According to police, a man was robbed in the Shadyside(the name alone should probably make you cautious) district of Pittsburgh and relieved of his wallet, cell phone, and ATM Pin number. The thieves held him up by gunpoint, which was later found to be a BB gun, and threatened him to hand over all his stuff and then instructed the victim to “get out of here”.

The victim quickly reported the crime to the police and utilizing the GPS feature of his Apple iPhone, he was able track the path of the robbers after the armed robbery incident. It appears that the robbers spared no time to head to a Wal-Mart and spend the victim’s money in his bank account. After their shopping spree, they stopped by an Eat-n-Park restaurant to grab a bite to eat. Obviously all their festivities from earlier in the day had caused them to build up quite an appetite.

Utilizing the GPS tracking, the robbers were quickly detained by local authorities at a BP station as they were trying to put gas in their 2004 gray Dodge Caravan (sounds more like a family mobile than a get-away car!).

The good news about this article is that the thieves were apprehended and the victim is safe and sound and his property is back in his possession. What is really amazing about this story is the victim’s use of current technology to aid police in the capture of the robbers. How ingenious to use your cell phone’s GPS capability for tracking purposes after it has been stolen.

So.. what the writers of SmartSecurityPeople.com are wondering… If you are ever robbed of your wallet, cash, purse, etc.. would you volunteer to give your phone to the thieves as well if you knew it could be potentially used to track them down? Our initial response is no way, we would use the phone to call for help. However, given the positive outcome of the story above.. we are not sure. What would you do?