this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2024
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Steam Deck

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A place to discuss and support all things Steam Deck.

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[PSA] The terrible tragedy of a stolen Steam Deck (lemm.ee)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by xavier666@lemm.ee to c/steamdeck@sopuli.xyz
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This is a post I wish I never had to make. Forgive my grammar and spelling as I am a bit emotional.

My Steam Deck was stolen and I just had it for less than 2 months.

It has been more than 2 weeks since it happened but it still hurts the same. I wanted to make this post because it was a very costly mistake from my side and I don't want it to happen to anyone else.

<story>

It happened when I was shifting from one house to another house and there were lots of maintenance workers at the destination house. After I kept my luggage inside the house, I left to buy some essentials. My mom was the only person left who was watching over the stuff. By the time I came back, the workers had left. I thought I have some free time so decided to pull the Steam Deck out but it was missing.

<vent>

I was absolutely devastated; I can't even begin to explain in words what it felt like. I asked, through the person who hired the workers, if they took it. But all the workers refused. I was just crushed; I could feel my heart dropping into my stomach. Even now, as I am typing this story, that emotion is replaying.

</vent>

After this happened, I removed all payment methods from my Steam account (Steam Guard 2FA was already active). I saw after 5 days that the Steam Deck was online for a brief period of time, via Steam Guard. I purposefully didn't sign out of the device because I wanted the thieves to make the mistake of signing in and giving me some clue about their location; the Steam Deck was still inside my city. I took the IPs and submitted it to the police and asked them if they could track it. They said they will try their best since getting the customer details from an IP is a "lengthy and time-consuming process". But at this point, I can't do anything; it's not possible for me to visit all the worker's home individually and check as I don't have the authority. I gave up and convinced myself to move on.

</story>

This taught me a lot of things and I wanted to share with the community, now that I have slightly recovered mentally.

Secure your luggage when moving

When you are moving, you usually have a million thoughts in your head. This can cause you to neglect your luggage's safety. If you are going to unload your luggage temporarily, KEEP IT IN A SECURE MANNER FIRST and then do everything else.

A secure manner could mean

  • Under someone's watch
  • Putting it far away from the exit
  • Putting a lock on the luggage
  • Putting it inside a cabinet and locking it

Don't just unload the luggage and start doing something mentally involving.

Be wary of outsiders

Sometimes, there will be outside people in your home. It's crucial to keep the Steam Deck out of reach of everyone. Not everyone is a thief but different people have different moral standards. Don't create a tempting scenario for others. Keep it secure when there are guests/workers at your place.

Put some form of tracking on the device

The Steam Deck is like a traditional laptop; it has no SIM or GPS. Once it's lost, it's really hard to get it back. There are methods by which you can track the Steam Deck (Steam Guard) but it involves IP and it's not enough to get an exact location. Other than law-enforcement, no one can find the customer details associated with an IP address.

An alternate approach, which can be slight pricey, is to put a Tile tracker on the device. There are tutorials on how it can be attached to the device.

Note: I'm not associated with Tile in any way.

Get the official Serial Number and MAC ID of the device

It will help you to uniquely identify the device IF it gets stolen. You may find the serial number on

  • The bill of purchase
  • Inside the Steam Deck settings section
  • On the Steam Deck package
  • You can ask Steam support for the serial number once it's associated with your account The MAC ID is present on the Steam Deck settings page (and also on your access point logs if it has connected even once).

I hope this post is educational and makes you wary of the physical dangers around us. Please keep your handhelds or any valuables safe

<vent>

What hurts even more is that the Steam Deck, which was the 1 TB OLED model, was a gift from a very special person and I feel like I have betrayed that person by losing it. I had lots of plans with the device, like making a couch plug-and-play setup, a retro gaming setup, a productivity device by using desktop mode, etc. But all my plans were shattered in an instance. I'm now convincing myself to move on to something else.

