Showing posts with label Stolen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stolen. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

scam alert, thieves now “utilize a fraudulent transportation company to acquire luxury vehicle transportation ‘jobs’ by legitimate auto dealerships"

“Essentially, the seller/buyer will solicit a vehicle for transportation, and will unknowingly be contracting a thief, utilizing a fraudulent transportation business, to transport their newly sold/purchased luxury vehicle,” Anca wrote. “Once the thief is in possession of the vehicle, the thief will completely cut ties with the victim, depriving the victim (of) their vehicle, essentially stealing it.”

Authorities said suspects frequently sublease the jobs on purpose to “create confusion and layers to protect themselves and thwart law enforcement investigations.”

“In most cases, the subcontracted drivers are innocent and do not realize they are transporting and dropping off a luxury vehicle to a thief, posing as a legitimate car carrier/transport company,”

Monday, April 13, 2026

never let a chance for good free publicity go to waste!


A KitKat truck in Canada was flanked by a security escort through Toronto, on Wednesday (8 April), following the theft of more than 400,000 bars in Europe.

 Nestlé confirmed that thieves had made off with around 12 tons of the chocolate, after a vehicle carrying its new chocolates set off from central Italy bound for Poland but did not reach its final destination.

 The stolen vehicle and the merchandise remain unaccounted for.  The food giant said they are working with local authorities and supply partners to investigate.

 KitKat Canada leaned into the headlines, transforming a logistics nightmare into a marketing bonanza!


Last month, approximately 12 tons (over 413,000 bars) of KitKat chocolate, specifically a new Formula 1 line, were stolen while in transit from an Italian production site to Poland. The heist occurred just before Easter, and both the truck and the cargo remain missing.

The company, based in Vevey, Switzerland, said in a statement Friday that “the vehicle and its load are still nowhere to be found.” “Whilst we appreciate the criminals’ exceptional taste, the fact remains that cargo theft is an escalating issue for businesses of all sizes,” KitKat said in a statement.

Sunday, April 05, 2026

1,800 stolen catalytic converters, and four cars, were recovered during a massive bust in Baldwin Park


Investigators eventually identified a location in South Los Angeles where stolen converters were allegedly being purchased, and a storage unit location in Norwalk that was being used as a storage site. 

On Tuesday, law enforcement carried out an operation at the Norwalk location. Four people were arrested for selling and purchasing suspected stolen catalytic converters, police said.

Monday, February 09, 2026

Here's a strange, but car related news item, A man named Allen Rex Roberts was charged with possession of a stolen car in August 2021. Now, the severe shortage of public defenders has resulted in 1400 cases getting dismissed

The charges were dismissed in October 2022 because of the state’s failure to appoint him a lawyer, but in April 2024, prosecutors re-indicted Roberts on the same charges. For the next year, Roberts repeatedly returned to court for hearings where he was supposed to be appointed counsel, but each time no attorney was available. Eventually, his case was again dismissed due to a lack of attorneys.

The case highlights the situation that resulted in the Oregon supreme court ruling that a large number of criminal cases across the state must be dismissed due to a severe shortage of public defenders, a major decision that attorneys say will impact more than 1,400 pending cases.

The problem has been years in the making and has become a significant constitutional crisis, as people charged with crimes are routinely unable to fight their cases as they wait weeks, months or sometimes years for the state to appoint them lawyers.

The attorney shortage is a systemic and statewide problem in Oregon, and the causes are complex, with criminal defense lawyers noting the state has long underfunded public defense, leaving few public defenders overwhelmed with massive caseloads. A backlog of cases during the pandemic and increasing time required to review materials like body-camera footage and digital evidence has further strained the system, advocates say.

Nadia Dahab, a Portland-based attorney who argued the Roberts case, said she hoped the ruling would force the state to pursue a “solution that recognizes the importance of access to counsel for people charged with a crime and allocates the resources necessary to make sure the public defense system adequately protects them”.

“Roberts,” she added, “is one of thousands, and the harms he suffered through the arrest warrant when the state recharged him and through the impact of having to take off work to go to court every month – those are very exemplary of what lots of others are facing.”

Oregon’s department of justice had argued against blanket dismissals in the Roberts case.

Sunday, February 01, 2026

a couple worked a car theft scam across the Northeast, stealing or attempting to steal high-value cars and pickup trucks by relying on test drives, subtle distractions, and modern key technology to walk away with vehicles worth $2.4M across Ct, NY, and NJ

The investigation, led by the Old Saybrook Police Department, ultimately linked at least 20 vehicles to the same two-person operation.

According to police, the couple followed a consistent pattern when visiting dealerships. They would arrive posing as legitimate buyers, often asking to see or test-drive specific high-dollar trucks, like the Ford F-450 Super Duty. During those visits, investigators believe the male suspect either swapped the vehicle’s original key fob with a decoy or cloned it using the vehicle’s OBDII port, a process that can take less than a minute with the right equipment.

The woman allegedly played a key role in the distraction. In one documented case, police say she acted “playful” with a salesperson, drawing attention away from the vehicle while her partner started it or accessed the electronics. Once the key was cloned or swapped, the pair would leave without incident.


Thank you Doug! 

Monday, January 19, 2026

the insurance company that didn't bother checking the security of Lockwood Leasing in Canada is learning how expensive it was to not verify that the cars couldn't be driven away by thieves. Some just did. Either the alarm wasn't switched on or there was no alarm of any value installed.

thieves broke into the dealership, pried open a lock box full of keys with a crowbar, then drove away a Ferrari 812 GTS, a Porsche 911 GT3, two Mercedes-Benz S580s and two BMW M4 models. 

