arcade forums for years now, and I'm hoping that you can help me, should you see my Xbox Live or PlayStation Network ID online at any time. I have many of you on my friends lists.
Tonight, I was robbed - the thieves got my big screen TV, my 2 computers (and my new LCDs for my monitors), my wife's laptop, all of our Blu Rays, HD-DVDs, my Xbox 360, my 60GB PS3, and more.
My 2 computers house the code for my web site (which I have worked on for years), and of course, much of my personal keepsakes, like pictures. If you happen to see either "larsoncc" online for PSN or "Fatman Games" online for the Xbox 360, please report it either the Chicago Heights police, or me directly.
My entire meatspace and online identities are locked up on those computers. I have backups, but I have to go to basically every web site I've ever visited and change passwords (used Firefox to save passwords, karma's a bitch).
Thanks.
PS - they left my cat and my dog alive, for which I'm grateful. It's just "stuff".
I've played online with many of you in the Penny Arcade forums for years now, and I'm hoping that you can help me, should you see my Xbox Live or PlayStation Network ID online at any time. I have many of you on my friends lists.
Tonight, I was robbed - the thieves got my big screen TV, my 2 computers (and my new LCDs for my monitors), my wife's laptop, all of our Blu Rays, HD-DVDs, my Xbox 360, my 60GB PS3, and more.
My 2 computers house the code for my web site (which I have worked on for years), and of course, much of my personal keepsakes, like pictures. If you happen to see either "larsoncc" online for PSN or "Fatman Games" online for the Xbox 360, please report it either the Chicago Heights police, or me directly.
My entire meatspace and online identities are locked up on those computers. I have backups, but I have to go to basically every web site I've ever visited and change passwords (used Firefox to save passwords, karma's a bitch).
Thanks.
PS - they left my cat and my dog alive, for which I'm grateful. It's just "stuff".
FatmanGames on
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I never asked for this!
I've called MS. They suggested that I do exactly as I've done, to increase the chances that my 360 is recovered. Leaving my account active is literally the only way it can be traced. I have disabled my credit card on the machine. So, all the thieves can do with my box is... get caught.
Judging by the items stolen, it sounds like the thieves have no intention of using any of them personally, more like items to sell/pawn. This could be helpful in that the person who purchases it off of them would be the ones caught and willing to point the finger.
I'd suggest calling up local pawn shops in the next three days to see if and 360s or PS3s surface. They would be more likely to pop up than a PC or TV would.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/Cykstfc
Whats funnier is what they left behind, All 3 computers, the only xbox 360 controller, the other wii, 3 of the PS3 controllers, the cordless guitar hero 3 guitar, the little chunk of cable that separates the corded guitar hero 3 Xbox controller, 3 DVD racks with a thousand or so DVDs in them, and the base for the wii they stole.
have fun setting up the wii with no base, cunts!
Damn, that sucks. Really hope you get lucky.
Good luck with everything!
2008, 2012, 2014 D&D "Rare With No Sauce" League Fantasy Football Champion!
Also: do you have the console serial #s, as suggested? If not, can you call MS and ask them what serial # your Live account last logged in with?
Edit:
Did you call the pawn shops yet? You might want to pre-call them to warn them that stolen merchandise is floating around. The thieves will probably sell to different shops, rather than all at one, so find as many as you can.
I do remember hearing of a guy getting caught by using live online after stealing an xbox, but i also remember MS wouldn't give out any info on the user such as location until the police threatened to get a warrent or some jazz. Sony would probably be more helpful.
Also in my experiance, I found some of my stuff at a couple shops in the 'burgh, but without my name on anything police said they couldn't do anything. (could have at least checked for my prints and the other guys, but whatever, it was small potato's in the grand scheme.) The pawn shop owners were very shady about it. Two noticed exactly what I went for and started looking at, and one made me leave. I took it that they knew they had stolen goods. I would still certainly call and question though. Pre-calling might be a bad idea, as the owner might turn it away and lose a possible lead? I don't know, just thinking.
Insurance however covered everything stolen, so hopefully you had coverage.
What I'd be most concerned with is the online stuff, but I'm sure you got all the important data secured immediatly, credit and debit cards etc.
