Hobocop

While I find this absolutely hilarious--I am wondering if the guy who did it is also guilty of mail fraud. Sort of along the lines of "Ha, ha, I robbed you because you were going to rob me" type thing.

I would look it up, but I have more important things to do like bother maggie...

That's what a million people on /. said... minus the bothering Maggie. I think the concensus was Oh well who cares.

I suppose instead he could have sent him the real Powerbook and then reported him to the police when he didn't get the money? This way the police might actually investigate and/or arrest him, but he would probably never see the laptop again.

OTOH he could have simply reported the guy to the police from the beginning and then ignored him. Chances are the police would say Oh well who cares.

At least this way he drew attention to the issue, so at the very least the masses may be a little more aware of the problem and hopefully that will prevent some other less savvy people from being caught in a scam.

Well, it's no ultra-violent, Dark Knight-style vigilantism, but its still a humorous, extralegal comeuppance for some digital con-man with steadily worsening grammar.

Plus, this story involves a Mac. That always gets my attention! As Dave would put it, I'm an "Apple Zealot." To be fair, I do refer to myself as one of "The Faithful," so perhaps "zealot" isn't too far off.

Ironically, Jeff -- our hero -- may end up facing stiff fines as a result of defrauding the government. After all, the con-man paid his taxes; Mr. "Get-'em-back-'n'-teach-'em-a-lesson" J only paid shipping.