Ross Moresi was told he'd likely never see his surfboards again after they were stolen from his garage earlier this week.

But the Prahran resident wasn't willing to accept a wipe out so easily and called up any surf shops which trade in second-hand boards, passing on a few photos if they happened to turn up.

That's when Zak Surfboards in Thornbury called him back, saying a man had sold them recently and the store still had his name, licence number and address.

Mr Moresi said he was passing on the information to an officer at the Prahran police station's reception desk when a "shady looking character" walked in to report for his bail conditions.

"He's quoted his name and I thought, 'Gee, that name sounds familiar," Mr Moresi told radio station 3AW on Thursday.

It was the same name as the man who sold his boards to the surf shop, he said, and he was furious that man was now standing right beside him.

"I think we can all imagine what was said," he recalled.

"The two police ladies really couldn't believe it. They said, 'Mate, you're under arrest', and he's looking at me, going, 'Nah, it wasn't me. I bought them off a bloke for hard rubbish for a hundred bucks out of the front of your apartment'. And then we kind of all started laughing."

A police spokeswoman said a man  was charged with handling stolen goods and deception. He will appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday.

For Mr Moresi, he couldn't thank the surf store and the police enough.

"It's just a good story," he said. "It doesn't happen often where this kind of stuff will go your way."