Caught a couple guys scoping out/trying to rob my car yesterday...

[GoHashiriya]

Hi all,

As title says, caught a couple blokes trying to rob my car yesterday and confronted them. Captured them scoping the car out on my security camera, one of them came to the door and it went down as follows:

There I am working from home, which I don't often do, when a (South Asian-lookin') guy knocks on my door with some odd questions:

Car Thief A: "Konnichiwa"

Me: "Hello"

Car Thief A: "Would you like to sell that red car" 

Me: "Why"  - knowing full well something is up 

Car Thief A: "Where are you from" - trying to make small talk

Me: "UK, where are you from" - gathering a plan in my head

Car Thief A: "Ahhh... London" - yeah, alright mate

Me: "Where are you from?"

Car Thief A: "Sri Lanka"

Me: "What's your name?"

Car Thief A: "Safa"

Me: "Please wait a sec" 

I go inside, grab my phone, run back to the man and square up to him, a few cms from his face, and yell a bunch of expletives. He retreats back to his car, I snap a shot of his license plate and of him and his mate (see attached). Then I go up to his window and politely tell them where to go, along with something along the lines of "If I see you again I'll f***ing k*** you".

The information has been handed to the police, just for the sake of a record. Of course they won't do much unless it's actually stolen or some injury/damage is caused.

Basically, in Japan, the scam is as follows: they come to your house, scope it out, leave a "we will buy your car" notice on the car with some fake details. They will return after several days/weeks and see whether the notice is still there, giving an indication of how attentive the owner is. In the event the owner is a dumbass and actually calls the number wanting to sell the car, generally they will just lowball with a minimal expectation the person will accept it.

This is super common, you'll be able to find more detail on it by the likes of youtubers like Albo, if any of you watch that stuff. It's happened to my mates; a couple acquaintances have had their cars nicked, one friend had them attempt to steal the wheels (RAYS) but they couldn't get the lock nut off.  

So without giving too much detail, I have the basic security stuff down - pepper spray, breaker bar, security camera plus more - and I'm expediting other security-related purchases. Now, what I would like to know is what you guys do for security, any random suggestions are fine.

I'm also looking at upgrading the car alarm, but I'll start another thread for that in the appropriate place.

Security camera footage - I've chopped it up a bit to highlight only the visible stuff: 

 

 

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

bro, saw on your IG this morning - absolute grubs!

We all know most of the theft in Japan or crime of that matter is generally foreigners. 

[GoHashiriya]

On 3/9/2022 at 3:45 PM, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

bro, saw on your IG this morning - absolute grubs!

We all know most of the theft in Japan or crime of that matter is generally foreigners. 

Yeah, JP is no different to anywhere else, except because car theft is more rare/only now becoming more common. due to this, the local population are easier, unexpecting targets.

An annoying thing is, car alarms (plus installation) here cost about twice as much as the UK. So If i get a shop to install one, it'll be redundant when I ship the car back. In the UK most insurance cos require a CAT 5 alarm classification where the JP ones don't meet that standard.

All options are on the table at the moment, including paying someone to track them down. 

[GTSBoy]

Leave a photo of you holding a Glock on the driver's seat.

[Duncan]

to be fair, if I had a prius I'd eye off skylines too.

[Neostead2000]

To give them the benefit of the doubt, Skylines are absolutely popping off right now so if I was working for a car export company one of the logical things to do is driving around neighborhoods and asking people if they'd sell their car. You'd be surprised how many people would accept a good offer right then and there.

When I took my car (1997 Eagle Talon TSI AWD) to Belgium and to the UK, on 3 separate occasions I had similar "We buy sports cars" leaflets left on my windshield, almost right after I parked up. Those people are going 'round and round looking for interesting cars worth a dollar or two.

That said, yeah these guys could be up to no good but... Just tell them next time your oil pump is shattered.

[soviet_merlin]

Seriously, f**k that! I like to think there is a special place in hell for people who steal things that people care about.

FWIW you can't even get decent insurance here if you don't have secure parking because of theft. Mine has a clause that voids it if you park the car on the street for more than two days in a row.

 

For some peace of mind I have a standalone GPS tracker somewhat hidden in the car. It has a 6,000mAh battery and I keep it charged enough that it's always good for at least two weeks. I presume people look for these when stealing cars so not sure how much it would help. I have considered getting a second one and hiding it slightly less so that it can act as a decoy but meh.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

On 09/03/2022 at 8:20 PM, soviet_merlin said:

Mine has a clause that voids it if you park the car on the street for more than two days in a row.

Wow, that's intense!

 

[soviet_merlin]

On 09/03/2022 at 9:01 PM, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

Wow, that's intense!

 

Possibly it is not that bad and worse at the same time. This is Enthusiast insurance, I presume Shannon's has similar clauses.

