How do I know if I bought a stolen computer?

Question

I bought a computer from a fleamarket and the price was just to good to be true. I've been wanting to put this computer on the net but I don't know if I bought a stolen computer and I don't want to get into trouble. How do I know if it is stolen and what will happen if I put it on the net and it is stolen.

Answer 1

if the drive has been formatted there isnt any way to find you,

most computer geeks upgrade all the time and frankly if you are a do it yourselfer, mother boards are cheap, and can be installed in modern boxes pretty easy

you might have just gotten a great buy, I have 5 computers in my room right now,, can only use one at a time, too lazy to pull drives with the info I want so I keep them for now,

Answer 2

Unless you have tracking software on the computer there is no way of finding out.
If you load a firewall and other security software before you log onto the web you should get a request from an application that you do not recognize on the machine stating that it needs access to the web.
The chances are the machine is legal, you could contact the police with the details of the machine and owner details from the software that is loaded.

Answer 3

Its great you got it cheap. But no genuine comes cheap. You are right its likely stolen.

During the chaos in London airport alert, lots of laptops got stolen (remember nothing was allowed to be taken inside the plan during those days) and I guess the bagage guys had a field day lifting laptops. Those laptops must had gone into the market pretty cheap.

Answer 4

The only way you'll know for sure, is if the police comes knocking at your door.