Gamers Retrieve Their Own Stolen Xbox
Every so often, you come across one of those videogame-related true crime stories that just makes your soul die a little bit when you read about thugs stealing PSPs right out of little girls' hands, or a father and son beating up another guy for his Xbox. It's kind of sad. Which is why this story was a little more inspiring. Three weeks ago, University of Minnesota students Isaac Pacheco and Bobby Harris (pictured) discovered their Xbox 360, controllers and games had been stolen in the middle of the night. Horrible, right? Well, this is why stealing from the more hardcore gamers isn't always a bright idea. (And as we'll see, the thief in question is seriously not the brightest bulb in the package...)
The students filed a police report, as you do, but then decided to do some Hardy Boys-style investigating on their own. Because the Xbox 360 goes online with Xbox LIVE, the boys worked with a computer forensic officer to get the console's IP address and discovered it was the same as their own. Realizing that meant the console was still somewhere in their building, the boys tracked their Xbox Live activity online and recognized a name. Given that information, the police got a search warrant and recovered the stolen 360 from a neighbor's room.
While legally, the guy is still only an alleged thief, let's just work with it for the sake of argument here. Why in the world would you steal from your neighbor? That's a little close to home. And why would you ever consider going online with a stolen console? Like I said, not the brightest bulb in the package. But kudos for the intrepid student gamers! Way to go!
U Of M Students Trace Stolen Xbox 360 To Neighbor's IP Address [MyFox Twin Cities]
