Theft Thwarted by PlayStation Eye & PSP Connection

[Greg Tito]

Theft Thwarted by PlayStation Eye & PSP Connection

I have seen the future: a Playstation 3 owner was able to snap a photo of the guy who stole his console through the magic link between his PSP and the PlayStation Eye peripheral.

According to a post made on the PlayStation.com forums [http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?message.uid=44723040], a gamer by the name of psich0m4n claimed that a man broke into his home on December 16th, 2009 and stole hundreds of games and all of his videogame consoles, including a PS3 and its peripherals. Luckily, psich0m4n was at work and presumably had his PSP on his person. He knew that, due to linking his PSP with the PS3, he could control the console over an internet connection. Patiently waiting for the thief to slip up and connect the PS3 to the web, psich0m4n was able to turn on the console via his PSP on the internet when it was logged on on December 18th. He quickly snapped a picture with the PlayStation Eye peripheral that was still connected and had an image of the thief displayed on his PSP. He then grabbed a digital camera and took a picture of the display. Upon showing this image to the police, they were able to positively identify the burglar and went out to apprehend him. psich0m4n was able to recover all of the merchandise that was stolen from him.

It was definitely a confluence of several fortuitous events that led to psich0m4n getting his stuff back. First off, just having a PlayStation Eye to steal is unlikely, added to the thief connecting it and lastly, the culprit actually looking directly into the lens when the picture was taken. However unlikely, it's still pretty amazing that we have the technology available to us consumers to be able to accomplish such a feat.

It's not the first time that technology was used to capture a criminal. This story reminds me of the man who was nabbed by police after signing onto Xbox Live with a stolen console [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/97110-Xbox-Thief-Nabbed-By-Playing-Online]. Apparently some criminals are smart enough to get in and out of someone's house without being detected but fail to realize that they effectively create a homing device when they plug their loot into the world wide web.

Let this be a warning to all you would-be videogame thieves out there: First, drop dead. Second, don't connect the stuff you just stole to the internet!

Source: Kombo [http://ps3.kombo.com/article.php?artid=11691]

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[Sparrow]

Let this be a warning to all you would-be videogame thieves out there: First, drop dead. Second, don't connect the stuff you just stole to the internet!

You should create a book of insults, it'd sell well.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

you'd think that not connecting it to the internet would be the smart thing but i guess criminals aren't always the brightest bulbs in the box

 

[Swaki]

have Greg ever made a article without insulting someone

but good riddance, and they should make a special trophy for him.

 

[Jadak]

It was definitely a confluence of several fortuitous events that led to psich0m4n getting his stuff back. First off, just having a PlayStation Eye to steal is unlikely, added to the thief connecting it and lastly, the culprit actually looking directly into the lens when the picture was taken. However unlikely, it's still pretty amazing that we have the technology available to us consumers to be able to accomplish such a feat.

How are any of those events unlikely?

The majority of players I know with PS3's have an eye, and anyone with both a PSP and a PS3 is likely to connect the two. I don't even know what you're talking about with "the culprit actually looking directly into the lens when the picture was taken". It's a webcam, the guy with the PSP would have just waited until he was looking at it...

 

[XJ-0461]

Holy crap. That's brilliant.

psich0m4n earns +10 awesome for how he did that.

 

[obisean]

Couldn't they have also traced the connection from his PSP to the PS3 and gotten the IP it was connecting to? That could have led them to the burglar's house if Sony had cooperated in finding this guy. In that case, you arrest the person playing it (for the legal limit), and use scare tactics until he fesses up on who brought it home.

And I fully agree, brilliant job on finding the guy who did it. Well done.

Why do consoles not have some sort of anti theft built in? Something to the tune of: When you buy the console there is a one-time setup the first time you log onto XBL/PSN where you can setup something that ties that console to you. Then if it goes missing you can logon to MS/Sony's website and report it stolen using your XBL/PSN login. Since you marked it as yours already, as soon as the thief logs onto the internet they would recognize the MAC id and know where it is and provide the IP address to the police. This could cause issues with some 3rd party sales, but MS/Sony don't support 3rd party sales anyway. At least they won't repair them if they break, so why should they care if it gets stolen from you if you bought it from someone else? You didn't put money in their pocket.

