Targeting cars
Discussion
How do criminals find desirable cars to steal?
Do they just drive round the streets until they find someone worth stealing. So that would mean cars locked in a garage should be okay but that’s obviously not the case.
Do they follow them home?
I remember a mate of mine had a motorbike stolen from the back of his house. This was a small town so unlikely to be a local. This was just after a main dealer service so it might have been connected to that.
In the vast majority of cases its that they head for a housing estate where they are likely to find the BMW/Merc/Range Rover of choice - nothing more complicated.
If it is something more specific...
Toyota HiLux, Land Rover Defenders - likely to be spotted/scouted by their network in rural locations, where they return at night.
The traditional network of offenders passing information through contacts is alive and well - the internet has probably made some targeting easier too.
Back when Renault 5 Turbos were the hot hatch of choice (I recall that over 50% of all R5 GTT registered with DVLA at one point had been stolen) there was a guy who was selling replacement parts - seats, bumpers, door etc - and when someone made an enquiry, he would confirm that he had the part on a car he was breaking, gave a reasonable price and when it came to shipping it would turn out that "I am near you in a week or so, why don't I drop it off? No charge, mate"
Then he'd get chatting with the owner about whether they wanted any other bits, how long they'd owned it, security measures, values going up etc.
And pop around to steal it overnight.
Still happens.
Offenders have varying degrees of commitment, sophistication, time, interest - just like owners - it *is* possible to spend very little and significantly reduce the chances of your Range Rover being stolen, but if the owner has less interest in doing so than the Offender has in taking it, it'll get nicked.
Police have less and less funding to target acquisitive crime, and more focus on protecting vulnerable people - investigating series vehicle theft is relatively straightforward, but Police forces don't tend to have th funds to do it when the alternative is to spend on preventing domestic abuse, child abuse, County Lines drug supply, on-line exploitation, modern-day slavery, etc
If it is something more specific...
Toyota HiLux, Land Rover Defenders - likely to be spotted/scouted by their network in rural locations, where they return at night.
The traditional network of offenders passing information through contacts is alive and well - the internet has probably made some targeting easier too.
Back when Renault 5 Turbos were the hot hatch of choice (I recall that over 50% of all R5 GTT registered with DVLA at one point had been stolen) there was a guy who was selling replacement parts - seats, bumpers, door etc - and when someone made an enquiry, he would confirm that he had the part on a car he was breaking, gave a reasonable price and when it came to shipping it would turn out that "I am near you in a week or so, why don't I drop it off? No charge, mate"
Then he'd get chatting with the owner about whether they wanted any other bits, how long they'd owned it, security measures, values going up etc.
And pop around to steal it overnight.
Still happens.
Offenders have varying degrees of commitment, sophistication, time, interest - just like owners - it *is* possible to spend very little and significantly reduce the chances of your Range Rover being stolen, but if the owner has less interest in doing so than the Offender has in taking it, it'll get nicked.
Police have less and less funding to target acquisitive crime, and more focus on protecting vulnerable people - investigating series vehicle theft is relatively straightforward, but Police forces don't tend to have th funds to do it when the alternative is to spend on preventing domestic abuse, child abuse, County Lines drug supply, on-line exploitation, modern-day slavery, etc
Easy these days to do most of it on social media.
Especially if they are looking for cars to clone, people always say "why do you blank your number plate out". For example a few years ago I had a MK2 Leon Cupra R in yellow, quite rare.
If I was a criminal wanting to clone a yellow MK2 Cupra R what are the chances of seeing one in the wild to clone, quite slim, but if I go on Instagram for example and type #cuprar the chances of one coming up are quite high, if the plate isn't blurred even better there is my cloned plate to use.
Same with looking for cars to steal, snoop on social media, you can roughly find out where somebody is based.
Especially if they are looking for cars to clone, people always say "why do you blank your number plate out". For example a few years ago I had a MK2 Leon Cupra R in yellow, quite rare.
If I was a criminal wanting to clone a yellow MK2 Cupra R what are the chances of seeing one in the wild to clone, quite slim, but if I go on Instagram for example and type #cuprar the chances of one coming up are quite high, if the plate isn't blurred even better there is my cloned plate to use.
Same with looking for cars to steal, snoop on social media, you can roughly find out where somebody is based.
the-norseman said:
Same with looking for cars to steal, snoop on social media, you can roughly find out where somebody is based.
