My parents think their cleaner stole a hard drive

[VillainV]

A few weeks ago my mom started up her laptop, and got the blue-screen of death, as if her hard drive had failed.  She ordered a new hard drive, then took it to Best Buy to have it installed.  When the guy opened the laptop, the hard drive was missing.  Like completely gone.  And the bracket that holds it in place was also gone, as well as the connector (plug?) thingy that connects the hard drive to the rest of the laptop.   
The day my mom realized the laptop wasn't working right was the same day that her cleaning service (a national company) came to clean her house.  She called the company to ask if maybe the cleaners had seen anyone else in the house or around the property that day (so basically she thinks one of the cleaners stole it, but didn't want to sound accusatory off the bat).  She made sure to point out that the bracket was missing, which was kind of a big deal because you can't order a new bracket, and it doesn't come with a new hard drive, but you need to have it in order to instal a new hard drive.   The next time the cleaners came, guess what??? The bracket was mysteriously returned and re-installed into the laptop (but still no connector).   

The company leaves a card at each clean stating which employees came that day.  There is only one person who was there both the day that the hard drive disappeared, and the day the bracket was returned.   

My mom has basically told the company that if all of the parts are returned by Monday, she won't take it any further, but that one cleaner won't be allowed back into the house.  Personally, I think they should just file a police report, get insurance to pay for a new laptop, and find an entirely new cleaning company.   My parents don't feel like they have enough "proof" or "evidence" to file a police report.   

Also?  There is tons of valuable stuff at my parents' house.  Laptops, tablets, fancy TVs and stereo equipment, expensive cameras...why would someone just steal a hard drive?  Is this a thing now?   My mom isn't worried about identity theft, though I certainly would be.  

WWYD?  File a police report?  Put a watch on your credit?   Fire the cleaning service?    

PDQ, I might delete this later...

[sunnysideup488]

You can do a lot of damage with a stolen hard drive if it has the right information on it.

I wouldn't say it's a 'thing' ... Most likely the person who stole it knows what information can be retrieved from it.

In some of my computer forensics classes I was able to retrieve information off of a hard drive that had been 'wiped clean'
(don't worry, it was a test hard drive. I didn't really steal people's information)

Passwords for bank accounts and credit card accounts were the two biggest ones. But pretty much you could find any information if it had been entered into anything on the computer.

I would fire the cleaning company, and I would likely file a police report.

They should watch their bank accounts like crazy. I can't imagine what else one would steal it for...

[thumper55]

I was going to say that since it was brought to Best Buy, it could be that another tech tinkered with it first and took out the drive

Most people would not know how to open up a laptop themselves, or trust that they would disconnect it correctly without damaging something else. It sounds odd, but not impossible that the cleaning person did it. Were they left unattended for awhile? The part about the bracket showing up later is perplexing. Even if it was stolen, it would be dumb of them to take the time to open it back up, and risk get caught for the sake of reinstalling the bracket.


How does your mom know the bracket was returned on the 2nd cleaning service - did she see something suspicious, or she open up the laptop herself?

[VillainV]

Aug 17, 2014 15:23:26 GMT -5 thumper55 said:

I was going to say that since it was brought to Best Buy, it could be that another tech tinkered with it first and took out the drive

Most people would not know how to open up a laptop themselves, or trust that they would disconnect it correctly without damaging something else. It sounds odd, but not impossible that the cleaning person did it. Were they left unattended for awhile? The part about the bracket showing up later is perplexing. Even if it was stolen, it would be dumb of them to take the time to open it back up, and risk get caught for the sake of reinstalling the bracket.


How does your mom know the bracket was returned on the 2nd cleaning service - did she see something suspicious, or she open up the laptop herself?

My parents usually are not home when the cleaners come, and have never bothered to secure their things (though I bet they will now).

I hadn't considered the possibility of someone at Best Buy taking the hard drive, though that makes more sense. I have no idea how they found the missing bracket after the second cleaning, though it could be they just happened to look, or noticed the laptop wasn't in exactly the same location they left it in.

I find it very odd that a house-cleaner would steal a hard drive (instead of just taking the whole computer or something else of value), but I've heard of stranger things.

[VillainV]

Aug 17, 2014 15:31:27 GMT -5 milsaroo said:

What was the cleaning company's response?

I don't know, but I think they're waiting for an "official response" which they expect to get tomorrow.

[AAM2012]

I would follow up with best buy. Is it possible they took it out and sent it somewhere to get a diagnosis or they immediately said it was gone?

[10nille]

They need to contact the police. Why would your parents leave them alone again with access to the laptop? This sounds like something is fishy with your parents, are they well?

They may want to get lifelock or some other service. All passwords need to be changed asap.

[kwynn]

This doesn't make sense to me...

Is there anyone else in the home living with your parents? Siblings?

How much do your parents trust each other? Is either one of them tech-savvy?

Did they let anyone else look at the computer? Was your mom there the entire time with them at Best Buy?

I have several theories...

1 - Best Buy removed the hard drive, laid it somewhere. Bracket had fallen out previously (if your mom worked on it herself) or somehow fell into say, the bag she was carrying it in, etc. She brought that home and then found that bracket.

