Queensland tradie used phone tracker to find his stolen wallet while thief was buying lottery tickets
How a craftsman who had his wallet stolen from a construction site tracked down the culprit when the thief bought lottery tickets with his money
- Sam Fraser tracked his stolen wallet using GPS
A tradie used a digital GPS tracker to track down the alleged thief who stole his wallet before confronting and wrestling him to the ground.
Queenslander Sam Fraser, 33, was hard at work on a construction site on Tuesday when his wallet was stolen.
Shortly afterward, he received reports from his bank warning him that his card had been used to purchase $30 worth of lottery tickets, Nine News reports.
Mr Fraser was then able to use a small GPS device attached to his wallet to track the alleged thief’s movements from his phone.
Queensland traditionalist Sam Fraser used a GPS device in his wallet to track down the man who allegedly stole it (Photo: The alleged thief at a newsagent’s)
CCTV footage taken at a news agency shows the apparent thief buying lottery tickets before Mr. Fraser confronted him.
“I ran over to him and grabbed hold of him. I ended up hugging him from behind,” Mr Fraser told 9News. “After about 5-10 minutes I let him sit on the floor.”
The 33-year-old was able to retrieve his wallet and later found his Medicare card and driver’s license left in a “handicapped toilet in one of the bins.”
It comes as Queensland continues to struggle with rising juvenile delinquency.
New data shows that children accounted for about 20 percent of the state’s total costs in December and January, the Brisbane Times reported.
The Palaszczuk government recently passed new laws to criminalize children who violate their bail conditions in an effort to lower crime rates.
The laws also allow GPS trackers to be fitted to children as young as 15 and allow the courts to declare youths serious repeat offenders.