Well, that’s one way to get your stolen property back.

When Simon Jackson’s (alias) bike was stolen from his home in Portland, Oregon, he began searching the internet for it. When he eventually found it listed on Craigslist 160 miles away in Seattle, Washington, he decided to head up there and confront the thief face-to-face.

Mr. Jackson credits the success of the sting, in part, on the new Burner app for iOS. Burner allows users to create multiple virtual “burner” phones, so that they don’t have to use their real phone numbers when making calls. It’s like The Wire, but with a lot less trips to the corner store and a lot less waste. By unsing Burner, he was able to feign the correct area code for someone in the area of the thief.

“We called the cops just before Simon started talking with the thief. It took Seattle PD 45 minutes to get there. Simon decided to confront him when they neglected to show up. Once he did, however, they rolled up as you can see in the video,” they say.

The “thief” claims that he simply bought the bike on Craigslist, even though he knew it was stolen. The sting team feels otherwise, claiming to have tracked his residence to a few blocks away from the theft.

Check it out below (NSFW language):

[via reddit]