Man finds his bike's alleged thief on Craigslist - and confronts him on video
Have you ever had your bike stolen and wished you could confront the culprit? Well, this guy did - and caught it all on video.
Portland resident Jake Gillum had his $2,500 2009 Fuji road bike jacked in his home city. He scouted Craigslist and found it for sale on the popular classifieds site four days later, in Seattle. He decided to go and find the guy who was selling his bike, and video the whole thing. In the video, posted here, Gillum drives the 160 miles to Seattle with some buddies to have a fair and frank exchange of views.
Gillum phones the culprit, "Craig", tells him that he's close, and arranges to meet around the corner. When he meets Craig, he tells him that he owns the bike.
"I live in Portland, and you stole my bicycle," he says. "I have the paperwork, I have the police on the way. You are going to get arrested."
Craig denies it, and runs - along with his girlfriend. A chase ensues, which involves the cops, a frantic bike ride, and a lot of profanity.
Will Craig get his come-uppance? Watch the video and find out!
I had two bikes stolen, and it was a heart-rending experience. You feel violated, and frustrated, and just plain angry. Watching someone take action in a responsible and well-planned way made my day.
One interesting aspect of this whole affair is that Gillum used technology to fool the culprit into thinking he was from Seattle. He used the Burner iPhone app, which lets you create disposable telephone numbers with different area codes. That way, he was able to call Craig using a number with a Seattle code rather than a Portland one, thus avoiding suspicion.
Danny Bradbury, MSN Tech & Gadgets
Comments
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Posted by: dave | Aug 20, 2012 3:27:41 AM
...where's the video?
Posted by: dave | Aug 20, 2012 3:31:19 AM
Another question...do the cops use Craigslist to look for stolen property? The FBI and CIA use FB.
Posted by: SP | Aug 20, 2012 7:53:12 AM
ANOTHER iPhone Ad? Sheesh... Are they having that much trouble selling their products? Instead of using the "Burner iPhone app" he could have just called up on skype or endless other VOIP products which provide a local number to the area you are calling.
- or they could have just let the police handle it.
- or they could have spent $250 on a bike instead of $2,500 and not worried about it being stolen
because I'm fairly certain that there was more than $250 of lost earning potential in this 'day out'.
.
However you slice it I can see how Blackberry and Nokia etc have a hard time competing against this endless barrage of blatant free advertising.
On the bright side, vigaliante justice is always entertaining to watch, even the times when it doesn't go horribly wrong
Posted by: Jimmy | Aug 20, 2012 9:21:30 AM
"- or they could have spent $250 on a bike instead of $2,500 and not worried about it being stolen
because I'm fairly certain that there was more than $250 of lost earning potential in this 'day out'."
This comment made me laugh. What a joke of a comment. Sp must be 12 years old.
Posted by: Winyca | Aug 20, 2012 10:53:56 AM
What is the big deal about what a person pays for their bike, nobody squacks about $60 000 for a car. It obviously wasn't what the bike cost, it just made it more identifiable something a $250 department store bike isn't.