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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200...ef_dcQuote »BERLIN (Reuters) - A German thief stole a man's in-car navigation system and unwittingly auctioned it online back to his victim, who had police arrest him, authorities said Wednesday.Police in Berlin said the 26-year-old victim spotted the device on an Internet auction site and quickly re-acquired what he had reported stolen from his car some two weeks previously.He informed police, who went to the thief's house posing as the buyers and then arrested the 21-year-old."I think the thief got a bit of a surprise," said a Berlin police spokesman, adding the man confessed to the theft.

Wow! Talk about sweet justice lol

I thought I had lost my owners manual so I bought a 2003 Vibe owner's manual on e-Bay. Inside I found the name/address of the person who must have been former owner. I looked up a phone number on the internet but when I called it got the message that it had been disconnected. If it had been stolen from him I was going to return it. I tried.

There's a story floating around online about a woman whose laptop and iPod got stolen and she found them on eBay...I'd say it's actually not a bad idea to check it if something does get stolen, as it's a quick, easy, and fairly "anonymous" way to sell something.

Especially if you have stuff where you can 'lock it' and make it virtually unusable. With my laptop, if it were stolen, the only thing they could do is sell it because it won't turn on without the right security code.Can't even clear the BIOS to let it in..it's hardwired in the board somewhere.

ahahh..i remember hearing one time that around where i live a volunteer firefighter stole a radio and auctioned it on ebay....the buy turned it on and it said the fire companys id or whatever since they have to program them..good thing since the radios we use cost upwards of thousands of dollars!...anways obviously the buyer contacted authorities right away...not that i steal but i figure it this way if your going to...why wouldnt you take the time to make sure your not going to get caught

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »I thought I had lost my owners manual so I bought a 2003 Vibe owner's manual on e-Bay. Inside I found the name/address of the person who must have been former owner. I looked up a phone number on the internet but when I called it got the message that it had been disconnected. If it had been stolen from him I was going to return it. I tried. I'm sure the victim would have really appreciated your efforts had that been the case. I live in a college town and owner's manual thefts are a real epidemic around here. A friend of mine locked her ipod and digital camera in the glovebox of her custom Ford Festiva only to find the passenger window broken out and the glovebox forced open when she came out from sunday school. She was relieved to find the ipod and camera were not taken only to experience the heartbreak of discovering that the owner's manual to her Festiva had been stolen. You just know the insurance company will only pay out a fraction of the actual value of the manual. We've kept our eyes on eBay and other venues for a while now with no luck although I'm pretty sure her manual was disassembled and smuggled out of the country via the underground black market owner's manual cartel. Who knows what seedy characters have had their way with the service schedule and specifications sections? What is this world coming to?

We had something similar happen to someone in our seakayak club. One day his roof rack broke and he had to leave 4 of his boats by the side of the road with a note that he'd be right back to get them. But when he returned about 20 minutes later with his other rack, someone had already made off with the boats. He went to the local kayak store and left a note on their cork board describing the stolen boats. A few days later he got a call from an employee at the store who had just checked the board items. Someone had posted another note only a couple inches away listing 4 boats for sale and gave descriptions that matched the ones on the first note. He called up the seller, arranged for a 'purchase', and then contacted the police to accompany him when he went to retrieve his property.

Awesome!

Quote, originally posted by PlatinumVibe08 »I'm sure the victim would have really appreciated your efforts had that been the case. I live in a college town and owner's manual thefts are a real epidemic around here. A friend of mine locked her ipod and digital camera in the glovebox of her custom Ford Festiva only to find the passenger window broken out and the glovebox forced open when she came out from sunday school. She was relieved to find the ipod and camera were not taken only to experience the heartbreak of discovering that the owner's manual to her Festiva had been stolen. You just know the insurance company will only pay out a fraction of the actual value of the manual. We've kept our eyes on eBay and other venues for a while now with no luck although I'm pretty sure her manual was disassembled and smuggled out of the country via the underground black market owner's manual cartel. Who knows what seedy characters have had their way with the service schedule and specifications sections? What is this world coming to? I laughed.

Quote, originally posted by psiu » I laughed. me too, that was a good one platinum

Quote, originally posted by MRCN RCE »me too, that was a good one platinumMe three! I needed that laugh!!

Quote, originally posted by prathman »One day his roof rack broke and he had to leave 4 of his boats by the side of the road with a note that he'd be right back to get them. But when he returned about 20 minutes later with his other rack, someone had already made off with the boats ... He called up the seller, arranged for a 'purchase', and then contacted the police to accompany him when he went to retrieve his property.I would be interested to know what the police did. I would think anything left "abandoned" by the side of the road is fair game (except anything licensed like cars, trailers, boats, and such).