Dji550 and go pro black on ebay

[Hands0n]

Guys we have found the owner... I am on the way to police station now to meet him 

Result     

But ... how come you';re going over? Are you on "the job"?

[dellowwarren]

Result     

But ... how come you';re going over? Are you on "the job"?

Self employed but work has gone quite for a while... Thats why I jumped into this and wanted to help :)

Besides the police needs a statement from me so i was heading that way anyways

[fruitsalad]

fantastic news   

[tectic]

 

Awsome outcome

Hope we get a Hovertime Discount code out of it!!

[Hands0n]

Good news indeed. Do we know how he was found, by what means, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, WHY?

[Jimbodiddly]

Oh this is great news!

[Biffa]

Awesome stuff

Make sure you mention the forum does accept donations

[nub]

nice1 bet the guy is one happy chappy at the moment

[flybywire]

Nice one.  The first positive use I';ve seen for social media. 

[Opto-Mystic]

Good news indeed. Do we know how he was found, by what means, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, WHY?

I did a write up of the events leading up to finding the owner but lost it when looking at another post!

It was THIS forum primarily, then Facebook, other forums ant Twitter. A load of PM/DMs, phone calls and hours trawling through Google for RC/Model/aircraft clubs in the area... YOU lot made it happen... Thank you ALL 

I will do another write up! 

[Opto-Mystic]

My write up was hiding under the Ctrl+V key - here it is...

Good news indeed. Do we know how he was found, by what means, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, WHY?

Yes that is fantastic news:

Quick answer to your question: Facebook, forums, and Twitter phone calls etc

I will chronologically set out the events. Some I may have to leave out because of a possible ongoing criminal case.:
It Started with the first post of this thread with the eBay link

* I made contact via eBay, as did many other people, asking if he could furnish proof of ownership.
* That caused him to add the ';fairy tale'; that he was given it as part payment for a job he did. I and many others didn';t believe it
* I sent another message saying certain information proves it was a ';find'; and had reported it to the police, if so what was he police reference number
* Verbal abuse and foul language was the response indicating .
* I replied with ultimatum that I would inform the police of possible stolen property being sold on ebay if he couldn';t disprove it...
* In his abusive foul worded reply he virtually admitted he found it and it wasn';t stolen property because it hadn';t been reported stolen and go ahead and report him.
* I did (a)  flagged up an inappropriate sale to eBay (only the police can flag stolen stuff) and (b) I phoned Thames Valley police via 101 and made a ';suspect stolen'; report.
* That evening I got a phone call from a police officer at Bracknell Police station stating that the eBay seller had been taken into custody and the ';machine'; was now in their Property Office. He asked me to details of the machine (what it was and its value) and why did I believe it to be suspect... I responded (I also explained the dangers of LiPos...)
* A brave person (Warren) who saw the seller managed to copy the contents of the memory card in the GoPro.
*Two videos were posted on Youtube. Warren managed to identify the location.
* I analysed the videos in slomo and from one, I managed to find 3 frames where the pilot/owner was in frame - I grabbed the frame and enhanced it i Photoshop.
* I placed the photo, coupled with the location that Warren discovered, on this forum first with the plea of ';lets find the owner';.
* then I hit other forums and Twitter with the same plea.
* trying to track down Warren, I was assisted by a member of this forum by PM and I joined a closed DJI F550 group on Facebook and made contact with him.
* I also trawled Google for RC clubs in the area and had the Treasurer of one club emailed all their members etc...
* From the second video, again in slomo, I managed to identify the actual tree the F550 went down on :)
* Mike from the FB group published a clear picture of the owner.
* All available info pictures and screen grabs emailed to the officer i/c the incident, Bracknell, last night
*phone calls to & from various very helpful folk until bedtime... News rippling through that the owner ';may'; have been identified
* This morning Warren announces teh good news....

WELL DONE EVERYONE WHO GAVE HUGE  HELP especially Warren.
As I type, Warren & the owner are with the police to claim it back 

Credit must also be give to Multi-Rotor Forum for letting this happen

EDIT gave a wrong ID in the text - now sorted

[n506]

Great work guys! Really good to hear he';s finally got it back after so many months!

[Opto-Mystic]

Photos by Warren reproduced with his permission:


[attachimg=1]

[attachimg=2]

A Great End Result!

[teslahed]

Excellent result, well done everyone involved and thanks for posting up the details when you could

[Chami82923]

I think the smile on his face says it all!

Well done those who tracked him down!

Callum

[fruitsalad]

well done all...
fantastic to see it back where it belongs..
thats one chuffed chappy by the looks of that grin..

[Hands0n]

What an unbelievably great Christmas story. Incredible people power demonstrated.  Wouldn';t it be great to have this feature on a mainstream newspaper as a good news story instead of all the usual rubbish we get ::)

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Balders]

Well done everyone!

[Cloudbuster]

A huge well done to all those involved on this. AWSOME !!! Work !!!

[Jimbodiddly]

Get him to join the forum,  would be loverly to have him on board:)

[robshaw]

Awesome story. Very heart warming. Good work!

[Opto-Mystic]

Photos by Warren reproduced with his permission:


[attachimg=1]

[attachimg=2]

A Great End Result!

