A Pretoria West area man has been convicted of theft charges involving a laptop that was stolen from Development Bank South Africa`s premises over five months ago.
LT Ramagapula was convicted of a felony count (for the theft of a laptop).
The charges arose after NetTrace`s Asset Tracking Software made an IP trace through the Internet to a house in Pretoria West. Inspectors from Wierda Brug Police Station swiftly recovered a stolen laptop and arrested two individuals, one a long-serving security guard.
LT Ramagapula was arrested, for burglary, "had been a suspect in previous theft cases dating back for years", said Inspector Stander of the Wierda Brug Police Department.
NetTrace Loss Control is designed to cut down on computer crime and loss committed by internal employees, and in this case, has proven its worth following the successful conviction.
The case never needed to go to trial, because of the overwhelming amount of evidence mounted against Ramagapula (who pleaded guilty during the preliminary hearing). This is a South African first for anti-theft computer software. Credit must go to all parties involved, along with the stealthy NetTrace software that is designed to keep track of computers.
The software is called NetTrace Loss Control and is based on a product from Absolute Software in Canada. At regular intervals, the computer relays its location to a main office.
Thanks goes to Internet Solutions along with Med Scheme for providing NetTrace with the relevant information, which ultimately led to the location of the stolen laptop. Other thanks must go to Development Bank of Southern Africa and finally Inspector Russouw and Inspector Stander, the investigating officers who helped the NetTrace team make the arrests that led to convictions.
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