From the PDS:

"We will not pay a claim connected with... Your vehicle being regularly parked on the street overnight at your place of residence on more than 2 nights in any one period of a week being 7 consecutive nights."

 

I thought it was any street parking but looks like it is only for at home. Regardless, insurance companies are not friends. They are not there to help us. And I guess it is good advice to read your PDS to have your soul crushed a little bit so it doesn't hurt as much if something happens and it falls into one of the many exclusions and exceptions on the insurer's side.

I'm not jaded at all.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

I must have skimmed that part of the PDS and never committed it to memory as my shit box is always parked in a garage, generally I'm pretty good at reading them.

Might have another read before there are any parts I've missed!

[joshuaho96]

My only recommendation is to amp up physical security. If you can get a secure private garage (basically impossible in Japan I know) you should try that. If you can get bollards installed with a proper lock to make it time intensive to attempt towaway theft that's another option. The trouble now is that they know where you live and where to find your car which really makes things harder now.

[GoHashiriya]

On 3/9/2022 at 6:18 PM, Neostead2000 said:

To give them the benefit of the doubt, Skylines are absolutely popping off right now so if I was working for a car export company one of the logical things to do is driving around neighborhoods and asking people if they'd sell their car...

I would buy this, except, if that really were the case, they should know better than to snoop first ask questions later. Especially given the sensitivity of car theft of 90's shitboxes in Japan right now. I do have one friend that backs your perspective but a significant amount that think they're up to no good.

On 3/9/2022 at 6:20 PM, soviet_merlin said:

Seriously, f**k that! I like to think there is a special place in hell for people who steal things that people care about.

FWIW you can't even get decent insurance here if you don't have secure parking because of theft. Mine has a clause that voids it if you park the car on the street for more than two days in a row...

They'll find out next time, although, I need to put together a strategy for taking out multiple people at once as subtly as possible. Are flashbangs legal in Japan? 

Be grateful you are able to read the TCs for your insurance. 

On 3/10/2022 at 10:48 AM, joshuaho96 said:

My only recommendation is to amp up physical security. If you can get a secure private garage (basically impossible in Japan I know) you should try that. If you can get bollards installed with a proper lock to make it time intensive to attempt towaway theft that's another option. The trouble...

Yeah I'm working on that at the moment. I'm going to get an alarm installed shortly, as I believe the R34 has nothing.

Towaway theft and them knowing where I live is one of the major concerns. Police claim they can arrive at my house in 5 mins. The station is close and I've since added them to my contacts.

Prior to this I was actually planning to move house, and as I already prioritise parking, I'm going to have to emphasise this more. However, we're still a little ways off. If I go out of town I'm going to speak with the building manager at my office to see if I can use the tower (tokyo drift-type) parking there.  

 

[Duncan]

GPS/GSM trackers are cheap and easy to install. I had one in my car trailer when it was stolen, when we woke up the next morning and found it gone, 5 min later the cops were on the way to its "new" home. They ended up staking it out for a few days to gather evidence before returning the trailer in good condition.

Of course, they can be found and removed but they are a pretty easy way to start....if the tracker is not removed when the car is first taken you can at least see where it went until it was removed, and you can get notified that it moved in the first place (geo fencing)

[The Bogan]

On 10/03/2022 at 2:41 PM, Duncan said:

GPS/GSM trackers are cheap and easy to install. I had one in my car trailer when it was stolen, when we woke up the next morning and found it gone, 5 min later the cops were on the way to its "new" home. They ended up staking it out for a few days to gather evidence before returning the trailer in good condition.

Of course, they can be found and removed but they are a pretty easy way to start....if the tracker is not removed when the car is first taken you can at least see where it went until it was removed, and you can get notified that it moved in the first place (geo fencing)

Got any recommendations on trackers mate?

I was looking at something at Supercheap for $300, and then I assume it's a phone plan thingie??

 

Cheers

[Duncan]

There weren't a lot of options when I first put one is something but I think there are many more these days...in fact my original was so old it was 2g and I had to move to 3g when they shut the old network down....so maybe look for a 4g compatible option (actually, thanks to google for lols, I found the original link https://campertrailers.org/cca_vehicle_tracker.htm)

The supercheap one looks surprisingly legit https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/gator-gps-vehicle-tracker-and-sim-card-gtkpro2/614216.html

They are also on ebay, you can get them with video in as well so you can set a forward facing camera that takes video of the number plate of the car towing your trailer away and sends it to you. Something like this can be setup to lock the electric brakes remotely too https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/181668781043?hash=item2a4c4d9bf3:g:a2UAAOSwYuZarOxw

They use SMS to send google maps links on request or when the geofence area is left, pretty easy. I use an aldi prepaid sim that is about $20 a year.

[soviet_merlin]

On 10/03/2022 at 2:38 PM, GoHashiriya said:

Be grateful you are able to read the TCs for your insurance.

