Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

A Secondary 2 boy's missing laptop has been found less than a day after a public appeal was put up to have the device located and returned to its rightful owner.

The appeal was widely circulated after its publication early Friday morning, Aug. 27, with readers sharing the piece on their own social media timelines to collectively help spread the word.

Laptop returned less than a day after appeal went public

According to the boy's mother, the laptop was handed over to Tiong Bahru MRT station by a member of the public on the day the appeal was published.

The mother had initially asked Mothership.sg for assistance as a last resort attempt by her to locate the lost property having exhausted other avenues.

What happened

According to the mother, her son misplaced his laptop on Monday, Aug. 23, some time between 3:40pm and 4:10pm.

He has been bringing the laptop, a Lenovo Thinkpad, as well as a stylus pen placed inside a grey bag, to school for daily lessons and school work.

However, her son could not recall where exactly he last left his grey laptop bag on Monday, which could have been at the bus stop opposite Tiong Bahru Plaza, or on SBS bus service 5, which goes to Bukit Merah interchange.

After a few days of searching and calling up a few bus interchanges and the SMRT lost and found service, there was still no word, which prompted the mother to contact Mothership.sg.

Item returned

But things took an optimistic turn quickly.

On the day Mothership.sg's appeal went public, a SMRT personnel contacted the mother to notify her that a laptop had been recovered.

It was returned by a member of the public.

The mother went down to the MRT station, identified the device, and picked it up by 7pm that same day.

Tip-off & offers of help

Offers of help from the public streamed in shortly after the appeal was put up.

In total, Mothership.sg received three separate offers from Good Samaritans who wanted to help the mother and her son out by procuring another laptop, as well as at least one credible tip-off about seeing an unattended laptop at Tiong Bahru MRT station at around 5pm on Aug. 23.

Follow and listen to our podcast here

Top photos via Google Maps & source