On that note it is really quite scary how much info is out there on the internet. Think of it like a jigsaw, often small trails of info are unwittingly available via various socials and forums, as well as various ‘official’ sites, and if you were a criminal and have time you can easily piece them all together for targeted crimes. Google is also insanely powerful, with patience and thought you can dig quite a lot up. thepritch said:
On that note it is really quite scary how much info is out there on the internet. Think of it like a jigsaw, often small trails of info are unwittingly available via various socials and forums, as well as various ‘official’ sites, and if you were a criminal and have time you can easily piece them all together for targeted crimes. Google is also insanely powerful, with patience and thought you can dig quite a lot up.
it is, you can go on Instagram and find a car/owner, if their name is on there, find their Facebook, Linkedin etc. Next minute you know a lot about them, they work at XXX , live in XXX, hang around XXX a lot. Made me rethink my social media stuff, remove a lot of info off it etc.
iDrive said:
In the vast majority of cases its that they head for a housing estate where they are likely to find the BMW/Merc/Range Rover of choice - nothing more complicated.
If it is something more specific...
Toyota HiLux, Land Rover Defenders - likely to be spotted/scouted by their network in rural locations, where they return at night.
The traditional network of offenders passing information through contacts is alive and well - the internet has probably made some targeting easier too.
Back when Renault 5 Turbos were the hot hatch of choice (I recall that over 50% of all R5 GTT registered with DVLA at one point had been stolen) there was a guy who was selling replacement parts - seats, bumpers, door etc - and when someone made an enquiry, he would confirm that he had the part on a car he was breaking, gave a reasonable price and when it came to shipping it would turn out that "I am near you in a week or so, why don't I drop it off? No charge, mate"
Then he'd get chatting with the owner about whether they wanted any other bits, how long they'd owned it, security measures, values going up etc.
And pop around to steal it overnight.
Still happens.
Offenders have varying degrees of commitment, sophistication, time, interest - just like owners - it *is* possible to spend very little and significantly reduce the chances of your Range Rover being stolen, but if the owner has less interest in doing so than the Offender has in taking it, it'll get nicked.
Police have less and less funding to target acquisitive crime, and more focus on protecting vulnerable people - investigating series vehicle theft is relatively straightforward, but Police forces don't tend to have th funds to do it when the alternative is to spend on preventing domestic abuse, child abuse, County Lines drug supply, on-line exploitation, modern-day slavery, etc
I was massively into R5 GT Turbos back in the day. I probably bought parts from the seller that you mention. LOOT was full of parts for these cars. I have forgotten most of the 5 breakers. names but I do recall “ 5 Alive “ If it is something more specific...
Toyota HiLux, Land Rover Defenders - likely to be spotted/scouted by their network in rural locations, where they return at night.
The traditional network of offenders passing information through contacts is alive and well - the internet has probably made some targeting easier too.
Back when Renault 5 Turbos were the hot hatch of choice (I recall that over 50% of all R5 GTT registered with DVLA at one point had been stolen) there was a guy who was selling replacement parts - seats, bumpers, door etc - and when someone made an enquiry, he would confirm that he had the part on a car he was breaking, gave a reasonable price and when it came to shipping it would turn out that "I am near you in a week or so, why don't I drop it off? No charge, mate"
Then he'd get chatting with the owner about whether they wanted any other bits, how long they'd owned it, security measures, values going up etc.
And pop around to steal it overnight.
Still happens.
Offenders have varying degrees of commitment, sophistication, time, interest - just like owners - it *is* possible to spend very little and significantly reduce the chances of your Range Rover being stolen, but if the owner has less interest in doing so than the Offender has in taking it, it'll get nicked.
Police have less and less funding to target acquisitive crime, and more focus on protecting vulnerable people - investigating series vehicle theft is relatively straightforward, but Police forces don't tend to have th funds to do it when the alternative is to spend on preventing domestic abuse, child abuse, County Lines drug supply, on-line exploitation, modern-day slavery, etc
I bought a set of Phase 2 seats from someone who seemed to have no shortage of parts at a nice house somewhere in south London in early 93 via LOOT.
From memory 10,000 R5 GT Turbos were sold to Britain. In 94 / 95 there was a gang in East London stealing front bumpers, as Renault had run out of stock of them, the b took the one off of a lovely silver G plate one that ex wife and I owned, from outside our then flat in Highams Park.
they spot a nice car at a supermarket , pub , take your pick , place an apple air tag
you drive it and they track your vehicle to your house then once known location drive past , and when oportunity arises steal it and re pick up the tracker .
I have an apple Air Tag in one of my cars it went for major engine work , i Knew the moment it was fixed because mysteriously it was parked outside the / mechanics house . checked google map , it , went to two different residential addresses !!
I called the vendor and said i would be over the following morning to collect the car he never knew it had a tracker fitted
you drive it and they track your vehicle to your house then once known location drive past , and when oportunity arises steal it and re pick up the tracker .
I have an apple Air Tag in one of my cars it went for major engine work , i Knew the moment it was fixed because mysteriously it was parked outside the / mechanics house . checked google map , it , went to two different residential addresses !!
I called the vendor and said i would be over the following morning to collect the car he never knew it had a tracker fitted
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