2 - Inside job....someone with access to your parents' computer removed the hard drive, and it was either your mom herself, your dad, or someone close to them. The reasons why they removed it are really uncomfortable to think about - evidence of cheating or something illegal, etc.

3 - Cleaning company took it for nefarious purposes (unlikely to me - so much work and they HAD to know they would get caught but maybe for passwords, etc), they took it to cover a mistake (they dropped the laptop while cleaning, employee says "my brother works on computers and he can get me another hard drive/fix it" - again, unlikely), or an employee using the HD to download something illegal, etc, at your mom's house and then felt they'd get caught or needed that HD to access they stuff. So gross and disgusting.

[VillainV]

My parents are mentally stable, mid 60s, and have been happily married to each other for over 40 years. They're technologically competent. I'm kind of surprised that they took the computer to Best Buy because I would think my dad could replace a hard drive by himself, but they're also at the stage in life where sometimes it's easier to pay someone to do stuff for you (which is why they have cleaners in the first place).

The only other people besides the cleaners who might have access to the house are my grandparents (who can barely turn on a laptop, and don't know what a hard drive is),and MAYBE a neighbor kid who cat sit for them a few months ago (don't know if they gave her the garage code or lent her a key -- the garage code has been changed recently, but I guess a copy of the key could have been made while they were OOT)....and maybe the kid was smart enough to only come into the house on days when she saw the cleaners were there, figuring if anyone noticed something missing the cleaners would get blamed for it.

I'm still getting all parts of the story (it's been evolving over the last few days, and I only heard about it via email yesterday)....but it's all just so BIZARRE. Seriously, if anyone wanted to make a quick buck off my parents, they could have stolen any number of expensive electronic items that my parents leave lying around the house (a different matter entirely, and one I'm pretty sure they are rectifying!).

But yeah...it makes no sense. At all.

[VillainV]

Aug 17, 2014 15:47:43 GMT -5 AAM2012 said:

I would follow up with best buy. Is it possible they took it out and sent it somewhere to get a diagnosis or they immediately said it was gone?

They immediately said it was gone...but I don't think they do work in front of the owner, so I guess it's possible that whoever was doing the work broke the hard drive and/or bracket while taking it apart, and lied and said it was missing to cover their mistake.  Though this doesn't explain how the bracket mysteriously re-apepared.   But I'm still trying to figure out details on how they found the bracket again...maybe it was never gone to begin with and was just under the coffee table or something...

[ECB]

You don't need proof or evidence to file a report. They want an official record that something was stolen.

[VillainV]

Aug 18, 2014 7:12:03 GMT -5 ECB said:

You don't need proof or evidence to file a report. They want an official record that something was stolen.

This is what I would think.  I mean, if they ever run into credit issues or fraudulent charges in the future, I think I'd want to back up my claim with a police report.  We're flying home in a few days and I'll press the issue a little harder -- they definitely need to file a police report and put an alert on their credit!  I like the idea of Lifelock...

[ECB]

Aug 18, 2014 7:23:04 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Aug 18, 2014 7:12:03 GMT -5 ECB said:

You don't need proof or evidence to file a report. They want an official record that something was stolen.

This is what I would think.  I mean, if they ever run into credit issues or fraudulent charges in the future, I think I'd want to back up my claim with a police report.  We're flying home in a few days and I'll press the issue a little harder -- they definitely need to file a police report and put an alert on their credit!  I like the idea of Lifelock...

Seriously - 100% the bolded!!!!  I speak from experience on this.  Having a police report was actually my saving grace when someone stole my credit card.  If I hadn't had it - I would have been liable for all the fraudulent charges. 

[craftyesq]

I really hate to speculate since you don't have the whole story, but it really doesn't make a tin of sense that the cleaning person stole the hard drive. There are many more covert ways to steal someone's ID and account info if you have unsupervised access to their house. I mean your parents were going to immediately notice the hard drive and most people would immediately take action to protect their accounts.

What is strange is that your dad is computer savvy enough to replace a hard drive or at least examine the computer and they took it to Best Buy. Also, he could have easily dropped the bracket the next week before the cleaning person came. I mean that cleaning person would be pretty dumb to "find" the bracket if they had stolen the hard drive.

I would really hate to think of why either of my parents would do this, but I would really have a hard time blaming the cleaning person. If it were me I would suggest they watch their accounts and I would step away. The speculation would make me crazy.

[imojoebunny]

My house cleaners stole my engagement ring and wedding band. They were worth quite a lot of money. It took me two weeks to file a police report. First, I was not positive they took them, and thought maybe I didn't leave them where I thought I did (though I was really certain of where I put them, your mind has a way of making you think, maybe your wrong.) in the end I reported them to the police. The owner of the company questioned them, and one of them admitted to finding the ring (it was in a drawer underneath a large stack of bills and bank statements, not someplace they should have been). We believe the other girl stole it, but the police never followed up at all.

