http://www.where-is-my-laptop.com/

Site appears to be down. Anyone know what happened?

Remember the Python sketch...The longer you wait, the more you pay.. We are not here to judge you, we just want the money...

The PDF files on these computers are fake. They're copies of entries in various blogs. Among them are also quite recent entries that Lost Laptop claims to exist PDF's in computers that were found months before the blog posts were published. I have contacted some of the bloggers whose entries are on Lost Laptop's site and they knew nothing about it. At least this is a copyright issue.

As I pointed out in my comment to the previous news article of this, Lost Laptop Limited has changed its name quite recently:

http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/d7f6cc9e616908cb036b32c94ed659a7/compdetails

Previous Names:
Date of change Previous Name
23/10/2009 V.R.U. LIMITED

V.R.U. Limited's profile can be found in LinkedIn: commercials, ads...

OMFG This is going to be great. I smell a law suit. I am looking for my old p1 laptop to send in ASAP.

So what would stop me from going to the Police and telling them exactly where my stolen laptop is? They could then go fetch it from said establishment and return it to me.

Save me £450

It's obviously a prank. Everyone is focusing on laptops being stolen rather than lost. The hole in this scheme, however, is that people could send in their own laptops as lost and collect more than they're worth. The site says min. 100 quid.

Definitely not suitable for work. They've published pics of the guy's girlfriend on one of the laptops!

http://www.where-is-my-laptop.com/notebookContents/browser/showDir.php?dir=c0/Dell-Vostro-1510/Pictures/Sexy_Pictures/

"Theft by finding"

...if the laptop was initially stolen then the company would be receiving and handling stolen goods, which is still illegal is it not? In any case they're definitely holding property to ransom and if the rightful owner wants it back, and they refuse without payment - then would this not be theft?

So... I steal a laptop. This group are promising me 200 pounds (sorry, no sterling key on my keyboard) right up front? And they'll make their profit by ransoming the hot property back to the lawful owner?

Not sure if that's private enterprise or organized crime, but it sounds like a sweet deal for the thief-on-the-street.