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POLICE have warned residents of Dar es Salaam and elsewhere across the country to be vigilant against a new car theft style in which perpetrators pose as prospective buyers
The main targets are expensive second-hand motors being sold by individuals or advertised in online websites, social media or newspapers. The apparent thieves masquerade as buyers, and ask to inspect a targeted vehicle and take it for a test drive. On returning from the test drive, and in the presence of the car owner, the ‘buyer’ swaps the original ignition key with an identical fake.
The car owner is then asked to wait for the sale to be concluded in a building nearby where the car has been parked, and that's when the thieves return clandestinely and pull off the virtually daylight robbery using the original key while the victim is left with the fake look-alike.
The trick was used to devastating effect in Dar es Salaam last week, enabling a group of ‘key-swap scammers’ to make away with a Volkswagen Touareg sports utility vehicle (SUV) in an incident that spread through social media and confirmed by senior police officers in the city.
The Kinondoni regional police commander, Christopher Fuime, told The Guardian yesterday that investigations were underway to determine how the scammers managed to pull it off so smoothly.
“We have a special police department that deals with such cases,” Fuime explained, while cautioning other car owners in the city to be extra-vigilant and not allow themselves to be similarly taken for a ride.
The Commander of the Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone, Simon Sirro, also warned car owners in the city to be more careful and avoid giving prospective car buyers, washers and mechanics unsupervised access to their car keys since some appear to have direct links with the robbers.
Recent statistics show that Dar es Salaam has become a favoured hunting ground for car thieves with many of the stolen vehicles either ending up in neighbouring countries or being comprehensively dismantled and the spare parts sold in upcountry regions such as Arusha, Mbeya, Dodoma, Shinyanga, Mwanza, Singida, Kagera and Geita.
But according to Sirro, the police have succeeded in reducing car thefts in the city with “very few incidents (having) occurred in recent months.”
He said Dar es Salaam police recently smashed an international car theft syndicate in the city by arresting the ring leader, a Somali national, as part of a major operation against car robberies in which more than 70 vehicles stolen from the city and sold in upcountry regions were also recovered.
A survey by The Guardian has shown that most of the reported vehicle thefts in the city occurred in shopping mall and hotel parking lots, as well as people's residences.
The new scam where thieves perform a carbon-copy key change only to come back later in the day to steal the car has caught many vehicle owners in the country unawares.
OTHER CAR MODELS ALSO BEING TARGETED
Apart from expensive luxury cars, the thieves also targeted other ordinary vehicles, according to Kinondoni RPC Fuime.
He cited the Toyota Noah, a popular minivan vehicle for both private and commercial use, as one of the most frequently stolen car models in his particular area of jurisdiction.
"Saloon cars and Mitsubishi Canter trucks are also widely targeted," Fuime said.
Although the key-swap scam is said to be quite common in developed countries, it is relatively new to Tanzania, thanks to a steady influx of posh cars in recent years as the country’s middle-class continues to expand.
It is believed that the syndicate usually involves four or more colluders, one of whom poses as the main buyer while others masquerade as accompanying lawyers or mechanics (advisors), and the rest (usually one or two people) do the actual stealing.
More often than not, the stolen car is then stripped and ends up as a source of supply for the country’s unregulated multi-billion shilling business of used motor vehicle car parts.
Police say they have now exposed the ploy and have cautioned car owners to keep a close watchful eye on their car ignition keys to avoid becoming a victim of the scam.
The car owner is then asked to wait for the sale to be concluded in a building nearby where the car has been parked, and that's when the thieves return clandestinely and pull off the virtually daylight robbery using the original key while the victim is left with the fake look-alike.
The trick was used to devastating effect in Dar es Salaam last week, enabling a group of ‘key-swap scammers’ to make away with a Volkswagen Touareg sports utility vehicle (SUV) in an incident that spread through social media and confirmed by senior police officers in the city.
The Kinondoni regional police commander, Christopher Fuime, told The Guardian yesterday that investigations were underway to determine how the scammers managed to pull it off so smoothly.
“We have a special police department that deals with such cases,” Fuime explained, while cautioning other car owners in the city to be extra-vigilant and not allow themselves to be similarly taken for a ride.
The Commander of the Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone, Simon Sirro, also warned car owners in the city to be more careful and avoid giving prospective car buyers, washers and mechanics unsupervised access to their car keys since some appear to have direct links with the robbers.
Recent statistics show that Dar es Salaam has become a favoured hunting ground for car thieves with many of the stolen vehicles either ending up in neighbouring countries or being comprehensively dismantled and the spare parts sold in upcountry regions such as Arusha, Mbeya, Dodoma, Shinyanga, Mwanza, Singida, Kagera and Geita.
But according to Sirro, the police have succeeded in reducing car thefts in the city with “very few incidents (having) occurred in recent months.”
He said Dar es Salaam police recently smashed an international car theft syndicate in the city by arresting the ring leader, a Somali national, as part of a major operation against car robberies in which more than 70 vehicles stolen from the city and sold in upcountry regions were also recovered.
A survey by The Guardian has shown that most of the reported vehicle thefts in the city occurred in shopping mall and hotel parking lots, as well as people's residences.
The new scam where thieves perform a carbon-copy key change only to come back later in the day to steal the car has caught many vehicle owners in the country unawares.
OTHER CAR MODELS ALSO BEING TARGETED
Apart from expensive luxury cars, the thieves also targeted other ordinary vehicles, according to Kinondoni RPC Fuime.
He cited the Toyota Noah, a popular minivan vehicle for both private and commercial use, as one of the most frequently stolen car models in his particular area of jurisdiction.
"Saloon cars and Mitsubishi Canter trucks are also widely targeted," Fuime said.
Although the key-swap scam is said to be quite common in developed countries, it is relatively new to Tanzania, thanks to a steady influx of posh cars in recent years as the country’s middle-class continues to expand.
It is believed that the syndicate usually involves four or more colluders, one of whom poses as the main buyer while others masquerade as accompanying lawyers or mechanics (advisors), and the rest (usually one or two people) do the actual stealing.
More often than not, the stolen car is then stripped and ends up as a source of supply for the country’s unregulated multi-billion shilling business of used motor vehicle car parts.
Police say they have now exposed the ploy and have cautioned car owners to keep a close watchful eye on their car ignition keys to avoid becoming a victim of the scam.
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