I almost feel like sending those photos to the ';finder/seller'; on eBay to show the glee on the REAL owner';s face...
--- but I guess that would spoil his Christmas even more after losing his freebie, being arrested and now out on police bail - Nah, that would be rubbing salt into the wound ... err ... wouldn';t it? 

Cheers all, and it is Good night from me and good night from him...

[nub]

he';s out on bail, what was he charged with?

[Biffa]

Freakin awesome

Well done all involved.

[guest325]

What an excellent result, this is what a like minded community can and obviously does achieve when the chips are down for one of its members.
Well done to all who participated in finding him and bringing the so and so to justice who intended to benefit from his loss!

[Opto-Mystic]

he';s out on bail, what was he charged with?

First of all, I declare that I don';t know the legal technicalities and I cannot divulge everything that I know and have been involved with.

The last time I spoke with the officer i/c, I was told that the seller was ';in police custody'; .... later he was released ';on police bail until the New Year';

I do not know if he has been or will be charged with any offence at all - That is a police matter.

I cannot refer to this specific case, however in general, it is a criminal offence to keep or dispose of found property WITHOUT trying to find the rightful the owner first.

My personal interpretation (nod & wink) is that if the finder of an item informs the Police or takes an advert in a local paper or takes other reasonable steps to find the owner, then after a reasonable waiting time, the finder may keep or depose of the item. I am not a lawyer and my personal interpretation may be incorrect. However if one act within the spirit of the law, then there is nothing to fear from the law...

I have found two valuable items in recent times:
1) a classy bicycle hidden in a hedge (dumped?) - I reported the find & location to our local police. They wouldn';t retrieve it but asked me to keep it safely in my garage. I did so - I telephoned the bike';s make and serial number and was issued with a ';found property'; reference number. A month later when no one claimed it, the bike became my property. I gave it to a local charity who refurbishes bikes and gives them to under privileged folk.

2) I found a wallet containing several hundred pounds & several credit cards - I will admit, the temptation was there. However there were several business cards of the same person which indicated he might be the owner. I rang the number on the card - he was able to give me a description on the distinctive wallet. Within 1 hour he had his wallet back. My wife & I had a great sense of pleasure and warmth from that & he wanted to take us for dinner that night etc. The smile and his gratitude was more than enough...

On the other side, last year, In Sydney, Australia, a pickpocket stole my wife';s wallet from her handbag - we had just been to the ATM. We lost £aus750+ cash and all our credit & ATM cards. The thief then went on to use the credit card to go on a spending spree. (In Australia, shops are still happy to take a signature on a transaction and not the PIN).  The feeling of devastation & anger is difficult to describe. The thought of that loss of $750+ still churns my stomach over!

Remembering that feeling of anger made me react to that eBay auction the way I did. I was compelled & determined that somehow, I had to stop that auction, find the real owner and get his valuable property back to him.

As I have said before, I cannot claim all the credit. I had a lot of help from certain folks in this forum that put me on this most satisfying journey of exploration and meeting, on line and by phone, some truly great people.

Thank you all again from the bottom of my heart.

Footnote: Yesterday afternoon, I was able to speak with the owner. His joy at getting it back made all the efforts so worth while. The timing could not have been better. On the same day of being reunited with the F550, he was embarking on a drive across Europe to his family for Christmas - a few hours later,  and we would not have had the confirmation of his ownership until his return in the New Year

Edit: typos

[Opto-Mystic]

Addendum to my last post:

The irony is, that if we hadn';t found the rightful owner within a reasonable period, the F550 may have had to be returned to the finder if he wished to claim it back!  It is my understanding that the police could also ask a court to decide between returning it to the finder or it be seized and sold in a police auction.

[Hands0n]

Hey Donald, I think that anyone who has experienced theft or loss from the losing side will have some notion of your strong emotions about the subject.  But to your entire credit you were the one who stood up and put so much energy into making everyone aware and making good use of the splendid resources that appeared out of thin air to assist you.  That is the magic of good intentions - it has a strong magnetic attraction that is displayed in this splendid real-time story.   

I have told almost everyone I know about this - even those who have zero connection with our hobby are in awe and admiration for what has transpired. 

It really is a good news story. 

[tectic]

It is indeed a great turnout for the owner to once again be reunited with his property.

Although I will be sad if the finder does get into trouble. It is Xmas after all
But he was also given the chance to report it found and did not act upon it.

I found a Wallet 6-8 months ago it had 40 pounds a bank card and some meter cards
I called the building society and gave them the name and account details and my address
2 hours later an older guy called for his lost wallet and thanked me very much saying he had lost it walking his dog.
He explained it was all the money he had as he was unemployed and had just topped up his electricity meter card which was in the wallet.

2 weeks later he called around again and gave me a bunch of flowers for my wife explaining he had just got his unemployed money and could not afford to thank me properly earlier.

So hopefully their is more good than bad in human nature

   

[Opto-Mystic]

Thank you for those kind words, Danny.

It was not just me but the whole community here and other places came together as one entity - like an amoeba that grew many tentacles, reaching out hither thither. It was the cooperation of those who knew little bits of information that bought the end result. Warren D took no small part in this and without his actions we may have been wandering in the dark for some while.

In the end, it was OUR community that did it!