Sad to say, car stolen cases are very common in Malaysia. As reported by Sin Chew Daily, Mr Yap in Johor Bahru has managed to recover his stolen Toyota Camry all by himself (it's pretty hopeless if you are to rely on police). Guess how he did it?



Yes, Mr Yap has a habit of hiding a mobile phone in his car, of which granted permission for Friend Finder service. The police officer did not believe him after being told the approximate location of his stolen vehicle. He then spent more than 3 hours searching for his car at the surrounding area signaled by Friend Finder, and finally recovered it.

What is Friend Finder service?

Well, it is commonly used to locate human, not vehicles. You can just type a SMS command to the service provider, and you will be given the approximate location of the person you are looking for. Of course, it is a permission-based service to prevent endless opportunities of misuse. Currently, only Maxis and Digi are offering this service locally.

Moral of the story

1. Perhaps, this is a cheaper alternative to GPS anti theft system. However, you need to take into consideration of topping up (assuming it is a prepaid) and recharging the mobile phone periodically. Hats off to Mr Yap for this!

2. This is definitely not as accurate as GPS devices. The location information given is only approximate, accurate to between a few hundred meters to a few kilometers. The location reported, which I suspect, is the nearest telco base station from your mobile phone. May be someone can clarify this?