It was reported that Justin Bieber's laptop was stolen during a show on Oct 9 in Washington state. The Biebs had tweeted to his 28 million Twitter followers that the laptop, containing footage of the pop star, had been stolen.

After Bieber tweeted that his computer with "personal footage" on it was stolen on Oct. 10. A nude picture went viral on Twitter that was said to be of the singer himself.

The shot, which has since been removed from the site, shows a naked man's torso and lower half while he is seen grabbing his genitals straight on to the camera lens. The man in the image, whose face is not shown, also has a similar bird tattoo on his hip in the same spot that Bieber has his.

However, the 'stolen' laptop was believed to have been a hoax as Bieber's newest music video was released just days later which starts with a text saying personal footage of him was stolen and uploaded illegally.

The stolen laptop was believed to have been a publicity stunt to hype up the music video - but it seems that the laptop had indeed been stolen.

Bieber's publicist Melissa Victor confirmed that there had been a theft. In an email written to the AP, Victor said: "Be very clear, the laptop was indeed stolen in Tacoma. That was NOT a hoax."

According to AP, Tacoma police spokesman Mark Fulghum said a report was filed online on Oct.  10. However, he said that officers will not be spending too much time investigating the incident. "A lot of people got played," Fulghum said. "It became a big media frenzy, so I guess that was the idea."

A surveillance video of the room where Bieber's laptop was allegedly stolen was reviewed by officials yesterday but they could not determine whether a theft had actually taken place.

However, Fulghum did say say that the laptop could have been stolen.