Ah yes, good point! Though reading legalese English often feels as difficult as trying to read Japanese.

 

On 10/03/2022 at 2:41 PM, Duncan said:

GPS/GSM trackers are cheap and easy to install. I had one in my car trailer when it was stolen, when we woke up the next morning and found it gone, 5 min later the cops were on the way to its "new" home. They ended up staking it out for a few days to gather evidence before returning the trailer in good condition.

This reads like something out of a fiction set in some kind of parallel universe. When was that? Is this because you are further out in the sticks and the police is not as busy? My expectation these days around here is that all that is provided by the police is a case number to pass to the insurance. I feel like I'd have to go full Bruce Willis and try to get it back myself. Am I being too cynical? I'm not saying ACAB, but my impression is there is too much crime and not enough resources to deal with it. And pressure coming from up high to generate revenue.

 

On 11/03/2022 at 12:49 PM, mlr said:

Got any recommendations on trackers mate?

I was looking at something at Supercheap for $300, and then I assume it's a phone plan thingie??

On 11/03/2022 at 8:37 PM, Duncan said:

The supercheap one looks surprisingly legit https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/gator-gps-vehicle-tracker-and-sim-card-gtkpro2/614216.html

...

They use SMS to send google maps links on request or when the geofence area is left, pretty easy. I use an aldi prepaid sim that is about $20 a year.

I agree with Duncan, it does look legit.

Some points from when I looked into it:

- 3G is being phased out in the next years. AFAIK 2024. So 4G is the way to go.

- You either provide your own sim or pay the company a monthly fee. The latter may be more expensive. It's not clear from the supercheap listing whether you can provide your own sim.

- Telstra network was a must for me for best coverage. I don't know where people take stolen cars, but if it is in the bush I'd like it to have reception. The cheapest I found is Boost mobile at $20 a month. A lot of money compared Duncan's Aldi plan so may not be worth it.

- Many companies are just reselling cheap chinese trackers with a sticker on them.

- Trackers that are powered by the car battery don't last long if the car battery is disconnected. I remember it being an hour or so.

- I bought a Mongoose asset tracker. This one is definitely just cheap chinese with a sticker. The app is shit, the website is shit and it is only 3G. But it does all it needs to do and works well enough. It makes me feel slightly sullied having paid them for it considering the amount of non-effort they have put into the product. So kind of would not recommend. But personally I like that it is standalone and not tied to the car battery.

[Duncan]

Nah, the cops were keen because it was any easy case to make....catch the guys red handed, have traceable evidence of where it was and where it was taken. Even so, the guy apparently didn't have any idea about how our trailer ended up beside his house with his trailer's plates on it

I think having a separate battery to the vehicle is 100% required because connecting the car battery is easy and obvious. And the one I posted up just communicates by SMS which is low tech but means you don't need any data on the sim, much easier

[The Bogan]

On 12/03/2022 at 8:57 AM, Duncan said:

Nah, the cops were keen because it was any easy case to make....catch the guys red handed, have traceable evidence of where it was and where it was taken. Even so, the guy apparently didn't have any idea about how our trailer ended up beside his house with his trailer's plates on it

I think having a separate battery to the vehicle is 100% required because connecting the car battery is easy and obvious. And the one I posted up just communicates by SMS which is low tech but means you don't need any data on the sim, much easier

I just contacted the "alarm guy" that SAUNSW put me onto a few years ago. (Is there any information you cannot get from SAU?????.....Nope)

They are the ones he recommends and so far every alarm he has ever installed has been issue free

He is a little more expensive than the SCA unit, but, installed so I won't set my car on fire

Not sure of brand name, and I'm not to fussed if he has cobbled it together himself, the tech isn't rocket science, well, it is to me......but all long at it has all the geeky bits, and works, and doesn't set the car on fire, I'm happy

4G network thingie

$35 a year for the sim thing

[soviet_merlin]

On 12/03/2022 at 11:07 AM, mlr said:

I just contacted the "alarm guy" that SAUNSW put me onto a few years ago. (Is there any information you cannot get from SAU?????.....Nope)

They are the ones he recommends and so far every alarm he has ever installed has been issue free

He is a little more expensive than the SCA unit, but, installed so I won't set my car on fire

Not sure of brand name, and I'm not to fussed if he has cobbled it together himself, the tech isn't rocket science, well, it is to me......but all long at it has all the geeky bits, and works, and doesn't set the car on fire, I'm happy

4G network thingie

$35 a year for the sim thing

Would you share the details of the man? Happy with a PM if it is not a post in public thing. I wouldn't mind getting a proper setup in the car. Thanks!

[nouveau_poor]

That's wild. Good that you caught them. And here I am in the states barely locking my doors in the small town I'm living in now. A bad habit I'll have to work on fixing