</vent>

Edit: As of 20th August, I can see via Steam Guard that the device was logged into a few hours ago (2 weeks post the burglary). I know the risks involved in keeping my device signed in. I'm counting on the person's stupidity. Any proper thief would have formatted the device.

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[–] Transporter_Room_3@startrek.website 69 points 3 months ago (2 children)

"is a lengthy time consuming process"

No, it REALLY isn't, and any pig that tells you otherwise is trying to get you to drop the issue so they don't have more paperwork.

They don't give a shit about your stolen items, and 9/10 times it's a complete waste to even contact them over "petty theft", regardless of how valuable the item/s are to you.

[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 28 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Just claim your a company and they will magically give a shit about $1 of missing junk

[–] henfredemars@infosec.pub 11 points 3 months ago

Makes you wonder who they’re working for.

[–] xavier666@lemm.ee 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

True, but I would have been filled with regret if I never even tried the official way of recovering it :(

is trying to get you to drop the issue so they don’t have more paperwork.

I had to visit 3 police stations before they agreed to take my case

[–] Transporter_Room_3@startrek.website 5 points 3 months ago

Oof. Honestly I'm surprised it was only three. At least you finally have a paper trail, if you've got any insurance that might cover it.

As for the ISP, there's always the possibility of requesting assistance directly from them, but they probably have internal rules about handing info to non-law enforcement, regardless of the reason.

And if you've got some friends who don't mind backup for intimidation, you could always show up at each workers door, politely introduce yourself and the reason for your appearance. If any of them immediately slam the door in your face or get defensive upon recognizing you (before you tell them why you're there) then there's a good chance they know you're there because they took something.

Anecdote: this happened with my truck in 2019. Someone broke in and stole about $1500 worth of things from a really nice pair of binocs, to the 2000w inverter, and my hand-made bowie knife, and a couple small camping and fishing things. Had to threaten to call the only supervisor I know by name in the police department to get the guy to even take a report for my insurance. They didn't bother following up with the woman who told me she saw the guy. A few weeks go by and I see someone fitting his description driving the described car, I follow for a bit and he went home. I parked the truck right up in front of the door, knocked, and as soon as he opened and looked past me to the truck he yelled "GET LOST OR I'LL FUCK YOU UP" and that was all I needed to call the cops. After about an hour of waiting someone showed up, talked to the guy, said "well he said he didn't do it and we never called this woman for a description so we can't be SURE"

Well lo and behold, a quick glance into his car showed the 2kw inverter under the dashboard, and I was positive I could see the rather distinct custom leather strap of the binoculars under the seat.

No idea who, but apparently someone smashed the guys window to steal a bunch of stuff out of it and they were kind enough to return my items. Crazy how they knew just where to leave them for me to find.

Best of luck in recovering it. Hopefully you get the quick and less... legally/morally ambiguous way.

[–] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 65 points 3 months ago (2 children)

lots of maintenance workers at the destination house.

Did these people work for a specific company? Complaining to the company directly about stolen items or leaving negative review of the company might help.

Either way it really sucks though, I'm sorry you went through that.

[–] pupbiru@aussie.zone 11 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

even not a specific company: mention to all of them that it was stolen while they had a pretty limited group of people at the house

you might think it’s a case of “how would they know who there’s no point”, but people who steal things like this likely didn’t do it just once… it is, or will become a pattern of behaviour. if nobody reports it, they have no chance of identifying a pattern of behaviour to narrow down the culprit… if a company gets 2 or 3 reports of stolen items from houses that an individual employee is working at, it becomes pretty clear who the culprit could be

you even have pretty good evidence that it was stolen rather than lost: the fact that it came online for a period means someone has it and has connected it to a network and then not reported it lost

do make it clear though that you’re not insinuating that their company specifically is to blame; you just want them to know in case they have future problems. you don’t want them getting defensive, because that’s not productive for anyone

[–] xavier666@lemm.ee 4 points 3 months ago

While they belong to Urban Company, they were called as external agents for this particular job by my renter.

