The Boys Are Hardy: Bust House Thief in One Hour Via Facebook

It’s easy to focus on how social media introduces new opportunities for crime, but new sleuths also abound in the digital frontier. Combine today’s tech with old-fashioned shoe leather (or rubber trainer soles, as the case may be), and look out, miscreants. Via the Daily Mail:

Connor Kendall, 16, was told by police that there was little hope of ever finding the burglar who got away with a £1,000 haul—including a digital camera, camcorder, a laptop, and wristwatch—from his family home in Cornwall.

But he decided to take matters into his own hands and incredibly the amateur sleuth had things wrapped up in no time when he managed to track down the culprits himself.

Connor and three friends went into Bodmin near where he lives and began talking to local youngsters, friends and neighbours to find out if anyone knew anything.

After just 60 minutes of investigating the burglary, they discovered that someone was trying to sell his watch on a Facebook page.

The page was shown to police, and the thief is now serving 28 months. He would’ve gotten away with it, too, if not for those meddling kids!