Wired: Macs in Damascus, Hasan the local 'Mac Guru'

Wired.com's story, The Mac Guru of Damascus in the Case of the Missing Laptops, is about Eric Umansky's experience losing his MacBook and his fiancée's MBP in Syria to a break in.

Before my fiancée and I headed to Syria to study Arabic, we often heard there was one advantage to living in a police state: almost no crime. So it came as a surprise when Sara and I returned to our Damascus apartment one night after a dinner party to find splintered wood in the hallway — wood that had once been part of our front door. I made a beeline for the living room to check on our most valuable possessions: my MacBook and Sara's MacBook Pro. Both gone.

Eric, the author who wrote his story on his recovered laptop, is a contributing writer for various publications and a columnist for Slate. He wrote that it wasn't the authorities who eventually led him to the thief almost two days after the crime, but a contact to an unlikely fellow: a local Mac technician.

A friend had put us in touch with Bassel Al Hassan, apparently the one guy in Damascus who services Macs. A few days later we shared a meal with Hassan, a soft-spoken man in his mid-thirties. "Yours were the seventh and eighth stolen Macs I've recovered," he said.

Eric said Al Hasan called up computer shops in town not telling the shop owners about the stolen Macs. When one of the shop owners confirmed having two units in his possession which he paid $200 for, Hasan informed the owner that the computers were hot items. The shop owner then met up with Eric and his fiancée at a street corner in our neighborhood.

Meanwhile, Eric wrote that all Bassel Al Hasan wanted in exchange for helping them recover the Macs was permission to 'friend' Eric on Facebook.>/p> Whole story here.

When yours is stolen...

The first thing to do, as I gather from various forums and sources, is to report the incident to the police. This way, the incident becomes official and all relevant information related to the lost items are noted. This same document will be very helpful in determining ownership should the opportunity for recovery comes up.

Make copies of the official document and give them out to all Apple Authorized Service Centers. It helps to scour areas where laptop pawnshops proliferate and request them to either receive a copy of your document (at least) or post it in a public and visible area of their shop.

It also pays to post messages in trade sites known to buy and sell technology stuff like ebay.ph, auctions.ph and special-interest forums and groups (like YahooGroups or GoogleGroups).

Lastly, use the power of email. It's still a wonder that laptop theft is under-reported in Manila (and elsewhere) in spite of the fact that laptops aren't just expensive, they make our lives somewhat easier, hold valuable information and make, or break, our means of livelihood.

Here's the LIST of stolen items (updated).

One for the books

BREAK-INS AND BURGLARY are not the most exciting experience, but these can certainly leave the most impression on the victims. Sometimes, the effect of media exposure on crimes may leave a numbing effect on the public unless, of course, it happens to our neighbors or us.

"Just a couple of minutes ago, we were able to catch in the act the person we suspect have stolen several laptops, and cellphones in the building.

We were able to identify him thru an earlier security cam video, and when he entered the office, those of us who recognized him went to all the exits to block him off. He tried to muscle his way out but we got him pinned down to the floor. He was caught red-handed with a stolen cellphone in his pocket.

A word of warning though,

a. These guys don't work alone. One of his cohorts would pretend to pin him down, but will try to slyly slip the evidence away. When somebody shouted the cellphone is in the fire exit stairways, he let go of the arm, and went ahead to check the fire exit. He never went back. He is still on the loose.

b. They target offices or cubicles that are blocked off from general view (like a cubicle that's right beside a building post, or a wall).

c. And if you think they won't come back right after a theft, you'd be surprised that they actually do.

d. Don't believe any crap coming out of their mouths."

This almost blow-by-blow account was posted online in one of the forums I am a member of. The incident, as with the above post, was dated July 2, 2007. The extraordinary value of this account is that the witness &mdash a forum member himself &mdash along with his office mates, took action, subdued the suspects and did their civil duty of reporting the crime to the authorities almost instantaneously, all the while being able to sound off other members of the forum by posting online (talk about some kind of citizen journalism). Fortunately, there were no casualties reported.

Well, the suspects' accomplices managed to flee (there were allegedly four of them), the subdued suspect was booked and the victims filed a case. Our member-reporter (let's call him 'CJ', aka citizen-journalist) also managed to secure clearance to post the pictures of the incident.

Does it end there? I believe it does not, as it only starts where we think it ends. We start by being vigilant and alert. Then we become cautious, probably spending on some security stuff for our peace of mind. Also, we start making decisions, like, do we actually react according to what is expected of us (e.g. call for help and alert others around us) or not?

Someone replied to the thread above, which I think is basic and very, very timely (and also echoes my sentiments):

"Though not totally theft-proof, it still adds a level of security especially when you're always alert and vigilant. Professional thieves have good instincts in detecting "qualified" victims."

Over and above it all, we do have a responsibility to stop a crime when we see one. Of course with this responsibility comes the risk, but if the criminals are allowed to get away with it once, what will stop them from doing the same thing all over again?

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Photos courtesy of "CJ". Thanks for sharing.