Stolen Wyze Camera

Hello everyone, If a camera was remove/stolen, can you track that camera if the camera is plug in and connect to new WiFi?
If not I hope Wyze will build a tracking system in there devices. Once the camera is plug in, you can track the camera location on Google map and it capture the new device information that it be connected to.

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Did you have a camera stolen?

For it to connect to a new wifi it would need to be put through the set up process, set up for the thiefers account. No way to track. Unless they have the same WiFi name and password as you, :slight_smile:

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Actually, there’s an easy way.

When a Wyze cam is set up, its MAC address is sent to the server. If the device was previously registered, Wyze can easily send an email to the previous email address.

The only way this can be defeated is if the thief can somehow alter the MAC address. Chances of someone having the equipment/skill to do this, in order to steal a sub $20 camera is very low.

Of course there are a few cons. Someone who sold a used camera can screw the buyer, for example.

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You would have to somehow prove to WYZE that it was stolen and not given away or sold or anything like that otherwise it is a huge breach of privacy, so I do not see that happening.

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I don’t advocate this, I’m pointing out to the previous poster that it’s indeed possible to keep track.

Having said that, if you bought your camera from Wyze, they have a record of your ownership.

Edit – Hey Wyze, I just helped you increase your sales! :smile:

They may have a record of your ownership but don’t know whether it was stolen or gifted or anything like that.

I was not saying it to mean you were, was just pointing out that there is no way they ever would with the variables involved.

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Yes my camera was stolen

I can use my router and its Linux OS to spoof the Mac Address for every device on my network if I want it to. The router cost me $70 bucks. Mac Address spoofing isn’t that difficult to accomplish.

Not worth buying a $70 router to hide a $20+ camera.

Sure but if you already have one and decide to go on a crime spree, it wouldn’t be difficult to repurpose that camera with a new Mac Address. Who doesn’t have a router these days?

You miss my point. If you can spare $70, you won’t take the risk of stealing a $20+ camera.

My father was in Law Enforcement for 40 years. You’d be surprised.

But will you? Most of those who are going to take that risk, and there aren’t that many, won’t have your setup. I certainly won’t take such a risk for $20+.

Sure you won’t. Many will. You can’t expect others to have the same morals you have. That is how your stuff gets stolen.

However, my point stands. Mac Address alone is not a reliable way to identify a camera. It can be changed with off the shelf software available to anyone.

But if you go back to my post, I didn’t say that it’s hard to clone a MAC address. It’s that it’s not worth doing it for such a low price. After fencing that stolen $20 camera, it’s probably worth $5.

Edit - My point here is that, people who steal these cameras, they don’t even know what a MAC address is.

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[Stolen camera]
[Stolen WyzeCam delivery - can Wyze identify the cameras?]

Those two threads are a good read on the topic, if you’re interested. The question made me curious, so I searched the forum to see if it had been answered. If not, I was going to experiment with it myself, but it looks like @Loki already did.

@UserCustomerGwen - Is this definitely still the way it works? If I understand correctly, someone who steals your camera and then connects it to a different account will, in the process, delete every trace of the device in your account. Is that right? If so, that seems like a pretty big security flaw. I realize it’s probably a pretty rare scenario, but if that were to happen, it seems like it would be more important than ever to retain access to your cloud recordings, in hopes that the cameras may have caught footage that could help identify the thief. It certainly shouldn’t be possible for the thief to be able to wipe the slate clean without direct access to your account.

Apparently that it deletes the old account at the conclusion of the setup process.

In order to do that, it must be able to connect the new, to the old, account. How does Wyze do that? I’m tempted to say email address. But what if the user switched email address?

Apparently, the old account is still deleted. Which suggests Wyze is comparing MAC addresses.

Well that sucks, I’m sorry a thieving piece of crap did that to you , but there is no way to track it.
If someone were to steal my big screen smart TV , I don’t think there’s a way to track that either , I don’t think it’s that smart :slightly_smiling_face:

It doesn’t delete your ACCOUNT, it just removes the DEVICE from your account. (That’s my understanding anyway, assuming it still works the same way as when @Loki tested it. I don’t really want to lose my recordings to test it myself.) To set up the new camera, our theoretical thief wouldn’t need to know anything about your old account, though. It’s just that the process of connecting your camera to a new account would remove the camera’s association with your account – and apparently a side-effect is losing your access to previously stored cloud recordings.

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