Felons find new ways to steal cars

MANILA, Philippines — Car theft syndicates have found more sophisticated ways of stealing cars than using brute force as the public has grown alert to carjacking and police have greater visibility, police said Friday.

The head of the Highway Patrol Group noted that some syndicates have done away with the use of guns to kill or force car owners to give up their vehicles.

“There’s no more gun-toting or killing. The carjackers are now using financing-related gimmicks. They are now upgrading their methods,” said HPG director Chief Superintendent Arrazad Subong.

Subong was at the Quezon City Police District headquarters on Friday to launch a 45-day motorcyle riders’ course for policemen. The training includes defensive driving techniques for policemen who use big motorcycle in their work.

Subong said that one new car theft method involves renting vehicles and never returning them to the owners. The vehicles are then resold.

Another way is to purchase new cars through financing schemes by using fake documents, Subong said.

The “buyer” would submit spurious papers, which are sometimes not verified by agents eager to make a sale. The buyer would pay the initial monthly installments and then stop.  Subong explained that since license plates are sometimes often late, the cars would be resold.

Police have looked into the new cases of car theft and noticed that the perpetrators belong to groups implicated in past carjacking cases.

“There are variations but if you would look at the background, they come from the same groups,” Subong added.