Preventing anonymous theft by drones

A computer implemented method, comprising:

• accessing, by a tracking server, a secure database that stores data about an object of personal property;
• determining, by the tracking server and from the data about the object, that a tracking state of the object is set to ON;
• obtaining, by the tracking server and in response to the determining, altitude data from an altitude sensor of an Internet of Things (IoT) device associated with the object;
• comparing, by the tracking server, the altitude data to a predefined criteria;
• repeating, by the tracking server, the obtaining and the comparing until one of:
• the altitude data satisfies the predefined criteria, or the tracking state of the object is set to OFF;
• generating, by the tracking server, an alert in response to the altitude data satisfying the predefined criteria, wherein the generating the alert comprises sending an electronic message to a computer device of at least one designated alert recipient, wherein the electronic message includes:
• an identifier of the object;
• a last known location of the object;
• and the altitude of the object;
• periodically obtaining, by the tracking server and based on the generating the alert, new altitude data from the altitude sensor of the IoT device;
• and
• sending, by the tracking server, updates including the new altitude data to the at least one designated alert recipient.

A computer implemented method, comprising:

• accessing, by a tracking server, a secure database that stores data about an object of personal property;
• determining, by the tracking server and from the data about the object, that a tracking state of the object is set to ON;
• obtaining, by the tracking server and in response to the determining, altitude data from an altitude sensor of an Internet of Things (IoT) device associated with the object;
• comparing, by the tracking server, the altitude data to a predefined criteria;
• and
• repeating, by the tracking server, the obtaining and the comparing until one of:
• the altitude data satisfies the predefined criteria, or the tracking state of the object is set to OFF;
• wherein the secure database is configured such that the data about the object defines one or more trusted entities;
• only the one or more trusted entities have permission to update the tracking state, of the object, that is stored in the secure database;
• and
• the one or more trusted entities include at least one selected from the group consisting of:
• a merchant that received an order for the object from an intended recipient of the object;
• and a shipping entity that ships the object from the merchant to the intended recipient.