[–] Xirup@yiffit.net 35 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Dumb question, the Steam Deck of the image is yours or you could never get it back? In a first instace I think that the Steam Deck in the image was yours.

[–] xavier666@lemm.ee 26 points 3 months ago

It's not mine. Just a random image which is like my emotional state at the time of the event.

[–] cRazi_man@lemm.ee 31 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Sorry for the loss OP.

Maybe not what you want to hear right now, but I'm really glad Steam cloud minimises the impact of a loss. When I had a Nintendo Switch I was terrified of losing hundreds of hours of Dead Cells or Enter the Gungeon progress. Losing a Deck is obviously a financial loss (and the emotional attachment of someone special giving you yours), but at least there isn't insult to add to the injury the way Nintendo would do.

[–] xavier666@lemm.ee 20 points 3 months ago

I am extremely grateful of Steam Cloud. I was playing Celeste and I saw that my progress is saved.

Also, I thankfully didnt use my personal IDs on the device. So the thieves couldn't use it for any other purpose.

[–] Jessica@discuss.tchncs.de 25 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

When it comes to small expensive electronics, you can never be too careful.

I was still in school when the PSP came out, and I had one on launch. I was dumb and was taking it to school daily, but I was very careful not to leave it out of my sight. One day in science class, it was stolen from right under me as it was inside my backpack, which was under my chair the entire class.

At the time, I blamed the 2 trouble makers in front of me since at points I was facing the back of the class for a group activity. I found out years later it was the Mormon next to me I trusted, who I can only assume expertly unzipped my bag and slipped it out while nobody was paying attention. I never got that PSP back, and I ended up buying another one later, both with my own money... It was a brutal reality check that taught me a handful of lessons in life

[–] Stampela@startrek.website 8 points 3 months ago

My brother had a moment like that as a kid. He had a phone and put it in a locker when he went to gym (kids stuff, you know. Get them active, get them tired) and… the locker wasn’t locked. Plus having the pin enabled was annoying so he didn’t have that either. Yep. He learned that lesson…

[–] Lets_Eat_Grandma@lemm.ee 4 points 3 months ago

In highschool I had a gameboy color in my backpack with pokemon tcg in it.

I went to the bathroom and came back. It was no longer in my backpack after that. Thanks sophomore year physics class.

[–] DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 3 months ago (1 children)

One of the workers definitely stole it

[–] xavier666@lemm.ee 4 points 3 months ago

I'm pretty sure about it. I put the Deck in the bag, put the bag in the house and leave. After I come back, it's gone. There was no one else other than the workers.

[–] dumbass@leminal.space 21 points 3 months ago (2 children)

My deepest condolences... Can I offer you an egg in your trying times?

[–] xavier666@lemm.ee 18 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for the egg. It's eggcelent.

[–] tomcatt360@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 months ago

Classic SuperTux would like to know your location.

[–] isolatedscotch@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

stop! you're scaring the americans with that unwashed egg!

[–] KingJalopy@lemm.ee 9 points 3 months ago

Looks like the eggs I have in America

[–] EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 3 months ago

There are pre-rinsed eggs in the US? I know our rice comes pre-washed, but I've never heard of pre-washed eggs.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 20 points 3 months ago

I asked, through the person who hired the workers, if they took it. But all the workers refused.

Cool, you're all fired. GTFO of my house.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 3 months ago

FYI, the cops will not do shit with the info you gave them. Probably never even wrote it down.

[–] Klanky@sopuli.xyz 10 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I am so sorry, that is a horrible story. It is not your fault!

[–] xavier666@lemm.ee 9 points 3 months ago

I, along with the rest of my family, are probably too trusting of people. At my old place, i used to leave stuff like this all the time and I never even thought that it could get stolen.

I wish I learnt this lesson earlier but in a different manner. 😔

[–] Quill0@lemmy.digitalfall.net 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Did you contact Valve or have the person who bought it contact Valve to report it as stolen?

