The internet tracked down this guy's stolen car and returned it to him in less than a day

tech insider

Here's a feel-good story to restore your confidence in humanity and the possibility that the internet can be used to help people, not just troll people. It comes courtesy of the users of Reddit, with a supporting role played by users of Facebook. 

On Saturday night Reddit user theytookmahcurr logged onto Reddit to tell folks in his local city's subreddit that his car had been stolen, on the slim hope that someone had seen it.  

"While all thoughts/suggestions are appreciated, the purpose of this post is to ask if anyone has seen a White 2010 Toyota 4-runner lingering around somewhere? ... My favorite jacket was in that car. That's the part that hurts the worst."

It turns out, within a few hours, a Reddit user named "u/sportytx" was able to help. He had just seen a post in his home association's Facebook page, where another resident was complaining about some unknown car parked in her parking spot. Sure enough, it was a white Toyota Forerunner.  U/sportytx explained:

"Here is how it went down from my perspective: 1) A resident posts pic of the car parked in her spot to our community FB page. Not an unusual post. 2) I see reddit post from u/theytookmahcurr with last known location of car. 3) I put two and two together and confirm plate number with OP. 4) Called the cops and they rolled three squad cars. The internet is crazy."

Soon after, the victim recovered his car and his favorite jacket (although the thief had busted his bluetooth system, he said). He posted a picture to Reddit for proof. The person who stolen the car has not yet been found, he told Business Insider.

As usual, the comments on the situation were as great as the story. As Reddit user "autobahn" replied [edited to remove salty language]: Nice work /u/sportytx. I know we all like to be [jerks] to each other on here and troll the [sh*t] out of everyone, but it's nice to see that we can come together when it counts to help each other out."

This article is exclusively for Tech Insider