Console thief caught via Xbox Live
Here’s a tip for anyone thinking of stealing an Xbox 360: don’t connect to Xbox Live using the system. One crook who did is now facing charges of grand larceny.
According to The New York Post, 22-year-old Jeremy Gilliam from New York was caught with a range of stolen property after being traced via Xbox Live. A kid who had his Xbox 360 stolen used a friend’s console to connect.
He noticed that his Gamertag was already in use, told his parents, who contacted the police, who contacted Microsoft, who traced the system via the IP address back to Gilliam’s grandmother’s house.
There, they found the kid’s Xbox 360, as well as another 52 stolen items ranging from video games to laptops. Police were investigating Gilliam for 13 car thefts, and it’s believed his haul may have been built up from 200 house robberies.
Xbox Live: it isn’t just better than PSN, it’s also able to catch criminals.
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61 Responses to “Console thief caught via Xbox Live”
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December 28th, 2009
That is freaking awesome.
Kudos to MS & the kids ISP for playing ball
December 28th, 2009
Dumb criminal of the day? Perhaps.
December 28th, 2009
“Xbox Live: it isn’t just better than PSN, it’s also able to catch criminals.”
Yes, but PSN can cure cancer! Maybe. Take that.
December 28th, 2009
That sure is impressive. Does the thief has to use the Gamertag for the tracking to be possible? Or could they use something else, like the physical address?
That kid must have felt fantastic when got his console back AND helped catch a robber.
December 28th, 2009
I read something similar about a college in the US where a guy had his 360 stolen, but not the controller. He was able to track the 360 down (it was in the same dorm) as the controller was synched with the machine.
December 28th, 2009
It’s great that they caught the thief. It serves him right.
Harry,
Did you get a Ps3 for Christmas?
December 28th, 2009
twilight. Yep, I got one. It came bundled with inFamous and MGS4, so no online games yet tho. I noticed you got a 360, do you have a gamertag yet?
December 28th, 2009
I hate the way M$ make you jump through hoops just to get the credit card details off the 360. The last thing I want if my 360 gets stolen is for somebody to rack up debt on my card.
December 28th, 2009
Harry,
I’m not on line yet on either system yet. I will be playing on line for the first time ever in about two months or sooner. I can’t wait. I’ve met some cool people like yourself on line. I’ll let you know as soon as I get one. I have to decide what carrier I want to use. Also, I’m going to be moving to a different place soon so I’m going to wait until after I move to get everything set up.
I’m really glad that you got a PS3. I got the Xbox360 along with two sports titles for Christmas. It’s great to have both systems. I will now be able to take advantage of the Xbox360 game sales as well as play exclusive titles on both systems. There are always great deals on Xbox360 games where I live. What Xbox360 games should I get? What do you suggest?
December 28th, 2009
This puts new meaning to the phrase “Grandma’s Boy”…
December 29th, 2009
So, he lives in his Grandma’s house, and steals video game consoles, which he proceeds to connect online.
*hrrmhrmDumbasshrmm*
The car thefts do suggest that he’s not TOO pathetic. However, how could a 200-time house robber get himself caught in such a stupid way?
More so, if he stole 13 cars, why in the world would he need to steal video games from children?
December 29th, 2009
twilight,
Same reason why I got a PS3. There are too many exclusives on both systems to have to miss out.
In regards to games, it probably boils down to what you’re into. Mass Effect is a good game, with the second coming out next month. Then there’s the usual suspects, gears and halo. If you’re into RPGs Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon are a lot of fun. It does really boil down into what you like.
December 29th, 2009
Harry,
Okay, this helps. I’m looking to get some more Xbox 360 titles. I like all sorts of games as long as they are decent games. I will definitely be getting Gears of War. Since you mentioned Lost Odyssey, I will probably check this out too. I was just looking for another game besides Gears Of War to get.
December 29th, 2009
““Xbox Live: it isn’t just better than PSN, it’s also able to catch criminals.â€
Yes, but PSN can cure cancer! Maybe. Take that.”
cured mine!
