Crazy car theft story | GTAMotorcycle.com

Crazy car theft story

Norcorider

Norcorider

Well-known member
Note: True story, the whole incident was recorded on security cam.

This happened to one of my friend's boss. He had 2 cars till few days back : a Lexus SUV and Toyota Highlander. Thieves came to his house at around 2 am one night, some how opened the Lexus door in few seconds and drove it away. The guy reported the incident to police which basically asked them to call insurance and said the car is probably already in a shipping container in Montreal.
Thieves came to his house again in HIS Lexus which they nicked a night before, opened the garage door with remote which was in the car , entered the house from the garage , found the keys to the Highlander drove it away.

Some of the lessons I learnt from this story:
1) cops don't bother/care about stolen cars since they know insurance will pay up.
2) do not leave the garage door opener in the car. I guess most us do it, that's the whole point of a remote opener.
3 ) lock the door from garage to the house every night and keep car keys in not so obvious place like wall mount key holders or in plain sight like counter tops or on tables.

I wanted to share this story as I think we can learn a thing or two from it.
 
You could disable the remote and unpair them from the garage door opener, and then reprogram any existing ones, couldn't you?
 
Norcorider said:
Some of the lessons I learnt from this story:
1) cops don't bother/care about stolen cars since they know insurance will pay up.
2) do not leave the garage door opener in the car. I guess most us do it, that's the whole point of a remote opener.
3 ) lock the door from garage to the house every night and keep car keys in not so obvious place like wall mount key holders or in plain sight like counter tops or on tables.

I wanted to share this story as I think we can learn a thing or two from it.
Click to expand...
I always lock the door from the garage and park the car IN the garage, so I've taken care of points 2 & 3. I do this because I was aware of point 1.
 
A couple points to add:

- if you have a keyless fob, don't leave it by the front door. Apparently the signal can be boosted, allowing thieves to unlock and start the vehicle in the driveway with little issue. Maybe why they were able to get into the Lexus so quickly?
- this one is slightly paranoid, but my wife sticks to it: don't save your actual home address as 'Home' if you have navigation in your vehicle. If they steal it elsewhere, they know you're not home and can head straight there. This doubly applies to the garage door opener thing...
 
Similar thing happened to my cousin in Poland recently, but only 1 car.

He parked it on the street due to renovations, and he said crime has skyrocketed with COVID. Woke up, went about his day (work from home) and by 11am he's looking for his car and it's gone. Calls the cops, and checked his app but no signal on the car (they disabled the Audi GPS/antennas).

Cops show up and turns out his neighbour's AMG was also stolen that night. Lots of cameras around his property and they see some guys milling around 2:30am or so. Guy walks to the house, uses the signal booster as the remote was in the window, and his buddy opens the door and fires up the car.

He checked his new app / SIM card located in the car and the car is by the Lithuanian border by 11am or so. Luckily he was able to disable the car when the thieves stop and they accidentally turned it off. With no key nearby, they couldn't fire it up again, and he had the doors locked remotely.

As for GPS....I only put in a nearby street name. However, I'm an idiot, and keep a copy of my registration/insurance in the car so that's not helpful. And somehow my cars don't have a garage door opener, and I refuse to leave the actual opener in the car for that very reason.
 
I know people that have lost multiple highlanders. They figured the first one was a relay attack so they stored both keys in a metal can and the second one was started and driven away. Toyota/Lexus has a serious security vulnerability in their keyless system.

I keep openers in the cars. If the cars get stolen, I will erase the pairing from the GDO. What good is a garage if you don't have a remote in the car? I guess a much better solution would be a code pad in the car that is easy for you to operate but useless to everyone else (like the ones normally mounted on the door frame to get in). I have never seen one of these though.

The door from the garage to house is normally locked (always if we are home or gone for a long time, not always on short trips leaving from the garage). There is enough stuff in the garage that a)you are stupid to enter the house, the easy pawnshop money is in the garage and b)you could get into the house in seconds even with a locked door.
 
Once they are in the garage, kicking in the man door is pretty simple work. Monitored alarm, and big signs to say ALARMED will slow the regular thieves down, proffesionals know they have a "window" to work with.
 
Norcorider said:
Note: True story, the whole incident was recorded on security cam.

