When your stuff gets stolen, FILL OUT A POLICE REPORT . Consumerist reader Alisa is figuring this out the hard way after Apple received her stolen phone for repair. Even though it’s clearly hers, they refuse to return it. I got robbed on the subway in Brooklyn about 2 weeks ago, my iPhone (and some other crap)was taken. I called the police who were very helpful , they searched the area for a little bit, follow protocol and all that fun stuff

Not content with stealing a UK woman’s laptop, iPhone, Nintendo DS and handbag—a shithead burglar has logged into her Facebook account, leaving messages like “on my new laptop”, “listening to music on my new phone feels so good.” The illiterate low-life went on to mock: “I have the laptop, phones ok but a bit scratched itll do, tv was rubbish so I left it , ds was a bonus, now to the porn shop, thankyou toshiba is my favourite make”. The sick scenario is a cautionary true tale to think twice about what data you store on your laptop, and a reminder that you should use some basic security to protect it. [ Telegraph via TechRadar ]

GadgetTrak, an anti-theft tracking system, claimed its first victory, and we’re pretty impressed. An iMac was stolen two weeks ago, and the thief wasn’t clever enough to reformat. Big mistake: GadgetTrak managed to find his location and took his photo. After two weeks, the thief made the mistake of connecting to the internet, and GadgetTrak collected tons of info.

According to a police report, 19-year old Jesse Phoutthaphaphone…pppppthft was sitting by a cracked window in his home, typing on MySpace when a thief suddenly popped in the window and stole the laptop right out of his hands. “I was typing and all of the sudden just woosh! I was like oh, what the hell?” Phoutthaphaphone said. “This is clearly a real desperate act, I mean he (the suspect) stole the computer out of his hands while he’s in his house,” Minneapolis Police Sgt. Jesse Garcia explained. “He was probably just creeping right here, I was typing, and then all of the sudden he just yanked it,” the victim remarked.