The fact they they were bonded and insured is useless without proof. I had insurance, and was able to replace the ring for about $600. I believe they were looking for identity the aft information when they came across the ring. There is no other explanation for why they were in that particular drawer in the first place. The ring had never been there before. I just put it there the night before.

[onomatopoeia]

This is a random thought, but is she sure the laptop she now has is her original laptop? I'm thinking maybe someone (the cleaner?) stole her laptop and replaced it with a similar (empty) one, on the assumption it would take her longer to figure it out? They may have assumed that since your parents are older they aren't that savvy with computers.

That's really weird, hope they get some answers (and hope their accounts are left untouched).

[kwynn]

I keep thinking about this. I am moderately tech-savvy. I have a housecleaner as well from time to time.

I have opened both my desktop and my laptop cases before. Desktop was much easier. For both, I needed a screwdriver. For my laptop, I had to remove the battery, unscrew some stuff on the back, take the keyboard out, pop a piece out that covered the hinges, and I had to watch YouTube to do this.

It probably took me 20 minutes to get to the hard drive and I didn't remove it - that would take more time. Maybe their laptop is different than mine? But you need a screwdriver. I had my hard drive replaced by a technician that I paid for my desktop and it took him probably 25 minutes - it wasn't a "pop this out, slide it in and done" thing.

How big is your parents' home? Could one cleaner have done this while the other cleaner(s) were oblivious?

Also, this is totally, totally stereotyping...but are the cleaners young people with the latest phones and they refer to their scheduling app, etc, or is it like my cleaning lady, where I have to call her and she only takes checks, not square, etc. My cleaning lady and the previous two others I have had were not tech-savvy at all (and they stated this). I'd think someone who can get a hard drive out of a laptop and get the case closed up and put back in a short amount of time is fairly competent with electronics and I'd be surprised they were working in the cleaning field and not doing computer repair work at Best Buy, etc.

[VillainV]

Aug 18, 2014 9:44:58 GMT -5 kwynn said:

I keep thinking about this. I am moderately tech-savvy. I have a housecleaner as well from time to time.

I have opened both my desktop and my laptop cases before. Desktop was much easier. For both, I needed a screwdriver. For my laptop, I had to remove the battery, unscrew some stuff on the back, take the keyboard out, pop a piece out that covered the hinges, and I had to watch YouTube to do this.

It probably took me 20 minutes to get to the hard drive and I didn't remove it - that would take more time. Maybe their laptop is different than mine? But you need a screwdriver. I had my hard drive replaced by a technician that I paid for my desktop and it took him probably 25 minutes - it wasn't a "pop this out, slide it in and done" thing.

How big is your parents' home? Could one cleaner have done this while the other cleaner(s) were oblivious?

Also, this is totally, totally stereotyping...but are the cleaners young people with the latest phones and they refer to their scheduling app, etc, or is it like my cleaning lady, where I have to call her and she only takes checks, not square, etc. My cleaning lady and the previous two others I have had were not tech-savvy at all (and they stated this). I'd think someone who can get a hard drive out of a laptop and get the case closed up and put back in a short amount of time is fairly competent with electronics and I'd be surprised they were working in the cleaning field and not doing computer repair work at Best Buy, etc.

This is why it's so bizarre. It seems like an awful lot if work to steal this when you could just pocket something.

My first thought was the same as yours...I don't know any cleaning ladies who would probably know how to take apart a laptop. But maybe this one is younger and has studied computers, but is cleaning houses until she can get a better job? Or maybe she's putting herself through school by working for a cleaning service during the summer?

The whole story is too weird and just isn't adding up to me.

[bag13msu]

Aug 17, 2014 14:27:48 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Odd,  but   the computer should  have  had an  error  message saying there was no  hard drive  after the BIOS.  So  what  i am  taking away  is   the cleaner stole  the HD, your parents take it  best buy's idiot squad (a huge  mistake in it self) and they  say  it's gone.  Bestbuy closes  up  the computer and your parents  take the computer  home without installing  the new drive (I'm assuming they  saw it was missing  drive). The cleaner comes back and  opens it back  up and put's the bracket back ( which  is weird, when  put a new drive in  and  complete the job?)  and closes it back up. Then your parents  opened the  laptop  later  and sees the bracket. That  makes no  sense.



Most likely,  best buy idiot stole  it, closed it up and  told them  it  was gone.  For whatever reason, your parents  opened  and  saw the bracket (that was there the whole time).   BTW, idiot squad steals   stuff off  hard  drive (ie naked photos). I know   because  someone  my husband  used to  be friends , would  tell  him stories  about  what was taken  off of hard drives and cell phones.

[Ashley&Scott]

WWYD? File a police report? Put a watch on your credit? Fire the cleaning service?

Yes to all 3, asap.

[sunnysideup488]

Depending on how old the computer is, removing the hard drive is easy. I can pop off the back and take mine out in less than five minutes. I'd say 10 for someone who didn't really know what they were doing.

Reading your post I thought that they brought it to best buy, he turned it on right in front of her and determined that the hard drive was missing.

If that isn't the case, then I'd say that the best buy employee likely took it.

Also, you can get a BSOD error with a missing hard drive. Usually the very last line will say 'hard drive not detected'