Stolen Macbook - Track IP?

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Level 1

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Stolen Macbook - Track IP?

Hello,

About a day ago my MacBook, along with $5,000 worth of other items, was stolen out of my broken-into house. I had the "Find My iPod" app setup on both my iPhone and MacBook, however the "use my location" feature was apparently turned off on the Mac. I was able to lock the computer and display a contact message when the theif connected to the internet, but his location was not relayed through the App. However, since the computer did connect to the internet and Apple was able to lock it automatically, does that mean that their IP was logged?

I'm hoping to get the IP address used to connect to the internet and relay it to police. Any help would be appreciated.

MacBook Pro, iOS 4.3.3, Mid 2010 model

Posted on Jun 19, 2013 10:53 AM

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Answer 1

ds store

Level 7

30,725 points

Jun 19, 2013 11:08 AM in response to moose9036

This is the Apple support document on that

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT2526

Basically you let law enforcement handle it and just provide them with serial numbers etc. and other things like if you activated the find my mac etc.

They will handle the technical side of things and tracing etc., as the perps might be moving around etc. and there are rules of evidence to follow as to prevent them from getting off on a technical issue, also ISP's provide more detailed information from IP addresses only to law enforcement.

Apple, like all other websites, log all IPs and computer information as they connect if the need ever should come up that they need to go back over data for law enforcement purposes.

How exactly Apple works with law enforcement on this is unknown and guarded information, but I know it exists as stolen celebrities machines have been located this way in the past, and due to their always in the news nature is how we have come to find out about it.

The trick is to keep quiet about it and hope the perps are idiots and screw up also a lot depends upon the local law enforcement, how competant or able/willing they are to pursue your case.

So you provide them what you can and they have a bigger picture and hopefully plan accordingly to catch them.

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