Here is how social networks can take dumb criminals and make them even dumber.<\/p>\n
A thief who stole a computer and other items from a woman\u2019s house logged into the the woman’s Facebook account and boasted about the theft, even going so far as to say that the Television in the her house wasn\u2019t good enough to take.<\/p>\n
The items were taken from Victoria Richardson, who resides in the UK. The thief took an iPhone, a Nintendo DS, a handbag, some cash and credit cards and a computer. After the crime had been committed Victoria logged into her Facebook account only to find that the bragging bandit had left messages on her profile, stating:<\/p>\n
\u201con my new laptop\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cListening to music on my new phone feels so good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have the laptop , phones ok but a bit scratched itll do, tv was rubbish so I left it, ds was a bonus, now to the porn shop, thankyou toshiba is my favourite make\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cregards your night time burglar\u201d.<\/p>\n
Victoria Richardson stated: \u201cI felt very spooked. I have never felt like that before. It felt like they were rubbing my nose in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the social networking bandit shows that the criminal isn’t very bright. Publishing a record of their crime on Facebook can only help the police with their investigation. It wouldn’t even be surprising if the thief has a Facebook profile of their own, since they had no trouble figuring out what Facebook is and using it as a tool for their bravado.<\/p>\n
Using Facebook’s social search, you could take the comments above as examples of the thief’s writing style and compare it to comments on other Facebook profiles whose geographic location is near the victim’s.<\/p>\n