Best of luck to you man.
I'd imagine a good number of dogs are killed in break ins.
Odd that they broke in even though he had a dog, however. Most criminals would avoid robbing a place with a dog.
Pawn shops in Grand Rapids
Thats a lot of calls to make.
I feel for you Fatman, I've had shit stolen from me and know the feeling, but I can only imagine having that much taken. I made sure that my renters insurance can and will cover theft, and I hope you did the same.
Most criminals realize a dog may bark for a while at an intruder, but most wont bite unless trained.
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Best of luck, I'm glad you recognized the difference between important things and stuff.
I believe few are actually. Either the thief knows the place and the dog, therefore it poses no threat, or they'll avoid the place and look for an easier target.
One my brothers got his GBA SP stolen, and when we finally got the thieving bastard to give it back, they had scraped the serial number off the back and broken a connector, so there was no way to get Nintendo to fix it :x
I'm going to go double-check my alarm now
Besides, I doubt the same people that are stealing electronics for cash are the type of people to be able to "hack" my stuff.
XBL - Follow Freeman
1. YES, I am insured. That was a huge relief to me to hear this morning. Get this, I purchased the insurance with an effective date of January the 8th.
Like I said, "it's just stuff." But I see no reason to walk away happy, if I can catch them, then I will. I really would like my computer information, because my web site's source code is there. If I can find the Xbox, I'm closer to the computer.
2. Very often, dogs are "silenced" in robberies, according to the cops. My dog is loud, I'm pleasantly surprised she wasn't hurt. My cat has all her claws - if she acted as an annoyance, she could have suffered as well. She only came out of her hiding place an hour or two after everyone left (meaning cops, etc)
3. Look, I don't think highly of the technical knowledge of thieves, but maybe I should. I know that they're looking to sell my stuff, but maybe the purchasers won't know the stuff is stolen, and maybe the stuff won't be reconfigured. One of my computers is set to phone home, and certainly my 360 and PS3 phone home. If they show up on the grid, hey - that's good.
I'm in contact with everyone that I should be in contact with, I think.
PS - about pawn shops in Grand Rapids - I live in Chicago Heights right now, I just moved down here. My profile isn't up to date, and obviously, I didn't know enough about the town to avoid living here.
Just a heads up, but expect your insurance company to be very suspicious. Chances are that they'll ask you the same stuff over and over again, looking for changes in your story. I work in insurance, and claims made very soon after the policy inception date are a huge red flag.
Also,regarding pawn shops, I don't know what the law is like where you are, but around here pawnshops have to submit a list of what they took in to police, which is then checked against reported thefts. If there's something similar where you live, chances are they'll get caught if they try to pawn it.
That said, that really sucks man, hope you can get it all sorted out without too much trouble.
Location: Apartment or House.
Time: Round about.
Neighbors: Friendly, don't know, ect.
History: Restep last three days.
How: That's a big one.
After years of working for certain law offices you get to know what and how these people work. My car was stolen in front of my house about two years ago. The thiefs used my cell phone for some texting. I recieved a copy of those texts and phone records and found my car in front of his mom's house.
After talking to his mom she called him home, I made him cry, and still sent him to jail. All in all it turned out to be a good day. But only after I retraced my steps and doing a little research did I find my property. Minus an ash tray and a cup holder.
Don't ask ...
LIZ: Different.
VOICE-OVER: It's September 24th, I'm Liz Parker and five days ago I died. But then the really amazing thing happened. I came to life.
What do you mean about getting your computer to phone home?
xbox GT: Big Will C H
I know there is a "phone home" program that sends info as soon as the machine connects to a network once activated.
I also think some dude designed one for the macbooks with the built-in isight to snap a picture and upload it as well.
I'd go over what you know once or twice, just so that you can clear up what you know and are not second guessing yourself or changing details when explaining it to your insurance company.
They are thieves, not killers. I've stolen shit before (yea I know I know <^> you too) but even thieves understand the difference between taking stuff and taking lives.
So about that missing ash tray and cup holder...
Because animals can cause a ruckus that might attract the neighbors you idiot. A dog might even take it upon itself to fuck you up. You must not have been a very good thief.
