At a parking lot (illustrative photo)

At these parking lots, there are security guards and forces on duty, but if the parking attendants or security guards are careless, subjective, or negligent, bad guys can steal vehicles at any time by "swapping license plates".

According to the professional forces of the Provincial Police and Hue City Police, the trick of "swapping license plates" of the subjects is not new, but it is a difficult problem if the parking lots and points do not perform their functions and tasks well. Therefore, security forces and people in charge of parking need to be aware and vigilant to avoid losing their vehicles.

Analysis by the professional forces of the Provincial Police and Hue City Police shows that the reason why the subjects choose public parking lots and locations such as: Markets, apartments, supermarkets, shopping centers, hospitals... is because these places have a large number of vehicles, and many people coming and going, making it difficult to control, to commit the act of "swapping license plates" to steal motorbikes and motorbikes.

To carry out their actions, after careful research, the subjects drove old motorbikes to parking lots to get tickets, then observed and selected motorbikes with high value, parked them next to the ones they wanted to take, and then took advantage of the fact that they were out of sight and no one was paying attention, to quickly swap license plates.

The subjects swapped the license plates by using double-sided tape to take the license plate of the parked vehicle and attach it to the license plate of the vehicle they intended to steal, then left the uglier vehicle in the parking lot. For vehicles without license plates, the subjects could easily attach another temporary license plate and leisurely bypass the ticket checking guard and leave the parking lot.

It can be seen that the subjects often go in groups of two or more people, wearing helmets and masks, and before committing the act, they often wander around, calculating their escape route if they are discovered or chased.

The subjects also use some other tricks to steal motorbikes from people. That is, taking the wrong vehicle, losing the parking ticket. Specifically, the subjects go to the parking lot, chat with the person who is looking after the vehicle to make an impression. Then, they deliberately choose a location to park the vehicle next to a vehicle that is similar to their own, then break the lock and take that vehicle.

If the parking attendant notices, the subjects will tactfully apologize for “taking the wrong car”. If successful, they will let their accomplices take all the documents of the parked car and claim the ticket is lost.

Another trick is to make fake tickets. The subjects pretend to be customers parking their vehicles to get samples of tickets from parking locations. With carelessly made, simple tickets, it is very easy for the subjects to fake them. After having the fake tickets, the subjects choose cars without locks or locks that are easy to open to give the fake tickets and then take the cars...

Another trick is that the subjects intentionally write additional numbers on the ticket or on the body of the vehicle. Even though parking lots carefully write the license plate number on the ticket and the body of the vehicle, the subjects also try to change the number written on the ticket or the number marked on the body of the vehicle to get into the parking lot and take the vehicle out.

These subjects often appear at crowded parking lots or when people are in a hurry, pretending to be parking attendants, picking up customers right outside the parking lot door. They ask the car owners not to lock their necks and then give them fake tickets. When the car owners turn away, they pretend to drive the car into the parking lot, but in reality, when the car owners are out of sight, they will take it...

Although the situation of motorbike theft in the province is not as urgent as in other provinces and cities in the country, the trick of "swapping license plates" to steal motorbikes at parking lots and points also needs to be paid special attention by people, especially security forces and motorbike parkers.

In order to prevent, stop and minimize motorbike thefts at parking lots, police units and localities throughout the province recommend: For those who keep vehicles, please note that the parking lot should have two entrances, one to receive and one to return vehicles separately, to avoid confusion in and out of the same door.

Parking tickets also need to be made carefully, not too simple, easy to erase, easy to crumple for subjects to take advantage of to steal vehicles. Collective parking points should be stamped, have the signature and photo of the parking attendant, then be pressed firmly. Limit the use of parking tickets made of perforated aluminum or mica.

When handing over a vehicle to a customer, the parking attendant must carefully observe and compare the number on the vehicle with the ticket. If there is anything unusual, check the identification and other documents. Do not accept more vehicles if the parking lot is full or issue more tickets when the tickets are sold out because it is easy for bad guys to take advantage of this.

Parking lots should be secretly marked on the parking ticket so that outsiders will not be able to detect them, only the parking attendants will know; equip surveillance cameras in many different angles and areas so that subjects do not dare to steal vehicles; arrange forces to regularly patrol and detect suspicious subjects, loitering in the parking lot to have a plan to handle and prevent them promptly.

For customers who park their vehicles at parking lots, they need to raise awareness of self-management and protection of their own property. When leaving the vehicle, they need to check and ensure that the engine is turned off and the keys are taken out; coordinate with forces to prevent, combat and handle incidents of vehicle theft at parking lots.

Article and photos: Tam Anh