Filing police report for "stolen" property?
 

Hey all - I know most of the threads on here are about MVA's but I thought maybe I'd throw this out to our resident police folks to see what you think I should do.

So, I lost my GPS in a rental car a while back when I was travelling in San Francisco. I reported it to National's Lost and Found and of course they find nothing. I'm scouring eBay today to find a replacement and lo and behold, I see my GPS on there. (serial numbers match up to my box and the serial number I have registered with Garmin)

eBay's website says report it to my local police. I'm wondering whether me being in a different country to where the "theft" took place means it would be out of the jurisdiction of the police to do anything about it. What is the point of reporting it to the police in another country other than to have a report case number?

Ideally, I'd like to get my property back. At the very least, I'd like the seller to know that I know he's got my stolen property and maybe try get them to return it.

A police report will show the serial number and other details. You can then forward the police report details to ebay, and they may be willing to do something about it.

...keep in mind they are most likely just to pull the ad since it's for stolen property.

Yeah, that's what I thought they'd do too. I was hoping they'd hand over that guys info to the police but I highly doubt that. Seems like this guy is starting to fence stuff he's found in rental cars on eBay since one of the other items he sold is a cell phone with no accessories.

I sent off a passive aggressive message to the seller anyways saying that I know this is mine and if he just sends it back, I won't file a report with the cops. Hopefully they'll do the right thing.

Nice investigation work.

If I were you, I'd consider buying it and doing a chargeback. Screw him over for shipping fees.

Hah, yeah probably be the safer bet. Only thing is if eBay sides with the seller because they fulfilled their side of the deal, then I'm stuck with paying for it.

They actually did respond and are willing to send it back to me if I can provide proof it's mine. Hopefully they'll follow through. I wouldn't be surprised though if I get this thing back looking like he kicked the thing all the way to the post office.

Cynical cop here.

As soon as you send proof, the seller can keep that proof and then claim that as his/her own proof of ownership.

Haha, good point. My proof was a picture of the box with the serial number visible, as well as a screen shot of the Garmin website with the device and serial number registered to my email. Also, Garmin will disable any future updates to the device unless it's done by the original owner so there's also that I can use to prove I own it.

Fortunately, they did say they would send me back the GPS and even paid for shipping (even though I offered to reimburse them for it) I guess I'll see next week whether they actually sent the GPS back or a couple of rocks in a box.

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How does Garmin ensure it's the original owner? Keep an eye on your email in case they try to gain access to your account or something.

I guess it just assumes the first person to register the device is the original owner. When you register your device initially, it asks for a serial number and ties it to your Garmin account/email.

If the new owner want to register the device for updates, it will tell them that the device is registered already and that the original owner needs to unregister the device before they can register it. It really just prevents any future device and map updates, so the person can still use the GPS if they wanted.

Apparently the GPS arrived at my mailbox in Blaine today so I Googled the senders name - it matches with a person who runs a mail order weed operation. I guess that's why they got so spooked when I mentioned I'd a police report...

So all the replies here seem based on the idea that your GPS was actually stolen...

The fact is, finders-keepers still applies. You left it behind - that's not the responsibility of the person who found it, the car rental company, or anyone who may have bought it off the finder. That National even keeps a lost-and-found is a COURTESY. That the finder even agreed to return it is a COURTESY. Sure you could have "bought it and screwed him with a chargeback", but the only scummy one there would have been YOU.

Just count yourself lucky that you ran into an honest finder.

Not entirely true.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_by_finding

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting to get it back, and I do realize that it wasn't technically stolen - I even put it in quotes on my title and mentioned it was lost in my original post. In any case, the person who found it wasn't acting in good faith either by throwing it up on eBay, so they're certainly no angel. I am however thankful that they did end up sending it back (although the skeptic in me says I won't believe it until I see the device with my own two eyes).