December 29th, 2009
Dead Rising, Fable 2, Mass Effect, Geometry Wars come to mind as well.
December 29th, 2009
Okay, CarlB I now have these games on my radar as well. There’s nothing I hate more than buying a crappy game.
December 29th, 2009
Oh yeah, forgot about Fable 2. Once you go online, get Left 4 Dead also. But don’t get it if you’re offline, it’s not as much fun.
December 29th, 2009
@ norm,
You had cancer?
December 29th, 2009
@twilight
Episodes from liberty city, saints row 1 and Shadow complex, if you are not that much into graphics, then you can give crackdown a try
December 29th, 2009
@Harry
I wont call Lost Odyssey a fun game
, it made me CRY.. (First Game to ever do that) lol
December 29th, 2009
@ Toshi,
haha you’re soft!
Which part? When Kaim’s wife dies? Or at the end where Seth goes away?
December 29th, 2009
err..daughter, not wife
December 29th, 2009
MGS4 is online is it not?
December 29th, 2009
@ SW,
You’re right, it is. I forgot all about MG Online. Do people still play it?
December 29th, 2009
When he stole it could he not just erase all the info on the console itself?? This kid and parents sounds like folks who would have reported this console stolen the minute they realize it was gone and this prob wasn’t the first time this dude played on-line with it so M$ the police or the ISP didn’t track him then why not?? Sounds like luck that this kid happend to be on-line when this dumb-ass thief was on and lit a fire underneath the ISP, M$, and the police asses to get his console back.
December 29th, 2009
“Xbox Live: it isn’t just better than PSN, it’s also able to catch criminals.”
You know if Mike would have wrote that and substituted PSN for Xbox Live he would have been accused of fanboyism, one sidedness or some other unholy ps3 worship by the you know who’s on here lol. Or we could take it a step further and say Dave’s so called “balance” just flew out the window and his true flag has just been raised. But why would anybody think that way when we know Dave just wrote that little catchy phrase because it fit with the article he was writing? Kinda like Mike does. Don’t mind me I am just thinking aloud
December 29th, 2009
I will give MS it’s kudos in regard to assisting law enforcement. They do alot from their own pocket with that too. One shout round for MS in that regard
December 29th, 2009
“Xbox Live: it isn’t just better than PSN, it’s also able to catch criminals”
“So this past Wednesday Dec 16th somebody broke into my apartment while I was at work and stole about 24 ps3 video games, 45 ps3 games, 52 snes games, all of my consoles including my PS3 and components including a PS3 camera. What the thieve didn’t know is that I had my PS3 connected to my PSP. As some of you know, once you hook up your PSP to your PS3 you can remotely control your PS3 through your PSP through a local or internet connection. I tried every day, every hour to see if by any chance the thieve connected the PS3 to the internet, surely on Friday Dec 18th at around 11:30pm I was able to turn on the PS3 from my home by using my PSP using my internet connection. I opened a chat room, turned on the camera and surely enough I got to see a close look at the thieves face! (probably looking at it wondering why the PS3 had turned on by itself!!!), with my digital camera readily available I took a picture of the PSP screen with the thieves face!! Called the police and they quickly recognized the person!!!! LONG STORY SHORT, I GOT MY PS3 WITH NO DAMAGE WHATSOEVER AND ALL OF MY GAMES WERE RECOVERED!.”
h**p://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3&thread.id=4214197
December 29th, 2009
haha you’re soft!
Which part? When Kaim’s wife dies? Or at the end where Seth goes away?
@Harry
Lol those were pretty close but no, actually the first dream abt that sick lil girl who dies, i was not expecting that kind of an impact with those words and background music, they cought me offgaurd i guess..
