Laptop Nicking Gang, Maenam

[katyb]

I didn’t post this at the time, as I wasn’t sure what was happening and didn’t want to risk any negative impact but I want to post it now to see what you think…………..

Back in January, Maenam, some robbin’ so and so broke into my bungalow between 9pm and 11pm and nicked my laptop. I know, I know, I can hear the know alls out there saying “if you bring a laptop to Thailand, it will get nicked” Unfortunately, in my case, this turned out to be true (after 5 years, I must add). But I know many people who have a laptop with them and have never had a problem. I think its becoming a very common accessory for the longstayer / expat.

Anyway, I digress. Laptop went, as did a near neighbours on the same night. Police came but I won’t go into that. Rumour was that there is / was a ‘laptop nicking gang lead by big boss farang’ in the area. A few weeks later, another one went from a house 50 yards away.

I am really sad about this, as I love Maenam and always have. I have some good friends here, both Farang and Thai, who were genuinely upset, as in our area this had not happened before.

If it is true that there is a farang lead gang operating, then I am even more saddened, and very ashamed to be a farang. One of the many reasons I love to stay in Thailand is to get away from the thuggish, underhand, criminal, lazy, dishonest minority element that I hate in my own country. I am embarrassed that these yobs are allowed to travel to other countries and represent mine. The people that I have met and befriended here over the years are generally good and kind people, from all different countries. Of course there will always be that element that ruins it.

I posted a message here just a few days before my laptop went, asking if anyone wanted to try to get Ichiwawa wireless in Maenam. Is this a coincidence? Whoever did it knew I had a laptop and waited for me to go out. Nothing else was taken. It was purely the laptop they were after.

I will not be bringing one back with me next time. I will be working from a friends internet café. Not so convenient, but I will not provide an ongoing income for the lowly, criminal, ignorant population of the place I love. And they will definitely not keep me away!

I hope this helps some of you keep hold of your laptops. Please be careful and don’t give them opportunities. There are some really good safety devices now – none of which I had with me at the time! Doh!

Kate

[limbos]

Kate,

What safety devices are you talking about?

[poorfarang]

I also lived in maenam and I know 2 people in the area who had laptops stolen around february-march. I had about 300k baht worth of equipment in my place but never had any troubles thankfully. They must drive around and peek into windows to see what everyone has.

[sbk]

Kate,

What safety devices are you talking about?

Perhaps a laptop lock

[Samuian]

...I ask myself - why a farang

Is he the bad guy and the boys stealing the goods are only the thieves - misled youths?

way up at Naprahlarn Temple is almost every evening a showdown of the local "kiddy-Gangs" Police has frequent Patrols now, because it got out of hand with Guns... the lot...

[keebone]

I can only assume that the police think the gang is led by a Farang because they are thus far successful and have not been caught while trying to sell the laptops withing a 50 metre radius of where they stole them.

[PaulAllen]

I can only assume that the police think the gang is led by a Farang because they are thus far successful and have not been caught while trying to sell the laptops withing a 50 metre radius of where they stole them.

Good one!!!!

[alh]

One of the many reasons I love to stay in Thailand is to get away from the thuggish, underhand, criminal, lazy, dishonest minority element that I hate in my own country.

Girl, are you in the wrong place....

I have never met so many people in one place that fit this description as in Koh Samui. That goes for foreigners and Thais. Still it's nice to live here and sorry to hear about your laptop, that is messed up. I'm very worried that could happend to me too.

Take care.

[Jet Gorgon]

They sell em in used comp shops in Nathon and Surat. Go fishing for yours.

[DrFisher]

I'm not very technical but I have kind of a "low jack" in my note book if it is removed the notebook is useless but if connected to the internet (after being reported stolen to the manufacture) the notebook reports it's location so the police can be notified.

[LaoPo]

I'm not very technical but I have kind of a "low jack" in my note book if it is removed the notebook is useless but if connected to the internet (after being reported stolen to the manufacture) the notebook reports it's location so the police can be notified.

Never heard of that before....

Can you be more specific about manufacturer/brandname and to whom it reports the location... etc., please?

LaoPo

[DrFisher]

"lo jack" is a brand name of a tracking device we use on cars in the USA I'm not sure what it is called in the notebook. I have a Dell notebook I bought in the USA or rather the hospital I worked for bought and sold it to me at the end of the 1 year contract with Dell. If your note book is lost or stolen you report it to Dell (I have seen other manufactures like Sony and IBM with the same service advertised in the USA) and they activate the chip in the notebook to report the location of the internet connection at which time you can contact the police and tell them where your notebook is. As I said I'm not very technical when it comes to computers and I don't know all the details of how it works I assume it is kind of like a copied version of windows when you log on to the internet it reports in that it is not a purchased version. I know many on line games only allow 1 account per person and they find duplicates by tracking the IP address so I imagine it works along these lines. I hope that helps, good luck.

[Jet Gorgon]

Awesome. I bet Nathon police would be right on the case.

[LaoPo]

Thanks a lot DrFisher; much appreciated.

Never too old to learn something new I suppose.

Found "LoJack" in the meantime and I hope I'm allowed to post a link here; it might help others...

http://www.lojackforlaptops.com/

LaoPo

[PaulAllen]

You would be more wise to put money in stopping them from coming in your house in the first place. A dog goes a long way towards this. Thais' are scared shitless of them.

[0Mix1up]

A dog goes a long way towards this. Thais' are scared shitless of them.

