| pornask |
01-25-2010 01:19 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by WarChild
(Post 16777059)
Yes of course the police don't care. You're just another gringo.
First off don't pay any local thugs anymore money. The people with the most knowledge available to you are probably the cab drivers IN THE SAME NEIGHBORHOOD (this part is important) as it happened in. Look for where cabs are hanging out together. Supermarkets, malls. They may not be marked as taxis. Unofficial taxis are just as good if not better for this purpose.
If you really want the laptop back, offer a reward over and above what the cab driver can probably buy it for. A few hundred dollars will motivate the shit out these people and cab drivers will hustle hard to make a buck.
The cab driver will also probably try to rip you off if he can find it, by saying it's costing more to buy, so you'll have to pay him more. I'd consider maybe just offering a big chunk up front, say $500 for the laptop no questions asked.
Good luck.
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Good advice buddy. I've done something similar but not through cabbies. There are no taxis in town where I picked her up. The town is not a tourist trap as it has no beach or anything of interest to foreigners and locals can't afford cab rides. People here ride old motorcycles mostly (it's not unusual to see 5 people on one fairly aged beater). However there's a group of guys who hang around the area where people try to hitch a ride to Santo Domingo every day helping organize loading and unloading of people taking either a bus of gua gua (local van transport). They make a couple hundred pesos each day this way. I bumped my offer to $1,000 reward for info that will lead to recovery of laptop and droll kept flowing as it's the sum that's way more than any of them will see in their entire lives.
Laptop is the worst thing you could get stolen as it?s not just the hardware, but also data that?s inside. I?m gonna remain positive and believe that boot password I had on that machine will serve as powerful deterrer that may force potential buyers out of buying. I?m sure BIOS could be reset in some way, but it already involves a lot of hassle. Hard drives are most likely replaced or wiped out so OS password won?t do much, but I?m glad I kept the boot password active at all times. I also suppose it?s not a big deal getting a replacement power adapter which I still have in my possession so I don?t consider it a major win on my part.
Good advice buddy. I've done something similar but not through cabbies. There are no taxis in town where I picked her up. The town is not a tourist trap as it has no beach or anything of interest to foreigners and locals can't afford cab rides. People here ride old motorcycles mostly (it's not unusual to see 5 people on one fairly aged beater). However there's a group of guys who hang around the area where people try to hitch a ride to Santo Domingo every day helping organize loading and unloading of people taking either a bus of gua gua (local van transport). They make a couple hundred pesos each day this way. I bumped my offer to $1,000 reward for info that will lead to recovery of laptop and drool kept flowing as it's the sum that's way more than any of them will see in their entire lives.
Laptop is the worst thing you could get stolen as it?s not just the hardware, but also data that?s inside. I?m gonna remain positive and believe that boot password I had on that machine will serve as powerful deterrer that may force potential buyers out of buying. I?m sure BIOS could be reset in some way, but it already involves a lot of hassle. Hard drives are most likely replaced or wiped out so OS password won?t do much, but I?m glad I kept the boot password active at all times. I also suppose it?s not a big deal getting a replacement power adapter which I still have in my possession so I don?t consider it a major win on my part.
If I do happen to be one of 3% of people who recover their laptop, I?ll buy a permanent marker and will write across the case stuff to identify it as my property. I?d advice doing that to everyone who has a laptop. Label it with some nasty writing. It could say your name and email address or phone number or whatever else to make it look like it?s a property of a particular person so if anyone but that person is seen with it, it instantly makes it look like they are using a stolen unit. It?s somewhat akin to watermarking the images you put on the web ? watermark your laptop as well cause you never know when it could slip out of your control. This way if you are reporting the theft, you?re not just gonna say that it?s a black HP laptop, You will be able to say that it?s a black HP laptop with big ass silver marking across it which reads ?fill in the blank?. |
