StolenCameraFinder

I had my Fujifilm X-E2s stolen in April 2017 in Cali. Colombian police was (as expected) not much of a help, and it seemed like my camera just disappeared into thin air. That's when I turned to the StolenCameraFinder.

Its basic, free function is great. People who lose their cameras can report them on the website, and people who find a camera or want to check if the one they bought is not stolen, can verify it there. It is a great tool assuming that both parties will report the camera (same serial number). However, I have not heard of many people for whom it worked.

Next function is scanning online content for pictures taken with your camera. I went PRO because only my camera LENS serial number could be read from the pictures, and you can seek for those only in the PRO mode. I also wanted to make sure I have done everything to find my camera.
One thing you should know is that there are 1 billion pictures uploaded online every day, and StolenCameraFinder can verify 3 mln a day (including all the pictures that were already uploaded online before) This is the information I got from the website founder Matt Burns. Their seeking algorithms may be good, but their scanning power is limited. Faceboook, Instagram and Pinterest are also not scanned, and that is where the pictures will most probably end up. All that would explain why I have not found positive reviews of the website from people who actually managed to track their stolen camera through the pictures uploaded online.

Another thing is the customer service. Matt answered to my e-mails only when I contacted him on the e-mail address linked to his paypal account - after going PRO. I got an answer from their facebook page after 2 months. There were no new posts there for over 1 year. Exchanging e-mails, Matt found out that there is a bug in the script concerning my camera model. I am not sure if it was fixed yet.

After one month I have cancelled my PRO subscription. With all the information received, I simply didn't think it is worth it. In my opinion, it could be a great tool if the company had more resources. There is an investment in the scanning power to be made, there are improvements in the customer service to be made, and there are probably more bugs in the script to be fixed. I wish StolenCameraFinder all the best, but they picked up a hard technological challenge to be solved, and substantial resource effort is necessary to make it work efficiently.

I hope you found that information useful.