 

[Axle_Bullitt_19]

Well its the theives own damn fault for not formating the system once he hooked it up.

 

[DigitalSushi]

Let this be a warning to all you would-be videogame thieves out there: First, drop dead. Second, don't connect the stuff you just stole to the internet!

When I read that part of the article I thought to myself, "probably Greg Tito's word", sure enough!

Anyway, lets not tell these scumbags that the people they steal shit off when we are out of the house we are doing productive things like learning and bettering ourselves, and that we know how the WWW works.

Well its the theives own damn fault for not formating the system once he hooked it up.

see above.

have Greg ever made a article without insulting someone

LOL, see above!

 

[randomrob]

Current gen consoles are smarter than criminals! that's awesome.

 

[GrinningManiac]

It's not the first time that technology was used to capture a criminal. This story reminds me of the man who was nabbed by police after signing onto Xbox Live with a stolen console [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/97110-Xbox-Thief-Nabbed-By-Playing-Online]. Apparently some criminals are smart enough to get in and out of someone's house without being detected but fail to realize that they effectively create a homing device when they plug their loot into the world wide web.

This reminds me of an incident recently where a boy in my sister's class stole her phone and gave it to a boy in my brother's year (brother is older, I am eldest)

We work out quickly it's a pathetic little sod named George, who brags about having killed a guy and buried him and constantly "bigs himself up".

my Sister's friend calls the phone. Just to see if it's on.

George picks up

I mean, I can understand if a stupid schoolboy like him dosen't think to remove and smash the SIM card, or take out the batteries, but fucking ANSWERING A STOLEN PHONE?

He should have been hung. Not for petty theft, but for being an embarresment to crooks and humans in general everywhere

 

[CUnk]

How do we know the guy in the picture was the thief? Maybe he was just the innocent recipient of a stolen gift? Poor guy.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Coolest. Apprehension. Ever.

 

[GodofDisaster]

That was very clever, well done psich0m4n well done.

I feel old for saying this, but "it's amazing what gaming technology can do these days."

 

[Hazz_11]

lol wow that dude was lucky to manage that

 

[Therumancer]

It's cool, but by the same token I can't help but wonder what is going to happen when this goes to court. I mean if I was the thief in this case I'd simply say I bought the stuff from someone else.

See, in most states it's not illegal to buy goods unless you know that they are stolen. Thus if some guy sells loot out of the back of a van or whatever, you might "suspect" that it's stolen but you can always claim ignorance and play naive for the police, even with a former record.

So unless they can prove I was in the house, I would probably have a good chance of avoiding the charges, even if I lose the system due to lack of a receipt. If I claim I was inside the house to do business with the guy and we talked games for a bit while we were doing it, I could even force them to have to prove WHEN I was in the house (when he wasn't there) not simply the fact that I was there.

What's more while I'm not a thief, I suppose if I WAS ever that desperate and I knew something about the guy I was robbing, I could claim I bought the stuff off of the guy, paid him for it, and then he was trying to claim I stole it to get his stuff back AND my money.

I know of a few cases that have turned out exactly like that, both legitimatly, and as a result of a slippery defense. Remember that in our system to "get off" all someone has to do is create a REASONABLE doubt, not a case beyond ANY doubt, but just to create a reasonable one.

Granted, I don't have all the details, but my point is that it's not cut and dry. Some of those coincidences might actually be the result of a set up as well.

 

[Jared]

That is pretty epic! Goes to prove be careful what ya steal! Or even better! Dont steal at all or else this might happen...

Good man!

 

[Susan Arendt]

It's cool, but by the same token I can't help but wonder what is going to happen when this goes to court. I mean if I was the thief in this case I'd simply say I bought the stuff from someone else.

It's not as though the police aren't going to investigate that particular possibility. And if you have enough scratch to buy a PS3, peripherals, and "hundreds of games," you can more than likely prove the transaction took place, either with a cash withdrawl or a credit card receipt.

The cops aren't just going to say "Oh, hey, the stuff's in your house, you must be the bad guy!" and not check out other possibilities.

 

[Valkyira]

Woah, he must of felt like a secret agent or something...