Street criminals in Karachi caught after selfies from stolen phone were uploaded to Google Photos

Two street criminals in Karachi were caught by law enforcement authorities after the selfies they took from the stolen phone were uploaded to Google Photos.

Google Photos, the popular videos, and pictures sharing and storing site from the internet giant Google is a super popular service which allows users to automatically upload every picture they take from their device to their Google account. The service comes pre-installed on most modern Android smartphones and allows unlimited storage for new photos and videos.

Although most Android smartphone users will probably think of this service as a backup for their personal media, interesting use of this technology came into light over the weekend when the pictures uploaded on the Google Photos account linked to a stolen phone were used to track down and apprehend the criminals.

The street criminals, Nadeem and Majid, are accused of robbing a woman, Erum Altaf, in Badar Commercial Area on December 27. An FIR of the incident was registered two days after the incident.

Funnily enough, the police didn’t have to do a lot of effort to track down the criminals. Apparently, after robbing Erum, the criminals celebrated the fact with a series of selfies and pictures from the stolen camera, failing to realize that all the pictures would automatically be uploaded to the victim’s Google account as soon as it had access to a data connection.

The police was notified when these pictures appeared in the concerned Google account. With the help of NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority), Police immediately identified and located the criminals. The stolen phone, along with other snatched items and illegal weapons, were found in their possession. The criminals are now behind bars and the stolen items have been returned to their rightful owners, all thanks to Google Photos and its automatic backup option.