This happened to one of my friend's boss. He had 2 cars till few days back : a Lexus SUV and Toyota Highlander. Thieves came to his house at around 2 am one night, some how opened the Lexus door in few seconds and drove it away. The guy reported the incident to police which basically asked them to call insurance and said the car is probably already in a shipping container in Montreal.
Thieves came to his house again in HIS Lexus which they nicked a night before, opened the garage door with remote which was in the car , entered the house from the garage , found the keys to the Highlander drove it away.

Some of the lessons I learnt from this story:
1) cops don't bother/care about stolen cars since they know insurance will pay up.
2) do not leave the garage door opener in the car. I guess most us do it, that's the whole point of a remote opener.
3 ) lock the door from garage to the house every night and keep car keys in not so obvious place like wall mount key holders or in plain sight like counter tops or on tables.

I wanted to share this story as I think we can learn a thing or two from it.
Click to expand...
1) you are correct insurance will pay . Police put property crime low on importance .
2) we all do it
3) keep all doors locked . But leave your car keys in a place where they can be easily found . Once a person enters your place they are serious about getting your car . I would rather they take the car and leave . Then come looking for the keys from me or my family members . See number 1 .
 
I agree with the let the insurance deal with it side. It’s a hassle none of us want but with material possessions, if someone really wants it they will get it.


Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
 
SVeezy said:
I agree with the let the insurance deal with it side. It’s a hassle none of us want but with material possessions, if someone really wants it they will get it.


Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
Click to expand...
It's the opposite of broken window theory of policing. Broken window theory has them chasing lots of small crimes to catch and deal with the troublemakers before they escalate. Actively avoiding spending any policing time on property crimes means criminals know they can steal with impunity. Not a great long-term approach to policing.
 
Remember a fella that was always having his firewood stolen, he put an end to that :| amazingly nobody died.
 
Trials said:
Remember a fella that was always having his firewood stolen, he put an end to that :| amazingly nobody died.
Click to expand...
Sundance Kid method
 
Trials said:
Remember a fella that was always having his firewood stolen, he put an end to that :| amazingly nobody died.
Click to expand...
Hmmm...Dad thinks someone is stealing wood from our stock at the cottage and has asked me to get some trail cams just in case. Black Friday deals are done on them at CT :(
 
mimico_polak said:
Hmmm...Dad thinks someone is stealing wood from our stock at the cottage and has asked me to get some trail cams just in case. Black Friday deals are done on them at CT :(
Click to expand...
Trailcam in a bird house makes a good xmas present. Almost impossible for moron thieves to spot (because if they see you camera, they steal it too).
 
Sounds much safer then the log stuffed with black powder method (y)
 
Norcorider said:
cops don't bother/care about stolen cars since they know insurance will pay up.
Click to expand...

Oh they do care. Quite a lot.

Our SUV went missing from a parking lot, so we filed a police report.

Two policemen showed up at our place the day after to take my wife's statements, since she was the one driving and was out for dinner with friends.

Strangely, they treated both of us with a lot of hostility. Peculiar since we were the victims, but we were being treated like criminals - being cross-examined about the sequence of events:

One cop had a notepad and was reading from his notes:

"So you said you were out shopping, right?"
"No, I already told you I was out for dinner seeing friends"

And then:

"What are your monthly car payments?"
"$0, we paid a single lease payment up-front."

Cop looks up in surprise, snaps the notebook closed and the cross-examination is over. They both leave immediately.

I then clued in that they weren't there investigating a car theft. They were there on the insurance company's behalf investigating insurance fraud.

But soon as as they heard I was out x years of payment and stood no financial benefit and had no motive to "disappear" my vehicle, they didn't care any more.

This is how the system works. Police are not employed by you, they are not in your service.
 
mimico_polak said:
Hmmm...Dad thinks someone is stealing wood from our stock at the cottage and has asked me to get some trail cams just in case. Black Friday deals are done on them at CT :(
Click to expand...
Good luck. My BIL did that at his cottage, the locals now get their firewood and
trail cams from him.
 
Mad Mike said:
Good luck. My BIL did that at his cottage, the locals now get their firewood and
trail cams from him.
Click to expand...
Wow....my buddy did it at his cottage and found the neighbour snooping and stealing some minor construction material. Nothing major but now they’re best friends and he never brought it up. Cameras, trail cameras, and everything is there and the neighbour now comes to check up on the property.
 
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