I hope you get all of your stuff back. I can only imagine the trauma you experienced upon walking through your front door. Good Luck.
Any friends of his know anything new?
Funny, well kind of, story. I live in an upscale housing community with security and I'm on a corner house. All of our neighbors are friendly and anytime one of us leaves the other will play look out, feed animal, pick up mail, ect. Well, I go away to my boss’s cabin up in Lake Tahoe, my next door neighbor is away on business, and my neighbor across the street is out and about with his new girl (OMG WOW you should see this new girl).
Well come to find out both my house and my playboy neighbor's house both had an attempted break in. From my security camera you can see them canvassing all three of our houses. They tried his first but he has two very big dogs. Then they run over to my house and try the window and my alarm goes off and security shows up and boxes them in. No arrests were made because they had no proof until I showed them the security footage. They did get their info and description of the car. Both of them have had warrants out for their arrests and both have prior convictions.
My collection is extensive and really no amount of insurance would ever be able to replace those childhood memories.
LIZ: Different.
VOICE-OVER: It's September 24th, I'm Liz Parker and five days ago I died. But then the really amazing thing happened. I came to life.
Anyone else interested in helping to get that started?
I concur.
More for my sick curiosity on the who, what, where, and why's.
LIZ: Different.
VOICE-OVER: It's September 24th, I'm Liz Parker and five days ago I died. But then the really amazing thing happened. I came to life.
How did you do that? I couldn't!
Background:
Last July, I got burglarized too, and my 360 was among the stolen items. My credit card number can't be extracted from the console, but it can still be used to by MS points and pay for Xbox Live.
So I tried to get my CC info removed from my account through through the xbox.com website, but there was no way to do this (all I could do was add another CC.)
I called the Xbox help line, but the nice girl on the other end told me the following: she can't delete the CC info from my account when I ask that it be done. She can basically "mark it for deletion" which would cause it to be deleted in exactly one month, unless the CC gets used again for a transaction with MS. Which defeats the whole purpose, as it would let whoever stole the box buy more stuff anyway, with the added bonus that when they do so, the deletion process I'd requested would be canceled.
She instead suggested that I call my CC company and ask that they block any transactions with MS, which would preclude me using that card later on for further transactions when I finally got a replacement console.
I have this in more detail on my blog: http://stealmygamedesigns.blogspot.com/2007/07/microsoft-would-rather-cooperate-with.html
Anyway, to conclude this story, a week after the burglary, the police came and arrested my neighbor, then let me visit his apartment, where I pointed out all the stuff the asshole had stolen from me (including stuff I had had stolen the year before, as well.) The police took all the stolen stuff, and about 3 weeks later, I got it back, and in the meantime, the neighbor never tried buying anything, so my CC was never charged, and I didn't have to cancel anything.
I also have a friend (let's call him A) who had a mutual friend of ours (let's call him
Any clarifications on this would be nice.
Check out my new blog: http://50wordstories.ca
Also check out my old game design blog: http://stealmygamedesigns.blogspot.com
You didn't have any insurance?
I got burglarized twice in the last 18 months or so (see my previous post for more details) and for the bigger chunks, like TV and consoles, I got the replacements fairly quickly:
after the first burglary, my oXbox was replaced by a 360 (since the oXbox was discontinued, by that time) about a week or two later. My recently-bought 23" LCD HDTV (from a BestBuy "home brand", Insignia) was replaced with a 26" LG, which added a couple more inputs, better management of aspect ratios, and HDMI.
A whole bunch of my electronics were upgraded to more recent counterparts.
In the end, there were only 3 major annoyances to come out of the burglaries:
1- the feeling of violation, the loss of the feelling of security you're supposed to have
2- having to go through the whole replacement process (some items took a while to be replaced or for me to be financially compensated.)
3- the loss of data from the stolen computers and discs. That was the biggest hit to my morale.
I can't imagine how hard it'd be for me now if I hadn't been insured (although, the second burglary probably wouldn't have happened if I hadn't gotten all the stolen stuff from the first one replaced.)
Check out my new blog: http://50wordstories.ca
Also check out my old game design blog: http://stealmygamedesigns.blogspot.com