December 29th, 2009
“So this past Wednesday Dec 16th somebody broke into my apartment while I was at work and stole about 24 ps3 video games, 45 ps3 games, 52 snes games, all of my consoles including my PS3 and components including a PS3 camera. What the thieve didn’t know is that I had my PS3 connected to my PSP. As some of you know, once you hook up your PSP to your PS3 you can remotely control your PS3 through your PSP through a local or internet connection. I tried every day, every hour to see if by any chance the thieve connected the PS3 to the internet, surely on Friday Dec 18th at around 11:30pm I was able to turn on the PS3 from my home by using my PSP using my internet connection. I opened a chat room, turned on the camera and surely enough I got to see a close look at the thieves face! (probably looking at it wondering why the PS3 had turned on by itself!!!), with my digital camera readily available I took a picture of the PSP screen with the thieves face!! Called the police and they quickly recognized the person!!!! LONG STORY SHORT, I GOT MY PS3 WITH NO DAMAGE WHATSOEVER AND ALL OF MY GAMES WERE RECOVERED!”
MORAL OF THE STORY :-
You need a psp and great luck that the local police officers recognise the face of the accused
lol
December 29th, 2009
Caught*
December 29th, 2009
@Tosh
You also need a ps3 that supports Wifi, so that cuts the 20gig out of it as well.
As for recognizing repeat offenders…You’d be surprised what law enforcement remembers. We generally have the same cops in our area and they tend to know the trouble makers.
December 29th, 2009
That´s some lucky dude, Phranctoast!
By the look of both stories, these thieves TRY to go the easiest way possible just like that. They don´t even have the care to erase the previous information to avoid being catched. It´s like stealing a wallet and start using it without ditching the ID´s.
December 29th, 2009
Harry Noooooooo you turned to the dark side. LOL
I suppose it was bound to happen. So I guess by 2011 everyone on Blorge will have both consoles except for Roca ,Phranctoast, Kev and HH.
I thought about it but in the end I’m finding it hard to play games these days as I’m quite busy. Spending $300 on a system that I’m not going to get much time with does not make much sense for me. Especially when I realize that $300 could go to games I have yet to play and that I’m intrested in. Then with 2 systems there will be even more games to get and no time to play. Like I siad this time next year if PS3 is selling for like $150 to $200 then maybe I’ll get one. Besides I’ll just end up like Carl B treating the PS3 like an unwanted step child. LOL
Harry, I would love to hear your opinion on the PS3 though.
December 29th, 2009
lol@CAD.
I almost got a 360 but I couldn’t land the Walmart or Amazon $100 discount deal. A cheap 20gig HDD and I’d be set. Missed the deal and missed my opportunity.
“Besides I’ll just end up like Carl B treating the PS3 like an unwanted step child. LOL”
You see it too? lol
December 29th, 2009
funny stuff.
just one more reason why a controlled network (xbox live) is better than an open one (PSN)…
well, that and MS’ ability to ban cheaters and hackers while Sony and PSN does nothing to them….
stupid criminals….
December 29th, 2009
OK kev…
so you’re saying this wasn’t possible on the PSN?
MAC address and IP tracking isn’t possible.
Go be stupid somewhere else.
December 29th, 2009
That was perhaps the weakest post you’ve ever made.
Ill put it down to end of year, but in 2010 I expect some better stuff Kev.
December 29th, 2009
SW – how many thieves have PSN helped catch?
December 29th, 2009
Do a search kev. If you really care you will, so we know you won’t.
There’s a couple of instances mentioned. One was about a person who bought a stolen system used and the police came to his house. Guess the thief was smart enough not to plug it into a network and use it themselves.
December 29th, 2009
phranc – if you say so.
December 29th, 2009
“lol@CAD.
I almost got a 360 but I couldn’t land the Walmart or Amazon $100 discount deal. A cheap 20gig HDD and I’d be set. Missed the deal and missed my opportunity.”
Phranctoast
The only question is when everyone owns both system what will Blorge use to gain hits on Blorge as most of their tactics is to start a flame war between the two rivals. LOL
December 29th, 2009
The end of the website and life as we know it CAD.
It all starts when we buy Darksiders.
