Feb1

How I accidentally uncovered a car thief

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How I accidentally uncovered a car thief
This wasn’t the thief. Just a funny sight another day while driving.

My beloved little red piece of junk car that I’ve had since Hubby and I were dating, finally incurred a repair that cost more than the car is worth.

So, I looked at a carport’s worth of cars for sale on a variety of online platforms. We made a list of the possibilities, their pros and cons, narrowed it down, and I started contacting owners.

“Chuck,” texted to meet near a gas station. It was a decent car, fair price, very clean.

“Why are you selling it?” I asked.

“My wife is pregnant with our third, so we want a bigger car,” he said, while scratching his face with a non-ring-bearing hand.

Doesn’t necessarily mean anything, I thought.

“What happened to the door?” I asked. There was a smallish square hole at the top.

“Someone tried to break in,” he said.

“Huh,” I replied. I checked the passenger door. There was similar, though smaller damage, and the up/down door lock thingy was completely missing.

“Well, we don’t plan to make a decision on the spot,” I told him. “We have other cars to look at still.”

“Okay, no problem,” he said and drove off.

I contacted, “Mike,” the owner of the next car on our list, through OfferUp, not text, and asked where and when we could meet. He didn’t respond for a while, but when he did, he gave…

the exact same address where we’d been for the first car.

“You’re kidding!” I said. “We were just there a bit ago to look at another car.” Here I’m thinking it’s just a convenient place to for car sellers in the area to meet.

I still needed to know when. He didn’t respond. I gave him time. He wasn’t a quick responder. It happens. Neither was the first person, really.

Hmmm…

“Are you the same guy?” I asked.

No response.

Now I started to allocate more brain power to this wild coincidence. I pulled up both listings and put them side by side.

The pictures were of the same style, taken from the same angles, careful to just miss including the license plates.

One lists the make, model, year first. The other gives other info, then, “She’s a,” etc. One uses emojis, one doesn’t. They’re on different selling platforms. Maybe one allows emojis, and the other doesn’t?

But they both include a laundry list of attributes, sometimes with a space after the comma, sometimes without. They both ended with, “For more info mgs me.” Same weird abbreviation for message. But even better, both misspell title as “tittle.”

Someone tried to break in indeed. And succeeded.

Funny thing was, as we drove away from that first car, unimpressed, I remarked to Hubby, he should have taken pictures of the damage and been upfront about that in the listing.

I looked up the non-emergency number for the police. “I think I uncovered a car thief,” I told dispatch and gave him the whole story. He took my info. A half hour later, a deputy called me, and I relayed the story again.

“First of all,” he said, “Nice detective work. Way to notice those details.”

“This is very common,” he went on to say. “It’s probably part of an extensive chop-shop car theft ring.”

He mentioned “Hot Sheets” and “10851s.” I took feverish notes in case I need this for a novel some day. I learned thieves can get fake titles on the dark web and about “cold plate vehicles,” where the plates are run but come back clean, though fake.

He let me know that citizens can request a “preserve the peace,” meaning they can ask for an officer to accompany them when going to buy something from an online seller.

Wow. Who knew?

The deputy gave me his work cell number, and I sent him both listings. Though he didn’t ask, I also sent a description of the seller, and, in case it somehow matters, mentioned that the car’s key ring had a small brown plastic beer bottle, unlabeled, hanging from it.

You never know.

The police have a spreadsheet for stolen cars and would cross-reference the info. He would also cruise around the area of the meet-up, looking for the cars. I would be included in the police report, so that I’d be informed if the cars were found and the guy caught.

Here’s hoping.

Moral of the story: If you’re a criminal, do not communicate through writing with an editor, or you may get caught.

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61 responses »

  7. Fascinating! Who knew about the “preserve the peace” offering? I approve that use of my tax dollars, your honor. You must be really good at those “spot the differences” illustrations (and Where’s Waldo puzzles). This blog topic prompts another one, if you so choose – the end-to-end process on how to buy a used car in 2025, esp. the online shopping aspect. I’d have no clue on where to begin. My first (and old-fashioned) instinct is to simply drive over to my local commercially-operated used car lot, where I’m sure to pay a lot more that you would have. Keep us posted on your efforts to replace “Little Red”.