????

seen any soi dogs lately?

[LaoPo]

You would be more wise to put money in stopping them from coming in your house in the first place. A dog goes a long way towards this. Thais' are scared shitless of them.

Right, but quite a hassle if you're on holiday/travelling to have the builders come in and protect the house/hotelroom/bungalow and look for a guard-dog at the same time...

We were broken into our rented villa last year near Maenam; they missed our laptop though...hidden in a simple place...too simple for a simple burglar...

LaoPo

[Khun Lung]

Kate,

What safety devices are you talking about?

Perhaps a laptop lock

and what you want with that pice, you look it on the table,chair or frigator. you come back

and any of your locked pice is also gone ...

by the way, I open you that pice in 3 minutes with the tools there already in my Motorcycle

[Khun Lung]

They sell em in used comp shops in Nathon and Surat.

wrong information, TPD in Samui and CID Suratthani checking all second-hand

shops afterwards....

please no discuss and other... InowIt, IdowIt, and it is a s..t job

pleas now

[LaoPo]

Kate,

What safety devices are you talking about?

Perhaps a laptop lock

and what you want with that pice, you look it on the table,chair or frigator. you come back

and any of your locked pice is also gone ...

by the way, I open you that pice in 3 minutes with the tools there already in my Motorcycle

Maybe this works better....

LaoPo

[DrFisher]

You would be more wise to put money in stopping them from coming in your house in the first place. A dog goes a long way towards this. Thais' are scared shitless of them.

Good locks stop honest people from being criminals and create a challenge for professional thieves.

[katyb]

Actually, I do have a dog (Lukie - see avatar, sitting in his chair). Unfortunately, he is rather sociable and when I go out, he also goes out.................. to the restaurant across the road as he likes company. He hangs out with the farangs there and runs back when he hears me coming down the road. Wasn't quite what I had in mind, but you've got to love him!

When I went back to UK, I did some research to see what devices were around in case I was daft enough to take a laptop back with me. Below are some links to what I found:

http://www.lapsafe.com/catalogue/laptop-an...urity-cable.cfm

http://www.anchorpad.com/LockdownPlates.html

http://www.tometasoftware.com/products_ssnet.asp

http://www.secure-it.com/shop/index.php/cPath/28

http://www.securitykit.com/soniclock30012.htm

If it does disappear, these links are for tracking (however, if I remember rightly, I think that some of them may not cover Thailand)

http://www.ztrace.com/zTraceGold.asp

http://www.lojackforlaptops.com/learn-more...for-laptops.asp

http://www.computersecurity.com/stealth/buy.htm?id=2#S-T

http://www.stolenlaptop.com/

https://thecyberangel.com/store/index.html

Maybe they might be some help. But I think if someone wants your laptop, they'll get it. The secret is to not let them know you've got one. If I did get another laptop, I would probably get 2 lock down devices, the motion sensor and I am sure I found a system that would ring your mobile if the laptop motion sensor was disturbed, but I cannot find that info anywhere now. Perhaps I dreamt it, or just thought it would be a good idea.

Any of these would be at least a deterrent.

Oh ............ and I'm also going to chain Lukie to the balcony (only joking). This would definitely work, but I wouldn't be very popular with the neighbours!

Kate

[katyb]

One of the many reasons I love to stay in Thailand is to get away from the thuggish, underhand, criminal, lazy, dishonest minority element that I hate in my own country.

Girl, are you in the wrong place....

I have never met so many people in one place that fit this description as in Koh Samui. That goes for foreigners and Thais. Still it's nice to live here and sorry to hear about your laptop, that is messed up. I'm very worried that could happend to me too.

Take care.

Hey Alh,

Seeing as you meet all these 'lovely' people and I don't ..........maybe its you that's in the wrong place, not me!

Don't worry about your laptop. It's really not worth it. As I said before, just keep it out of sight and don't tell anyone you've got one - this is the best defence by far. They knew I'd got one, they'd seen it. I was an easy target.

Kate

[Jet Gorgon]

Maybe this works better....

LaoPo

Thanks, LP! Can you get that at Tesco?

[LaoPo]

Maybe this works better....

LaoPo

Thanks, LP! Can you get that at Tesco?

Yes, and actually you get 3 mice for free if you buy one...for testing purposes

LaoPo

[Jet Gorgon]

Ya gotta love the venerable old man.

[LaoPo]

Ya gotta love the venerable old man.

Most men envy old men like this...not to mention the girls

...not that I'm old though, my wife thinks not....and I never dispute with her

LaoPo

[Mark Wolfe]

You should have a back-up hard drive with everything you have on your computer on it. This can be better secured since thieves are unlikely to ransack the place looking for it (even if they recognized what is was).

It is the old adage: Back-up and do it often.

Losing a computer is not good, but losing all the data on it is mindbogglingly awful.

M

[BigC]

i don't know how secure it would be. but you could set up a password to get into your laptop. to make it usless for the criminal becuase they would be able to use it. then you put a reward up in tescos. saying suttley. " lost laptop reward 3000 baht" you might get lucky. someone might " find it " and try na salvage 3000 baht out of it.

hope you didn't store any use full info on it. lots of people store ban number and stuff on there machines.

[BigC]

Maybe this works better....

LaoPo

Thanks, LP! Can you get that at Tesco?

Yes, and actually you get 3 mice for free if you buy one...for testing purposes

LaoPo

that looks like my lap top that i had nicked