Can the police track down a missing phone/tablet with just the serial number?

Question

I just lodged a police report because my Samsung tablet has been stolen from my house. They asked for the serial number...can they really track the location of my tablet just from the serial number alone?

Answer 1

If the guy tries to sell it to a pawn shop, the pawn shop will enter the serial into the police data base and if it comes up as stolen, then the pawn shop can’t sell it and has to notify the police that it has the item.



Cops are not going to waste their time tracking the serial number. It waits for it to come to them.

Answer 2

they might be able to, thats why they asked for it

Answer 3

no chance

Answer 4

They need serial no incase r they recover one, then if it is your serial no they will give it back to you

Answer 5

No

The serial number allows them to catch the thief if he tries to pawn it or resell it.



They aren't tracking the location, they just keep a list for whenever they find a crackhead with a tablet.

Answer 6

NO, they asked it so in case somebody tries to pawn it, they would know it because the pawn shop is required to take that information down for police records

Answer 7

Kind of. Most likely a thief will sell the stuff rather than keep it.

The serial number will be monitored if its sold to a store. Some stores will only buy from people who they've seen ID for, so could capture them that way.

Alternatively, they can also refuse to buy it from the individual, blacklisting them for trying to sell stolen property and making their life of crime more difficult.

Answer 8

They could track it if you had anti-theft software. The serial number just enables them to return the tablet to you if it is found among other stolen items.

Answer 9

No. if they catch someone selling it then they know it is yours.

Answer 10

No. But if they catch somebody in the act of another burglary they can match up anything else they find in their posession.



My office was burgled and they have now caught the tea leaf trying to sell stuff on (shows up on second hand shop databases), so we will get the brand new lap top they stole back (eventually).



It is possible to identify a tablet being used, if they connect to the Internet, by its serial number, but the Police aren't going to do that. You can also get tracker apps, but people think about that after the event.