How to avoid gadget theft?

I’ve been told about several incidents of gadget theft (specifically laptops) and was asked to write about how to avoid being a victim, especially if you carry them around in your car.

This topic is timely because an old friend who lost a lot of valuables (including a Macbook Pro) from a burglary (apartment got broken into and lost hundreds of thousands worth of gadgets) several months ago had a breakthrough this week that we were acting on (more on this later).

• Avoid storing valuables inside the trunk of your car. Majority of people who carry valuables often store them in the trunk. I think this is a mistake, for two reasons — the process of storing them in the trunk is always done wide open and in public; and thieves will most probably target the trunk first knowing people use it as a safe. I’d always use the space under the car seats or the backseat and cover them with a towel or throw pillows. Since you are inside the car when you do this, you also don’t draw attention to the public.
• Dark tinted cars help prevent thieves from clearly seeing what’s inside your car. Put sun visors if you have one — that should cover some area inside your car from direct visibility of thieves. Dark-colored seat covers also help mask the silhouette of laptops, dSLRs or bags.
• Park somewhere more conspicuous, near the entrance gate or where security personnel always patrol. If you drive a sedan, don’t park beside vans, 4x4s and other big cars as they will offer cover for thieves and add blind spots against security cameras. Always try to take that space where no other car is parked beside you.
• Don’t publish details of your lost item online. People who lost stuff like laptops tend to post details of their items on blogs, forums and classifieds. While it serves as fair warning, it is also a death sentence that you’ll most probably never get back the items. If you want to seek help from friends and contacts to share with them the details, you can do it privately in an email. They could help you as a look-out. However, publishing it online will take the case wide open. Thieves might not know about “Google” but it’s most certain the very first person they sold it to might (and they will sell it for a fraction of the original cost of the stuff so it’s a very tempting bargain and this initial sale will most likely happen offline). It will be this person (the buyer) who will sell it online, knowing he could flip the sale and earn twice the amount he originally invested. This guy might do due diligence and when he realizes the item he bought was stolen (after finding about it on blogs, forums and classifieds), I don’t think he will report it or return the items to the real owners (he knows he’s at a disadvantaged position and might even get intro trouble).

What you can do is “wait and search”. This is what my friend who lost his Macbook Pro did. Since, he has the serial number of his laptop, he regularly did a search for that number online.

If you have something similar to Google Alerts, set up an alert with your serial number as the keyword. If someone posted about it online (most probably in the classifieds), you get an email alert. You can then go from there — get a screenshot of the listed item with the serial number and use it as evidence when you report to the police. Start bidding on the item to make sure you get the cell number and name of the seller. Contact the owner of the classifieds site to get their help/cooperation. The police can help you set up an entrapment should the seller agree to meet you.