Follow iTunes Purchases To Catch an iPod Touch Thief?
Image used with a CC-license, thanks FHKE on Flickr.
Online police reports always turn up a few interesting tidbits. Here’s one from the roster of misdeeds that took place in Elyria, Ohio on January 11:
1:46 p.m. – 3300 block Livingston Ave., iPod Touch reported stolen during a party; also, someone is using victim’s iTunes account to download songs.
My first thought: dumb thief. My second: maybe not, if they don’t keep it up for very long.
As an iTunes account holder abroad with a US credit card, I’ve managed to get locked out of my own iTunes account (shockingly simple to do, time consuming to set right again) and there are a few tales of hacked iTunes accounts with fraudulent credit card charges that took a few rounds with Apple to get straightened out. (If it happens — first step: contact your credit card company).
Thieves have been caught using emailing photos from stolen iPhones and using iPods with the victim’s playlist, but what’s the chance police might track down the unlawful downloader via an iPod Touch?
Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco native who has lived in Milan and Florence, Italy. She's written for Wired.com, The New York Times and Newsweek. You can find her on 
