Thief Steals Laptop, Returns Data on USB Stick

[s0m3th1ng]

That's like an Assassin sending roses to the victims loved ones.

Also, I have that same USB drive.

Stealing a computer is the same as stabbing someone in the throat and using their intestines as a noose?
What the hell man.

 

[Brownie101]

Either a thief who doesn't really steal too much or didn't want much, or a very very considerate thief. All my hope goes for the latter.
I don't support thievery, but I fully support how nice the thief was in returning most of the man's things. 'Course, it still would've been better if he hadn't stolen it in the first place...

 

[Vrach]

That's... too awesome for words. Yes, a guy got robbed, but in the circumstances it's awesome. /hat tip to the thief

Either a thief who doesn't really steal too much or didn't want much, or a very very considerate thief. All my hope goes for the latter.
I don't support thievery, but I fully support how nice the thief was in returning most of the man's things. 'Course, it still would've been better if he hadn't stolen it in the first place...

Call it a lesson in not leaving a backpack unattended when its contents are worth thousands of dollars heh

 

[samsonguy920]

Well huzzah for good form. Hopefully the thief also deleted that data on the laptop after backing it up on the usb as I can imagine he stole the laptop to sell it for monies(If otherwise then no worries). Otherwise the purchaser would most likely be of a less savory type and use that info against the scientist.
I can see this happening in EVE: You blow up an important ship of someone you find just exploring in low-sec space, grab some nice items, and then send some of those back to the victim. "You put up a good fight sir, I salute you and return these in compensation for your loss."

The thief must have seen how much irreplaceable data the guy had on his laptop and felt bad. Good for him. I guess?

Thieves now wear top hats and monocles.

The age of the gentleman thief is born.

I think that might drop your stealth score a little bit.

Are you kidding? This breaks the stereotype so much that you can be invisible in any environment. Though it probably amps up the citizenry's paranoia score a little bit.

 

[cartographer54]

I'm thinking that the thief's friend found out and did this. Nothing points to the presumption that the thief handed it back.

 

[dickseverywhere]

id be pretty happy if that was me, laptop insurance is easy to get. data insurance... well, should be easy if not for my utter laziness in backing up.

 

[Cain_Zeros]

I hope the thief didn't put a return address on the package he used to mail the USB stick...

 

[Calico93]

Haha that is pretty awesome !
What a nice little thief.

 

[tahrey]

Must not have had a great deal on the laptop... high capacity memory sticks are still pricey enough that more than 8gbs would be seriously eating into his proceeds. Unless of course he nicked the USB off someone else ... wiped it ... and then put the prof's data on to send back, in a truly jerkass bit of fridge-logic trolling.

Wish the guy who nicked my bag with a couple of 1Tb hard disks in it had been nice enough to drop the contents of the "not yet burnt to DVD" folder on a flashdrive or small stack of discs (surely the faster and cheaper choice? You can fit 32gbs into the cost equivalent of a big mac). Though I had most of it backed up, there was still irreplacable data which hadn't managed to get far enough down the stack to have been burnt.
(not to mention the utter pain in the backside that is restoring everything from masses of DVDs ... but I've learnt my lesson about avoiding home-consumer grade tape decks)

 

[setting_son]

Only in Sweden!

Btw, did anyone report the theft of a USB stick?

Yeah, but the thief backed up their data and returned it to them on a laptop...

 

[MirrorSweep]

Sounds more like a crime of necessity than assholery.

 

[Panda Mania]

That doesn't totally excuse his (her?) crime, but it's still a nice gesture. I would've emailed the thief back:

"You snatched my laptop. D: Not cool. But you did return my data. ^^ Have a 'courteous thief' cookie! *hugs* "

 

[Azmael Silverlance]

This story makes me feel hope for humanity."

How does that make you feel better? In the end you lost your laptop you dop SH**
I think if all thieves pull stunts like this one they might get away with it...cuz the victims suddenly feel good about the crime
It is a funny story but sheesh,....dont make it a good thing!
And to be honest i think the reason he got his stuff back was because the thief new the proffesor!

 

[Torrasque]

I'm gonna say that the thief wanted to steal the laptop, but didn't care for the data, which the professor cared so much about.
The thief is still a dick, but at least he has moral consideration for the data he'd just delete anyways.

 

[DarthFennec]

Oh wow. That is just awesome.

 

[DarthFennec]

Still a thief. It is like having your car stolen but are happy they left you £20 to catch a cab home.

Not really. It's more like having your iPod stolen and being left a few hundred dollars for all the songs that were on it.