Red Ring of Death foils thief

By Robert Purchese Published 12 January, 2010

A real serial thriller.

The infamous Red Ring of Death suffered by many Xbox 360s has a surprising silver lining: it catches thieves.

Buried in the Daytona Beach News Journal (leafed through by Kotaku) was the story of Michael Dunbar.

He allegedly broke into someone's house, stole an Xbox 360 and then sold the console to a videogame trade-in store for a miserable $32 (£20). His identity was recorded there.

But the victim hadn't made a note of his Xbox 360 serial number, so the police couldn't match the box to Michael Dunbar, whose identity was registered with the shop. Luckily grandma was on hand to help.

She had bought the Xbox 360 and remembered later sending it for repairs at Microsoft. So she contacted the platform holder who told her the serial number and then she phoned the police and saved the day.

The cops matched the code to the Xbox 360 sold to the shop by Michael Dunbar and justice was served. Dunbar faced multiple charges, including burglary and dealing in stolen goods.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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