Laptop stolen [after being left behind] at BNE Int [security screening].

[Alyopsis]

Hello Everybody.

On Friday 05.10.18, while passing through BNE international terminal enroute to Moresby, a mate was pulled aside for a search and in the rush her laptop got left behind on the X-ray line. Then she realised this over Mackay or somewhere. Qantas staff said they would contact Brisbane and emails have been sent to both Qantas and Brisbane Airport baggage services but there has been silence. My mate has two weeks outside Moresby in PNG with bad internet but internet enough to get some emails saying she’s since being signed up for various pay TV subscriptions. She has been able to change her online banking details.

So stuff like this happens all the time I know. She’s there. I’m in Sydney. I’m limited in what I can do. She is emailing both Brisbane airport and Qantas but now getting zero response. I’ve suggested she email the AFP there with as much info as possible. Given the security cameras at the airport, you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to establish what happened to the laptop and my question to the travelling pros out there, what’s the best strategy to deal with this and activate a response from Brisbane airport.

If this sort of thing has happened to you in the past and you’ve learnt from experience, I’d really appreciate some guidance.

Thankyou

 

[RooFlyer]

Hi Alyopsis

Welcome to AFF and sorry about the circumstances.

If the laptop was left behind at the security checkpoint, it is not a Qantas or 'baggage services' issue, so that was a dead end. It was probably a generic e-mail received from Qantas.

As far as I'm aware the security screening comes under the Dept of Home Affairs. This web page might help you find the right people to contact:

Dept Home Affairs screening process

Anything left at screening probably ends up at the airport's 'lost and found' area.

Good luck! Might the laptop be covered under their home & contents insurance, f they have 'out of home' type of coverage?

 

[juddles]

Hi there Alyopsis! Welcome to the forum from me too

As per Rooflyer's post above, your mate is better off dealing with the appropriate organisation directly rather than trying to go through the airline.

Lost Property - Brisbane Airport

The above link has contact numbers for lost property at Brisbane Airport. They also have a contact form you can send, but personaly I would call them first to ensure you are directing your enquiry to the right area! They have a specific number there for the International Terminal. (note that they advise that these are not manned 24/7, so may have to wait till Monday?)

Just a "pro-tip" - this forum is an excellent source of advice for almost any travel issue, but to get the best advice, try to use the most accurate thread title you can - it appears from the detail you give that this is about lost property, not theft?

Cheers!

 

[davidj]

emails saying she’s since being signed up for various pay TV subscriptions. She has been able to change her online banking details.

Have you reported this to the police? If you believe it has been stolen and someone is using it to subscribe to various services, would be best to report ASAP and get a police report for insurance etc. and in case their identity becomes compromised later.

 

[drron]

Welcome to AFF.I once left a jacket at security in SYD domestic.I only realised when I got to MEL.Got in contact with the Lost Property office in SYD and it was there.collected it a month later when through SYD the next time.
Unfortunately nothing to do with Qantas but OK initial contact as the loss was discovered on the plane.Rooflyer and juddles have given the links your friend will need to take.
Stick around it can be very rewarding.

 

[JohnPhelan]

If someone is using the laptop to sign up for various services, then it sounds like there's not much point contacting lost property - the laptop is being used by someone. Federal police at BNE need to be notified and a stolen property report lodged.

 

[love_the_life]

If someone is using the laptop to sign up for various services, then it sounds like there's not much point contacting lost property - the laptop is being used by someone. Federal police at BNE need to be notified and a stolen property report lodged.

Agree, the notifications that she has signed up to pay subscriptions sounds like the laptop has been stolen not lost.

 

[JessicaTam]

I have updated the thread title. I hope it provides clarification.

 

[liamsal]

Can you be sure the laptop is what was used to sign up for the services? Was the laptop not password protected?

Does the laptop have any tracking ability (i.e. fine my iphone)?

Your friend can report the laptop as stolen via Polielink on 131 444 (internationally 61 7 3055 6206) and they should also consider furnishing an ACORN fraud report: ACORN | Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network

 

[get me outta here]

Welcome to AFF. For insurance purposes I think your friend needs a police report that comes after she reports it. It may be covered under her travel insurance and maybe her cc insurance.

 

[JessicaTam]

[mod hat]
A number of recent off topic posts have been removed (and noted).

Please return discussion to the OP's predicament.
[/mod hat]

 

[Daver6]

Probably the biggest lesson here for the friend of the OP is to ensure they put a password on their new laptop! And for someone to have used their details to make purchases implies their credit card details were saved or passwords to their net banking where not secured with a master password. Yikes!

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Sure it wouldn't be too hard for AFP to view the person who stole it from the camera footage above the conveyor belts at the screening point and match their photo with the footage when a pax goes through the smartgates?

