LOST Leica X2 - NYC July 8, 2012 - Yellow Taxi

[brill64]

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I really hope leica tracks stolen serial numbers

 

a friend of mine had my silver d-lux 3 stolen from his bag on a night bus to cuzco, peru. i was able to report the serial number to my local service center here in HK, in case it was ever brought into leica for repair. since it was already badly scratched & had several screws missing, i thought it may be entirely possible one day that it might. nothing as yet but it's better to have the option.

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just some thoughts i had this morning after reading your post last night, that may be worth thinking about just in case you already haven't..you seem pretty efficient in your enquiries from reading this post but just in case:

 

presumably you have reported this loss to the police? miracles do occasionally happen. someone handed my camera to the police in another town when i realised over a month later that i'd probably left it on a mountain top after placing it on a rock to use the self-timer. i had & that person did. he took possession of it after it was not claimed within a month so the police gave me his phone number. I called him and he mailed it straight back to me & i mailed him a cash reward in return. the film was even still in it. yes, it sounds ridiculous but my point is that not everyone is a complete thief.

 

have you drawn up your own list of possible cab companies around the area from the phone book and sat down to call each one methodically yourself, asking if they have a lost & found record on your x2? items do get handed in by drivers or passengers & they are sent to a central control office where they get logged. you know the day/date/rough time/from where to where, how long it lasted, what you were wearing, etc., was your ride.

 

if the person who got into the taxi after you decided to keep your x2, the battery would run out quickly. is it easy to buy a new charger separately & are there any external changes to the x2 charger making is less easy to replace? where would you buy one from? the leica store? would that person, not knowing it was the same as an x1, ask for an x2 charger? someone might remember, since this is a newly released model after all. perhaps you could phone around the leica stores in your area. they might have a description of someone wanting to buy an "x2" charger because they'd "lost" theirs. this would be unusual & someone might remember. it may be information that could help police whose action on lost & found may/may not be as informed, quite slow paced & administrative. ask around, however pointless it may seem.

 

report your x2 serial number as stolen to your local leica service center. they will input it to their computer system worldwide. if someone brings your x2 in for repair, which they might well do if it had run out of battery, or even if they brought it in for any reason not knowing it was stolen, leica will immediately keep, inform and return it back to you. worth a shot.

 

there is a free software you can download which will track if anyone has posted a file out of your serial number camera up online, such as on facebook, twitter or whatever & wherever. all you need to do is upload any pic taken with your lost x2, to search for it. you must have a test file somewhere from a previous card download. i'm sorry i can't remember the exact name but you could try googling "lost camera dot com" or "stolen camera dot com". something like that.

 

wow! You'd make a great detective! I'll answer for the OP as I live in NYC as well and I can tell you that it would be impossible to get any information such as someone buying or wanting to buy an X1/2 charger. B&H is one authorized Leica dealer but they are so huge, it's hard to imagine the volume they do..and that's just one store here.

 

Good idea about calling taxi companies and I do agree some people are honest and might turn it in.

 

I vaguely remember hearing about that program to search online files..that's good to remember and fun to see where your camera ends up when you sell it too!

[stark60]

really sorry for you,

 

You should have look from time to time on ebay cause the serial number is printed on the lenses.

Ask for a special photo (no photos picked up on the web) where the number is visible.

[MSUSpartan]

Thanks again everyone! I've filed a report with the NYC TLC and NYPD... Also informed Leica USA and they will flag it for me. Just going to move on now and hope for a miracle :-) Called a couple of NYPD precincts designated as lost and found locations but they said nothing was turned in.

 

The NYPD said that an item left in a taxi and not turned in is still considered lost property and not stolen property. So... The AMEX route is probably a no go, but maybe I will have an understanding rep that this should be considered theft.

[therbert]

Thanks again everyone! I've filed a report with the NYC TLC and NYPD... Also informed Leica USA and they will flag it for me. Just going to move on now and hope for a miracle :-) Called a couple of NYPD precincts designated as lost and found locations but they said nothing was turned in.

 

The NYPD said that an item left in a taxi and not turned in is still considered lost property and not stolen property. So... The AMEX route is probably a no go, but maybe I will have an understanding rep that this should be considered theft.

 

I'm not sure that AMEX requires that the item be stolen. I can say that AMEX is easy to deal with. Give them a call and tell them what happened.

 

Tom