Xbox 360 Thief Tracked by Gamertag
If you steal an Xbox 360, don't forget to disable the auto sign-in feature before going online. That's the lesson high-tech crooks are probably gleaning from today's New York Post brief about a thief, 22-year-old Jeremy Gilliam, apprehended after logging into Xbox LIVE with his victim's online game id.
Xbox LIVE requires a unique identifier known as a Gamertag, similar to an instant messaging id. The owner of the stolen Xbox 360 noticed his Gamertag was logged in without his permission, then told his parents, who contacted police. Detectives on the case ostensibly worked with Microsoft to get the stolen Xbox 360's IP address, then followed the digital breadcrumb trail back through the ISP used by Gilliam at the time. That led them to Gilliam's grandmother's house, where they discovered a trove of pilfered games, laptops, and satnavs reportedly accumulated from hundreds of vehicle break-ins and multiple home burglaries.
Gilliam was already in the investigatory hotseat for stealing over a dozen unlocked cars, and according to the Post, he's now been charged with grand larceny.
