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Stolen OBI110

Started by ajin98, March 31, 2012, 01:06:48 AM

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ajin98

Someone stole my OBI110 device.  I have the serial number and MAC number.  Is there a way to track this device down when someone tries to use it?  Thanks.

infin8loop

#1
Theoretically, probably.   Realistically, probably no.
If the device registers to the ObiTalk network then Obihai will know the IP address of the user if the user isn't using a proxy. The user's ISP would then need to be compelled (probably through legal channels) to track the IP address to a subscriber and then reveal the subscriber's identity to you or authorities.  Then it might turn out the user bought the device off ebay or somewhere and wasn't the one that "borrowed" it from you.  Of course on NCIS they'd have the culprit identified and apprehended within the hour if Ziva didn't kill them first.

Update:  If you know the Obi# you could try calling it and tell them you're from the Kirby Vacuum Company and they've won a new Kirby and you need to verify their address to deliver their new Kirby.  This has supposedly worked on at least one program I've seen.  This proves that I: 1. spend too much time watching TV and 2. spend too much time fiddling with my Obi.       
"This has not only been fun, it's been a major expense." - Gallagher

biomesh

If whoever stole the device is not very technically savvy, you could just change the provisioning settings on the device to always call your house (or another number) whenever they try to use the device.  If you never registered the device on the obitalk portal, you are most likely not going to see it again.

MichiganTelephone

Although it won't help the OP, I just want to point out that this is another reason that the one or two guys who preach doing manual configuration of an OBi rather than using the OBiTALK portal are really doing OBi owners a huge disservice.  If the device is registered with the portal you can see the recent call history, and even change the configuration as suggested in biomesh's message.  If you have access to an Asterisk server, you could reroute all calls through that and then use ChanSpy to listen in to calls, and/or the call recording feature to record all calls, so if the guy orders a pizza you'd have his address (I'm not saying it's legal to do that, but hypothetically speaking, if a thief steals someone's stuff, I don't imagine the original owner would be too concerned about the thief's privacy rights, and besides, they might be smart and choose not to reveal to the thief or the police exactly how they figured out where the theif lives).  ;)

Of course if the thief actually has the knowledge to do a factory reset then you are still kind of screwed (though you can still call the device's OBiTALK number and try to "social engineer" the guy into giving you his address, maybe by making him think he's won something valuable and you just need an address to ship it to, as infin8loop suggested), but I can just imagine the typical "dumb crook" plugging it in, realizing he can make free calls and proceeding to call all his long-lost friends.
Inactive, no longer posting or responding to messages.  Goodbye and good luck.  Some of my old Obihai-related blog posts have been moved to http://tech.iprock.com - note this in NOT my blog; I have simply given the owner permission to repost some of my old stuff.

biomesh

Even if you don't want to manage through the OBI portal, you should always at least register the device.  You could configure your default "backup" config via the Obi web portal in case someone resets the config.

This could be used in tandem with the ITSP provisioning process described here:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r26956359-


jimates

Having the device in an account will keep them from registering it in another account, but if they configure the device directly and disable provisioning (plenty of direction for that on this forum, so it isn't likely that they can't) then they can use it forever.