To be honest, I wouldn't have done the chargeback route since it puts the risk on me. If Paypal or eBay did deny the claim, I would be out the original cost of the GPS along with what I claimed on the Chargeback. I was just going to go with their guidelines (which was to file a police report then have the police follow up with eBay) and see whatever comes out of that. I was just curious as to why I would file here rather than where the actual "theft" occurred. Looking at the VPD website, they won't even let you open a case if it didn't happen here.

I had nothing to lose by "threatening to go to the cops" with the seller so I figured why not. Fortunately it turned out well for me and they sent it back. The seller did claim he was "selling it for someone else" which we all know is BS.

i'm going to go with that the intent wasn't malicious, esp. if the seller exposes the serial number in the ad

however, don't be afraid to fill a police report or even a chargeback, it's not a scummy move if it's already been confirmed it wasn't another party who unknowingly purchased the stolen item...you're retrieving lost property legitmately

in another similar case, someone locally found their stolen bike on craigslist, met up to test drive it and just rode off, haha

I honestly think they showed the serial number accidentally - and they were just taking pictures to show the condition and it happened to show the serial number. If they were more devious, they would have blurred out the serial number.

To end the story, I did get my GPS back. The guy shipped it to my mailbox in Blaine so that saves me a few hundred bucks in buying another one.

One thing I did notice - I was going to file a police report with VPD (since eBay asks you file a report in the city I am located rather than where the "theft" occurred), but VPD won't even let me open a case on their website if the theft didn't occur in the City of Vancouver. A bit strange and totally contradictory, but I guess it's a moot point for me now.

Something like this I think you'd have to call or go in person, vs just punching stuff in online.

One thing I did notice - I was going to file a police report with VPD (since eBay asks you file a report in the city I am located rather than where the "theft" occurred), but VPD won't even let me open a case on their website if the theft didn't occur in the City of Vancouver. A bit strange and totally contradictory, but I guess it's a moot point for me now.[/QUOTE]


The "theft"....did not even happen in Canada, let alone Vancouver. They have no jurisdiction in another country and can not possibly investigate anything. It would be up to the police in the jurisdiction where the "crime" happened to do any investigation. Losing something is not "theft" so even the local police will not investigate. Glad you got it back-next time be more careful. You got very lucky this time.

ebay probably didn't know what they're talking about
they just make blanket statement, obvs i don't expect them to be well-versed in the SoP of every different jurisdictions out there

The "theft"....did not even happen in Canada, let alone Vancouver. They have no jurisdiction in another country and can not possibly investigate anything. It would be up to the police in the jurisdiction where the "crime" happened to do any investigation. Losing something is not "theft" so even the local police will not investigate. Glad you got it back-next time be more careful. You got very lucky this time.[/QUOTE]

I completely agree with what you're saying - my interpretation of how things should have been done was totally in line with yours. It should have been reported to the authorities where it happened, and a case opened. I'd imagine there wouldn't be any real "investigation" required, and it's just a formality that eBay requires to act on stuff like this so people don't randomly claim that a $100,000 diamond ring someone is selling is theirs. I just don't understand why they'd tell people to report it in their home town/city.

I agree, losing something isn't theft, and I tried to make it clear with the quotes around the word "theft" in my original post, but if you find the item you lost on eBay, wouldn't you want to at the very least flag it to prevent the seller from making money off your misfortune?

In any case, it seems that eBay's information page on this is a bit misleading and maybe doesn't apply in all cases. Seeing that they're a big source of stolen and counterfeit goods, I'd expect them to be a bit more well versed on this subject and perhaps even have a team to investigate this.

"n any case, it seems that eBay's information page on this is a bit misleading and maybe doesn't apply in all cases. Seeing that they're a big source of stolen and counterfeit goods, I'd expect them to be a bit more well versed on this subject and perhaps even have a team to investigate this.":


The crux of the whole matter. They don't care unless it affects their bottom line. I'm assuming that their lawyers told them that typing something on a website probably absolves them of any civil litigation.