 

[juddles]

....


If this sort of thing has happened to you in the past and you’ve learnt from experience, I’d appreciate some guidance.


Thankyou

Hi again Alyopsis,


have pondered your post throughout the afternoon - and have a few more comments/suggestions.

My main comment is that your friend should chase up the most likely avenues first. Which in my opinion is that of Lost Property. Let me expand on this a bit:


It appears she thinks that the laptop has been stolen and is being used to do unlawful transactions in her name. This MAY be possible, but it is EXTREMELY unlikely.


The security screening points are the number one generator of Lost Property at any airport. Not hard to understand why - this is where people are in a flurry and things get easily missed. All airports have very good procedures for this - they have to as items are left behind every hour.


Being a sensitive security area, it is also somewhere things get noticed very quickly - it is not as though someone can leave a laptop on the belt and it sits there for an hour - things are picked up within minutes (if not seconds) Unfortunately, in those few seconds most passengers have already disappeared into the rest of the terminal...


As you are aware, these areas are also invariably covered very well by security cameras.


So given all this, there are 3 possible scenarios for your friend's laptop.


(1) It simply became Lost Property. Given this happened on Friday, I would not expect to have it tracked down before Monday. And remembering the Lost Property staff will be dealing with everything from the weekend - not just your friend's laptop! I rate this scenario to be overwhelmingly the most likely - contact them tomorrow and wait and see.


(2) The laptop was stolen and misused by the security staff. This is extremely unlikely. In a work environment where integrity and security are the key things, in an area doused with security cameras and "watchers watching the watchers", a staff member is going to brazenly steal a laptop??


(3) The laptop was stolen by another passenger. Even less likely. As mentioned above, items do not linger on the belts – so the only passengers who could have lifted the laptop would have been the very next two or three. What are the odds that one of the next two passengers behind you in that queue are brazen criminals?? And if they did steal it, they are both stupid enough to do this while being filmed after showing their passport, but also smart enough that they managed to crack any passwords on the laptop within 24 hrs and use it for evil deeds. And despite doing their crime under surveillance, and thus blowing what must have been a false passport to start with, they use this just to buy a subscription to pay TV??


This is why I suspect the laptop, if it was left at security at Brisbane airport, will be sitting safely in the Lost and Found

 

[RooFlyer]

While I agree with juddles that its likely gone to lost and found, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that it may have been nicked. Its been known for thieves to watch the security areas for just such an item left behind. No-one in the security area watches who puts an item on the belt Vs who picks it up the other end. If a valuable item is seen as being left behind, it could be scooped up by an organised lurker or even an opportunistic other person going through security.

I once had a laptop stolen from under my nose - not at a security point, but in a shop. Turned out that one of the shop assistants was in cahoots with a lurker - I stupidly took my eye off the laptop for seconds while the shop assistant distracted me. I turned back, and the thing was clean gone.

At worst, one of the (edit: airport) security bods could also have been in on it. No profession is immune from corruption, I'm afraid.

So the 'stolen' scenario is not out of the question! But the result is the same - the airport needs to be contacted for 'lost and found' and maybe a check-point camera review if its not there.

If there is any suspicion of a theft (ie the sign-ups mentioned), then a report to police needs to be made irrespective of the contact with the airport.

 

[JohnK]

Let's not make the assumption that all security personnel are honest. I don't care what security checks they undergo before getting the job.

 

[davidj]

Woman who had handbag stolen at Melbourne Airport calls for security improvements - ABC News

Beware this brazen new trick by airport thieves

Theft does happen at airports, more than you think.

 

[Major]

A couple of years ago I left my laptop (in laptop bag) at BNE International after a flight from LAX. Luckily I had my card in the bag and received a call from the AFP.

I returned to BNE and found the AFP building where my laptop was being held. After a few questions it was returned to me with no problems.

If you have not heard from lost and found I suggest you contact AFP at BNE in case they have it there

 

[MEL_Traveller]

There can be significant delays between a passenger lodging their items for x-ray and eventually collecting them on the other side.

In MEL last week there were two x-ray machines working, but only one body scanner. There were around 10 people in line. One passenger went through the body scanner with a bum-bag. They had to be rescreened. Their companion had the same. The x-ray machines were still processing bags and spitting them out (with the new x-ray machines some bags get sent for additional screening, some are available for immediate collection, so there can be up to 15-20 bags on each each x-ray).

With the additional screening for the two pax with bum bags there was now a queue of 20 or so for the body scanner, and 20 or so bags on the other end for collection.

Theft of an item was a real possibility.

 

[get me outta here]

OT, but people who stuff up the screening should go to the back of the scanner queue.