So I have a friend who went to visit his parents out of state, and while he was gone, his apartment was broken into, and one of the things stolen was his PS3. Within days of it being stolen, someone was logging onto PSN using his login account so they can access the games he has on the system, play online, whatever, I dunno, apparently they're just a dumbass.

But maybe not, since he's gone to the cops, called Sony, and no one is willing to make an effort to track down an IP address to find out the location of the PS3. I've been trying to give him advice, but, I'm not going to sugar coat it, he's a bit on the odd side, so he's just resorted to sending the guy threatening messages through PSN telling him that someone at Sony actually has provided information when they haven't. Obviously, this guy must know he's full of shit at this point since he just keeps logging on and playing games anyway.

Anyone have any experience with trying to track down a stolen console that is being used online? It seems like something there would be a system in place for finding, but i guess taking consoles online is still pretty new in the scheme of things, and, well, we are talking about Sony, who isn't known for being able to communicate with, much less assist their customer base when issues arise.

I don't expect much to happen, but I do know the PSN ID of the guy who has the PS3 now. If anyone has anything to offer as far as advice or assistance, that would be great.

you call the police, simple as that.

Tell your friend to change his PSN password, call Sony and ask them to deactivate the account.

The guy loses the account & games, then your friend can just buy a new console and activate his account. That's what I'd do anyway if no one will track it down.

Or you can give me the PSN ID and I can spend months gaining his trust until he reveals to me his shipping address cause I want to send him an extra copy of x game.

@Marz said:

you call the police, simple as that.

Yeah, he filed a report and tried to tell them the situation with the guy logging onto PSN. But it sounds like his local PD sees the internet as a series of tubes.

Unfortunately, your friend is probably boned. The reality is that the police do not exist for the purpose of recovering stolen property, and Sony has no obligation to help. It's a shitty situation, but there may not be anything else he can do.

Really what an idiot.

He should have posed as a complete stranger willing to have sex with him. Call him out to meet him somewhere private. Have a girlfriend of some sort drive the car to the meeting point. Your friend should wait/hide in the trunk or something. Drive to the woods. Have him undress in the woods

a) Grab a baseball bat and mangle his ass into wishing he had stolen a 12 year old's xbox360 instead.

b) Call the cops and mention a streaker in the woods for harrassing women

c) Grab his wallet and destroy his passport, ID, everything and leave him in the woods.

d) All of the above.

@xaLieNxGrEyx said:

Or you can give me the PSN ID and I can spend months gaining his trust until he reveals to me his shipping address cause I want to send him an extra copy of x game.

@TrafalgarLaw said:

Really what an idiot.

He should have posed as a complete stranger willing to have sex with him. Call him out to meet him somewhere private. Have a girlfriend of some sort drive the car to the meeting point. Your friend should wait/hide in the trunk or something. Drive to the woods. Have him undress in the woods

a) Grab a baseball bat and mangle his ass into wishing he had stolen a 12 year old's xbox360 instead.

b) Call the cops and mention a streaker in the woods for harrassing women

c) Grab his wallet and destroy his passport, ID, everything and leave him in the woods.

d) All of the above.

These men both have ideas. You can make an adventure out of this, for justice.

@xaLieNxGrEyx said:

Or you can give me the PSN ID and I can spend months gaining his trust until he reveals to me his shipping address cause I want to send him an extra copy of x game.

I like this plan. Do it.

@xaLieNxGrEyx said:

Or you can give me the PSN ID and I can spend months gaining his trust until he reveals to me his shipping address cause I want to send him an extra copy of x game.

@TrafalgarLaw said:

Really what an idiot.

He should have posed as a complete stranger willing to have sex with him. Call him out to meet him somewhere private. Have a girlfriend of some sort drive the car to the meeting point. Your friend should wait/hide in the trunk or something. Drive to the woods. Have him undress in the woods

a) Grab a baseball bat and mangle his ass into wishing he had stolen a 12 year old's xbox360 instead.

b) Call the cops and mention a streaker in the woods for harrassing women

c) Grab his wallet and destroy his passport, ID, everything and leave him in the woods.

d) All of the above.

I love you guys.

Honestly the odds are that the thief sold it to a pawn shop, on craigs list or at a swap meet and the guy playing it now has no idea what's going on. Burglars don't usually hold on to stolen property for long.

@Hunter5024 said:

Honestly the odds are that the thief sold it to a pawn shop, on craigs list or at a swap meet and the guy playing it now has no idea what's going on. Burglars don't usually hold on to stolen property for long.

This is most likely the case, and the reason why the guy isn't responding to any of the messages your friend is sending. The new owner likely just thinks is some sort of spam thing and is just ignoring them.

As mentioned before as long as the thief/new owner doesn't know the account password your friend can easily change to a new one then get Sony to deactivate the account on the system.

@Krakn3Dfx: Tell your friend to log in here, if he hasn't already. From there he can deactivate the account, change the login information, and get rid of any billing information if he has it tied in. Nothing about tracking the PS3 unless you get into some heavy CIA ip tracking stuff, so the best you can do is deny his access to your friend's content.

do what this detective says, and if he has the serial number tell him to call some local pawn shops and see if they sold it.

@TrafalgarLaw said:

Really what an idiot.

He should have posed as a complete stranger willing to have sex with him. Call him out to meet him somewhere private. Have a girlfriend of some sort drive the car to the meeting point. Your friend should wait/hide in the trunk or something. Drive to the woods. Have him undress in the woods

a) Grab a baseball bat and mangle his ass into wishing he had stolen a 12 year old's xbox360 instead.

b) Call the cops and mention a streaker in the woods for harrassing women

c) Grab his wallet and destroy his passport, ID, everything and leave him in the woods.

d) All of the above.

you forgot the part where you go to his place then STEAL HIS SHIT and take a dump in his microwave and set it on for 99:99999.

@Lego_My_Eggo said:

do what this detective says, and if he has the serial number tell him to call some local pawn shops and see if they sold it.

best advice yet.