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  8. Wowza…it was that first clue…the “non-ring bearing hand” that really got your instincts revved, huh? Can we call you a Detective now…as others have mentioned…super sleuth, private investigator? 🥰😜🥰

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  10. That is both pretty funny and impressive! Your already-impressive skills aren’t just catching typos, they’re also catching criminals too! Secret Agent Betsy to the rescue!

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  12. What an exciting story, Betsy! Amazing sleuthing and love you eye for detail. It was also interesting to learn that police can help you with meeting up with online sellers. So much crime and fraud happening these days and I’m glad you didn’t fall prey to the crime!

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  14. Great job protecting the rest of us from the bad guys! I once tried to sell a car privately, but just about everyone who contacted me gave off very creepy vibes. Now, I would only sell through a service like Car Max or to a friend. I wouldn’t buy from a private party either. Isn’t it sad how bad people ruin it for us all. I didn’t know about “preserve the peace” either. I wonder if it’s available down this way? My brother is ex-PD so Imma gonna ask him.

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    • I would imagine the preserve the peace thing would at least be countywide, so I’m sure you’re good. I wonder why that isn’t better known. How do people find out about that?! Other than, you know, calling the cops on a car thief.

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  15. Ooh, through the comments section, I learn your name is Betsy. I like it. May I have permission to call you by your name?

    And how exciting is your life! Who gets themselves wrapped up in an organized car theft operation – you do! Nice deduction work. Comparing the two ads for similarities was smart. Love the dog at the top. 🙂

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    • So funny that you say this, “Maddie,” cough Linda. 😉 I was telling Hubby yesterday, “Uh-oh. Too many people know my real name. I may need to say something about trying to ween themselves off the old name to “preserve the illusion,” as they say in the theater biz. So, I’ll forget Linda, if you forget Betsy. Deal? 😛 You are way way better at spreading your pseudonym than I am, but I would like to do better for anonymity’s sake once the book comes out. We’ll let Betsy be our little secret. 😉 You can call me that on your blog, though. Hopefully that’s far enough removed? I was recently at a class where the professor said, “If someone wants to find out an author’s real name badly enough, they can.” That made me gulp a little.

      Anyway, as to the subject of this post, I guess every girl needs a little excitement in her life every now and again, eh? 🙂

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      • 100% understand. That’s why I asked. I didn’t mind outing myself, but I don’t want people calling me Linda. It’s actually jarring to see it online after going by Maddie for so many years. You are now forever Ilsa Rey to me. 🙂

        I’ve always known if people wanted to dig behind my name, they could. I know – gulp. But for most authors, real name or not, it’s not a problem.

        Oh … and your life is an adventure!

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    • Ok, this is weird, but I’ve written two long responses using both my ipad and desktop and both times, it says that my comment can’t be posted. But then my one word response posts? Let’s see what happens with this one.

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      • Ok, I’ll try again………….

        I’m surprised that the cops gave you any information and rather shocked that he said he’d follow up with you. People I’ve known who’ve had stolen cars are never given any details like that. Even if the car is found, police are tight-lipped. Maybe there’s concern of retaliation? Also, I didn’t realize criminals tried to even sell cars they’ve stolen. Don’t they usually just strip the car and abandon it? That’s what happens around here.

        Dumb criminal to not recognize your phone number the second time around! LOL!

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      • First of all, sorry for the comment chaos. Sorta like how I simply cannot log in at your blog when I comment. These platforms really ought to learn to play nicer with each other. Two, I don’t know if it’s different because it wasn’t my car stolen? Though, in truth, I doubt I’ll hear anything back. It will be a pleasant surprise if, like he said, I’ll find out because my name is on the police report. I guess we’ll see, but I’m skeptical. I sure would like to know if the guy is caught, though. Third, not TOO dumb. For one, it was through text; for the other, it was through the OfferUp messaging platform. Once he went radio silent after I mentioned it was the same location I’d just been to see a car, that was another clue that he was shady (though not at all slim).

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  18. This is exciting and makes me wonder how long it’s gonna be until you had PI to your list of accomplishments. Didn’t know: The police have a spreadsheet for stolen cars and would cross-reference the info. Makes sense, though.

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