Saturday, Feb 02, 2019 at 15:01
Mark, just use Google to regularly search for "used Iridium Satphone", and go through at least 5 pages of the Google page hits.
Google will pick up ads everywhere, and if the phone has been advertised, it will appear.
I found out the power of Google search about 15-16 yrs ago, and it's a mind-boggling story.
I was frequenting the tractor and earthmover forums a lot in those days, and of course, they were all American based.
One bloke from a U.S. Southern state, appeared with a new post, telling us about a Case backhoe he'd just had stolen from him - and asking for help in finding it.
We quizzed him on his location, and I got the backhoe serial number off him - and started a Google search.
Lo and behold, just a week or 10 days later, I got a Google search hit for an identical model backhoe for sale, with the serial number quoted. It was for sale in the next State.
I looked at the serial number and it was immediately glaringly obvious to me that the serial number of the backhoe I found advertised, was only one digit different to the backhoe that had been reported stolen.
What was ever more glaring was the number in the S/N that was different, was one that could be easily changed to the one being advertised - I recall the number was a "6" on the stolen machine, and an "8" on the machine being advertised - and it takes little to change a "6" to an '"8".
I got onto the
forum and told the bloke to get moving and get a look at the backhoe I found advertised.
He did so - and he came back a day later, and said, "You were spot on!! It was my backhoe! We got the
Police and FBI onto the seller - and they busted a gang regularly stealing earthmovers!!"
He was blown away by how I'd found his backhoe just with a Google search, and some quick figuring behind my reasoning for pinpointing the machine.
Unfortunately, a lot of stolen smaller items of equipment end up getting flogged in pubs and clubs, without being advertised.
A lot of people have low morals when it comes to acquiring an expensive item for a fraction of its price - and pawn shops are right up there.
And eBay is also the greatest theft facilitation setup around - no face-to-face contact, anonymity can be arranged, false ID's and addresses generated, and the
police struggle to track down fraudulent eBay sales.
A couple of W.A. Wheatbelt hoods were just nailed by local farmers, stealing a vast array of equipment from local farms. They were utilising a drone to suss out items to steal.
They were gathering it up, and hiding it in "stash sites" in bush
reserves - and hitting
places when they reckoned they knew people would be away on holidays.
However, they failed to do their homework properly, and starting thieving off one "unattended"
farm - but that farmer had changed his Christmas plans, and stayed
home instead.
He spotted one of his trucks moving when it shouldn't be, and the end result was a quick roundup of armed neighbours - a chase that ended up with one thief being cornered at gunpoint by farmers - and a couple of thieves that should be thanking their lucky stars they weren't drilled full of holes, and their carcasses left to rot.
Police and detectives converged on the area from several
police stations, and a farmer nailed another bloke sleeping in a truck loaded with stolen goods, in the bush.
The thieves have been hit with 43 charges for stolen property value running to more than $250,000.
Unfortunately, the thieving had been going on for quite some time, and the cops tracked down quite a number of items that had already been sold on eBay.
Pingaring farms crime spree
Cheers, Ron.
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