December 29th, 2009
own both console doesnt mean you are going to stop being a fanboy (Ivan and CarlB come to mind)
December 29th, 2009
better to own one, be an even bigger PS3 fanboy, and talk as if you own both (roca comes to mind)
December 29th, 2009
hahha, nice come back
my comment was in response to CAD’s about the flame war. ppl here are still going to defend their console of choice no matter what. you do it for the 360, Ivan does for the PS3 even though both of you own both console
December 29th, 2009
LOL,
Thats pretty retarded.
I guess people like that keep life interesting though.
December 29th, 2009
Me – I hate the way M$ make you jump through hoops just to get the credit card details off the 360. The last thing I want if my 360 gets stolen is for somebody to rack up debt on my card.
You can remove your credit card details from your 360 through the xbl website now.
Just a heads up chief if ya didn’t already know.
December 29th, 2009
“SW – how many thieves have PSN helped catch?”
Well now I just know you’re pulling my leg
Still, I’m impressed MS managed to twist his ISP’s arm to get his location. I’m not sure on the law in whatever country the kid was in, but in alot of cases ISP’s won’t even hand over details of people accessing kiddie porn etc (hence them now passing laws to try to enforce this).
December 29th, 2009
CAD,
The dark side?? No way! I still like women!
In all seriousness, I’ll still have the 360 as my ‘main’ games machine, i.e multiplats (unless they’re considerably better, or cheaper, on PS3), video streaming (tried it out on the PS3 last night and it was stuttering a lot), media center etc. Demos will also be downloaded on the 360, I tried downloading the Dante’s Inferno demo from the PS3 last night and it’s taking a pretty long time. Xbox Live is a lot faster, where I am anyway.
The PS3 is going to be used for PS3 exclusives and blu-rays.
@ PS3 owners – Perhaps you can help me out. On the Xbox, we have an option where we can start downloading a demo, switch our machine off, and it keeps downloading. I can’t find that option on the PS3. Is there something I need to switch on to get that working?
December 29th, 2009
you can leave it downloading and you can set your system to turn off after the download.
December 29th, 2009
thanks Roca.
So there’s no option for it to download while off then? lol where can I submit enhancement requests?
December 29th, 2009
“I’ll still have the 360 as my ‘main’ games machine, i.e multiplats (unless they’re considerably better, or cheaper, on PS3), video streaming (tried it out on the PS3 last night and it was stuttering a lot), media center etc. Demos will also be downloaded on the 360, I tried downloading the Dante’s Inferno demo from the PS3 last night and it’s taking a pretty long time. Xbox Live is a lot faster, where I am anyway. The PS3 is going to be used for PS3 exclusives and blu-rays.”
Yep, I’m right there with you Harry. 360′s separate hard Drive/memory card prices are still abhorrent though.
December 30th, 2009
harry sachz:
That’s not needed i just do background download. I wish Xbox 360 had remote play like PS3 and PSP has. I wish my Xbox 360 had Blu-ray, a bigger HDD like 500gb or a wifi adapter or PlayStation home where can i summit for this needed missing enhancement feature?
December 30th, 2009
ivan – why is sony abandoning the “cell” for the ps4 if it’s the “future of gaming” as you promised in the past?
December 30th, 2009
Only in your little Xbox world.
December 30th, 2009
IVAN PSP- for a raging (read: brain damaged) ps3 fanboy it’s odd you didn’t know sony is probably not going with the “cell” in the ps4. I posted a link about it, but Mike Ferro won’t post an article about it.
maybe when his balls drop…lmao….
December 31st, 2009
kev:
You such an idiot they never said officially dumb ass get a life a real one for once. Xbot troll. The Cell Broadband Engine will be use in other PlayStation soon maybe PSP.
December 31st, 2009
Ivan PSP – it’s all over the ‘net. do a search.
“The Cell Broadband Engine will be use in other PlayStation soon maybe PSP.”
i haven’t read anything that states this. at least i have links to back up my debates…..where’s yours? D’OH!!! lmao!!
December 31st, 2009
“So there’s no option for it to download while off then? lol where can I submit enhancement requests?”
Just turn your TV off and put in some ear plugs for the fans
Same effect.
January 1st, 2010
LoL lies