What the hell was preventing the cars from driving away? Wet noodles? There were no blockers

10 thieves in the crew, simply smashed the glass door to the premises, used a pry bar to open the key safe, moved the furniture, and drove the cars away.

https://carbuzz.com/ferrari-812-gts-porsche-911-gt3-cars-stolen/

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

a retired sales manager from Southlake, Texas, never stopped searching for his 1967 Austin-Healey after it disappeared from outside his Philadelphia home in 1970.

 
The car was stolen the morning after he took his future wife on their second date, giving it deep sentimental value that went far beyond its price.

“I never gave up looking for it,” Russell said. “The fact that the car still exists is improbable. It could have been junked or wrecked years ago.”

Russell originally paid a friend $3,000 for the sports car and spent years casually searching for it online, though he admitted he had little hope of ever finding it again. That changed in 2012 when he spotted a familiar-looking Austin-Healey listed for sale on eBay by a Beverly Hills dealership.

Suspicious but hopeful, Russell contacted the seller and confirmed that the vehicle identification number matched his original car. He still had the original title and key, though he no longer possessed a copy of the police report from the theft.

With the help of Philadelphia police, Russell discovered the original stolen-car report had never appeared in the FBI’s national crime database due to a clerical error in the VIN. Once the mistake was corrected, the case was reopened, allowing Los Angeles County authorities to impound the vehicle.

Russell and his wife, Cynthia, flew to California to reclaim the car. Today, the Austin-Healey is valued at approximately $23,000.

“It still runs, but the brakes aren’t great,” Russell said. “We’re going to put it back exactly the way it was.”

Thursday, December 04, 2025

Two snowplow trucks were stolen from a Troy Michigan shopping plaza just hours before crews were scheduled to clear snow from the 25-acre parking lot... well, they left the keys IN THE TRUCKS so thieves could help themselves. Ain't gonna be an insurance claim.


the theft occurred around 9:30 p.m. when someone helped themselves to both vehicles, which had keys left inside so crews could quickly start and warm up the trucks for snow removal.

The stolen vehicles include a white 2005 GMC Sierra and a black 2002 Ford F-250, both equipped with snowplows. Smythe estimates the total loss at approximately $20,000.

Wednesday, November 26, 2025

A parking inspector and his wife have been arrested on suspicion of embezzling more than €1m (£878,000) from a small German town's parking meters.


taking coins out of parking meters and placing them in bank accounts that his wife had access to, local police said in a statement.

 A money laundering report by a credit institution alerted investigators to the suspected theft. 

The man faces 720 alleged incidents of theft, and subsequent cash being deposited into bank accounts and his wife faces 720 charges of aiding and abetting theft 

Kempten is located in the country's south, and is one of the oldest settlements in Germany. It has around 70,000 residents.


Wrap your mind around how much the parking must cost, per hour, for this nearly million Euro to have been unnoticed by the city, for long enough for 720 chargeable counts of theft to happen. 

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Shaq's 2025 Range Rover was stolen while it was being transported from Georgia to Baton Rouge

The auto transportation company says it was hit by a "sophisticated cyber-attack."

The company arranged transport through FirstLine Trucking LLC, which later claimed it had been hacked.

"We do all his cars. This time, we set up transport, and transport claimed they were hacked and don't know who picked up the vehicle," Abdelrahman told CBS News Atlanta. "It's been missing since Monday."

Shaq's Range Rover had reportedly passed through several hands before disappearing somewhere in the Atlanta area. Abdelrahman said multiple shops were involved in its transport, and police are investigating how the SUV was handed off.

According to the Lumpkin County Sheriff's Office, the high-value vehicle was fraudulently removed from a local business in the Dahlonega area on Monday, Oct. 20. Detectives say it was supposed to be delivered to Louisiana for O'Neal to use at a weekend LSU game, but never made it there.

https://abc7.com/amp/post/shaquille-oneals-custom-range-rover-stolen-being-transported-southern-california-louisiana/18073426

Car thieves are targeting Toyotas worldwide by hacking the codes on the ECU, through the lighting wiring harness. (it seems a simple hidden switch that disables the fuel pump is still the best way to keep thieves from stealing your vehicle)

Car thieves are targeting Toyota and Lexus models across Canada, Australia and the UK with a hack that can make these car’s security systems useless in minutes. They’re using a device called a CAN Invader that can bypass a vehicle’s immobilizer, unlock doors and start the engine

Modern cars have all their electronics connected via CANbus (Controller Area Network), a communication protocol used to connect to a car’s ECU. CANbus is used to control everything from stereo systems and electronic seats to a car’s lighting.

In Toyota’s case, thieves are gaining access to the CANbus by plugging in their hacking device into headlight wiring, by simply peeling back fender liners or by drilling holes in them. In some Lexus models, thieves are plugging in via the taillights. In minutes, the thieves use CAN injections, or lines of malicious code, to trick the car’s ECU into thinking a key is present, further unlocking doors and disabling the immobilizer, and finally starting the engine without triggering any alarms.

An Avis employee allegedly stole 47 vehicles from an Avis Budget site at an upstate New York airport and rented them out around the region, 42 of the 47 stolen cars have been recovered.

An investigation by airport police found that a 31-year-old Avis Budget employee led the theft scheme, which involved renting out the purloined vehicles at other locations around Onondaga County, authorities said. Police declined to release details of how the vehicles were stolen. 

 Police are looking for the employee, who no longer works for Avis Budget and is wanted on grand larceny and scheme to defraud charges. Several other people have been arrested in connection with the case, officials said.