On January 18th, items believed to be from the break-in at UVIC earlier this month, were found dumped in a letter box by a Canada Post employee. These were turned in to the Westshore RCMP and were provided to Saanich Police Detectives.
The items included laptops and flash drives, all of which had been rendered inoperable. A full forensic analysis was conducted, and there was no data recoverable from any of the devices.
A note was included in the materials, apparently from the person or persons responsible. The note had some altruistic statements and refers to ‘…criminals being human before they were criminals…’
The motive behind the note and the return of the items is not clear to investigators. Whether it is simply altruism or regret on the part of the suspects or whether it is something more sinister, is unclear to investigators.
Included in the items returned was a media storage device thought to contain the data taken from UVIC. It appears that it may have been a mock-up of the original and was clearly not the one that was stolen from UVIC.
The level of effort required to render the drives inoperable and the possibly sinister intentions of the thieves, has increased concerns for investigators. If you are an employee or past employee and have not done so already, you are encouraged to speak with your bank to avoid future frauds or identity related issues.
If anybody knows anything about this incident, or recognizes any of the phrases used in the note, call the Saanich Police at 250-475-4321. If you wish to remain anonymous you may call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
Note from the thieves to investigators:
I will start off by answering your most important question. The information on these drives
was not copied, distributed , or exploited. We want no part of everyday people living in
fear that their personal information is being used against them to take they’re hard earned money. It is hard enough to survive without somethinglike that happening. Its is not about
hurting people its about life and its many avenues. My avenue is different from these peoples and I dont feel right taking from them. One day I will be allowed to run my path free from the things I blame. One last time. The information was not copied, distributed, or exploited. Truly sorry for the level of inconvienience this has caused. criminals were human before they were criminals …In most cases.
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