[–] xavier666@lemm.ee 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yes, i contacted valve. They marked the device as stolen. The Valve employee said that it won't be applicable for future warranty attempts. I'm not sure what else is possible.

I hope when the thief connects his account to the device, it get banned or something.

[–] Dashmezzo@lemm.ee 3 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I have mixed feelings about this. Steam could make a lock that is more like the IMEI or android and iPhone lock that means it is far less valuable to steal and easier to track and lock. But by reporting it you remove THEIR obligation to provide warranty to someone that innocently buys a used steam deck that is still within its warranty period but that doesn’t hurt the person who stole it only another innocent party in the ordeal. Now if they gave you $25 off another steam deck or something I would see the point.

Not saying don’t do it. Just that it seems a little redundant now.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Buying stolen property isn't innocent and can take the matter up with the person that sold it to them.

[–] Dashmezzo@lemm.ee 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Buying stolen property unknowingly is innocent. A steam deck can end up on eBay or Facebook marketplace place or even in second hand stores like CEX etc without being tagged as stolen.

If you buy something and a few months later it dies from a recognised fault, it sucks for the person who bought it in good faith. They have no recourse and the only person gaining anything from it is Steam.

[–] hedgehog@ttrpg.network 3 points 3 months ago

They have no recourse

They can do all of the following:

  1. Report the seller to the platform for selling stolen goods.
  2. Return the stolen goods to the rightful owner, if they’re able to get their information, or if not, to Valve or even just the police department.
  3. File a suit in small claims court against the seller for damages (the amount they paid + any other expenses they’ve incurred, like the cost to mail it to the rightful owner, including legal fees) or, if the platform won’t provide the seller’s information, against the platform itself.
[–] xavier666@lemm.ee 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

But by reporting it you remove THEIR obligation to provide warranty to someone that innocently buys a used steam deck

It should teach the person never to buy stuff without an original invoice. The buyer should understand it's a stolen product when they opened it and saw that there is an active account associated with it AND the charger is not included.

[–] Dashmezzo@lemm.ee 1 points 3 months ago

Ah you sweet child. Go to any legit second hand store and ask for the original receipt for the item. Nope. A charger may well have been changed or another similar one given after all it’s only USBC.

There are a plethora of reasons why a legitimate seller may have a non standard charger and when I sell an old phone or a laptop on a market place there is an expectation the item isn’t stolen. It’s called good faith in contract law and why you can’t be guilty of handling stolen goods if you have no knowledge or expectation of it being stolen. For example if you buy it in a pub with a dog and 2 kilos of meat all for £50, then there is a reasonable expectation it is stolen, but buying from a second hand electronics store or eBay, there is an expectation it is not stolen.

As for someone else’s login, well if you wipe the drive or factory restore it, it no longer has anything on it and can have no such identifiers. This is why I stated that Steam can and I believe should do more to make the device lock down, but they have no incentive as it costs them money to implement and manage but with little to gain for them.

[–] Lets_Eat_Grandma@lemm.ee 3 points 3 months ago

Other than law-enforcement, no one can find the customer details associated with an IP address.

Yeah, what you need is to subpoena the address to find out who the owner is of the internet connection. From there you can probably find out which construction worker lives there and take it to small claims court.

Probably not worth it

[–] xor@infosec.pub 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

reminds me of when i had a backpack with all my stuff stolen by knifepoint….

also, get another one. i’d bet the person that bought it for you was hoping to play games with you…

[–] HulkSmashBurgers@reddthat.com 3 points 3 months ago

Oh that sucks.

[–] saintshenanigans@programming.dev 2 points 3 months ago

Make sure to wait 5 minutes after you see them playing a game and open up a new one to kick them off in the middle of what they're doing

[–] ColdWater@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 months ago

This is unlikely but is there any CCTV in that room?

[–] Wildly_Utilize@infosec.pub 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

:( I'm sorry that happened to you. That's a sad sight

Just hugged my steamdeck

[–] xavier666@lemm.ee 2 points 3 months ago

Hug it again for my sake :(