Identification and Recovery Labels

Clearly labeling your device can reduce its resale value for criminals and aid its return. Manufacturers label laptops with stickers or plates with serial numbers. Thieves can remove these, often without much difficulty, making it easier to sell them and more difficult for you to prove ownership.

There are ways to mark your device and make it worthless to casual thieves. There are special identity plates on the market that you can attach to your laptop. These plates use a special adhesive that makes them extremely difficult to remove without noticeably damaging the laptop.

If a thief should succeed in removing the identity plate, they will expose an indelible "tattoo" that will usually say something like "Stolen Property." This makes your laptop virtually impossible to pawn or sell. Thieves aren't interested in the laptops themselves, only in how much money they can get for them. If they can't sell it, they don't want it.

A microdot is another method of marking your device. This is a technology from the Cold War that was once used by intelligence services. Microdots are smaller than a grain of sand and have writing on them that is too small to see with the naked eye. During the Cold War, spies would use microdots to carry messages by pasting microdots over the periods in books. The microdot, appearing to be punctuation, would go unnoticed and could be read when it arrived at its destination.

You can affix a microdot carrying a unique serial number to a portable device. The microdot goes unnoticed and isn't removed by the thieves. The adhesive used to attach the microdot fluoresces under UV light so that police can find it. Police can then read the serial number with a magnifying glass and verify ownership of the device.

Not all missing devices are stolen; many of them are forgotten or lost. Airports and transit authorities collect hundreds of items each day, usually with no way of finding the owner. Your device may have your contact information on the hard drive, but if you have secured your data properly through passwords and encryption this will prevent people from accessing it.

A company called StuffBak has created a unique solution to this problem. They manufacture identification stickers. These stickers carry the message "Reward for Return!" along with a unique ID number, a toll-free phone number, and StuffBak's Web address.

When a good Samaritan calls the StuffBak number, StuffBak uses the ID number to identify you through your registration. The finder then has a choice of bringing the item to a UPS store or calling Airborne Express for a pickup. As a reward, StuffBak provides the person with free StuffBak stickers for their own use, in addition to whatever monetary reward you may offer. You pay a shipping fee and a small service fee when items are returned.

The surprising thing is that StuffBak's method really works. We may be jaded and believe that people are just not as honest as they used to be. That isn't the case when given an easy way to return a lost item, most people will do so. Independent tests have been done by CNBC and Asurion Insurance that prove this is the case.