How a 9-Year-Old boy found his dad's missing Porsche 911
Roger's1 son, Charlie, has one less iPad than he had yesterday; Roger has one less Porsche 911.
At around 3am on the 14th of March, the Dauber family became the latest victims of a viral high-value car theft video. The theft was simple, silent, and swift taking less than six minutes. The video, with 170,000 views and counting, is the opposite. It shows two masked thieves speeding away in Roger's £105,000 Porsche. Thief No.1 swerves, revs and stalls the vehicle through London suburbs. Thief No.2 videos everything. Music booms through the speakers as he pans the camera over to the passenger's seat. There's something that looks like a beige shoebox with wires coming out of it. It's a GPS jammer that's blocking anyone, including the family and the police, from tracking the vehicle.
The thieves have gone incognito, or so they think...
Underneath the passenger seat, hidden and on silent, is Charlie's forgotten iPad. Charlie remembers this the next morning when Dad is getting a cab to work, Mum has gone out to make some calls and he's been left with the nanny.
"Charlie, you little genius!", says his nanny as she frantically dives into her handbag, grabs her iPhone, and opens Find My Device.
Loading...loading...loading- - Bingo. There it is.
"Charlie's iPad-16 miles away, twenty-six minutes by car."
Charlie's nanny, a family friend, and a policeman wave goodbye to Charlie, who has been left with Grandma despite his pleading. The three drive to the iPad's location. It only takes thirty minutes until they arrive at an underground car park. There, they find the Porsche tucked between a black van and a Hyundai; it's unattended.
Speedily, the nanny and the family friend get into the car with the spare key and drive off. Roger's Porsche has some scrapes and cuts, as well as a gaping hole where the glovebox used to be, but it has been found and brought home.
The Porsche was retrieved thanks to a clever duo, Apple, and a nine-year-old boy. However, most incidents like this never get resolved and frankly, this find was a fluke.
High-value car theft is out of control - especially in London.
Out of the staggering 31,017 car thefts that happened in London in 2022, only 13% were solved2 by the Metropolitan Police. Just 1.6% of all solved cases led to a charge.
Out of the staggering 31,017 car thefts that happened in London in 2022, only 13% were solved2 by the Metropolitan Police. Just 1.6% of all solved cases led to a charge.
Yes, our client got their beloved Porsche back, but that video is on the internet forever and the mental damage has left its scar. It doesn't matter if you park in an underground car park, an NCP car park, or your own drive. If your car looks good, it's up for grabs.
However, car thefts like these can be prevented. The only way to do this is to be aware of how and why they happen. Let's run through how the thieves actually managed to grab the Porsche in the first place...
Mistake 1 - No one (or nothing) is watching.
It's 3am, and although thefts do happen during the day, 80% of all car crime occurs during the evening or at night3.; This is prime theft time. An easy fix for this is either to install CCTV or stand watching by your window throughout the night. Let's assume you ignore the latter and go with the former. You'll have the perpetrator's face on camera, but that's probably not going to be much help if half of their face is covered by a mask. CCTV is a start, but you need more.
Mistake 2 - Bait with no trap.
If a thief sees your car unattended at 3am, they'll think, "I'm in luck!". However, if they see your car with a steering lock on it, they'll probably just go for your neighbours. It's usually more of a bother than it's worth to stealthily saw through a steering lock.
Make your vehicle look as hassle prone as possible to dissuade criminals from choosing you as their next victim.
That includes getting bollards put across your drive or an electric gate. Even better, store your car in a locked garage. That way, no one can see how great your car looks and is.
Mistake 3 - It's too easy to start the car.
The two thieves jump into the Porsche. No alarm goes off because they're using a makeshift device that mimics the Porsche's key signal silently humming from the family home. (This can be stopped by storing your keys, and the spare, in a metal container or a Faraday bag). Within seconds, they're driving away. Why? Because it was too easy to get the ignition started.
Make it a nightmare for criminals to try to start your car.
High-value car owners get a secondary immobiliser installed. Whether that works by using your phone, a driver recognition device, or your car's buttons to enter a personally unique code, it's a brilliant must-have method of further securing your car.
Crimes like these keep happening. They're far more common than you might think, and they're steadily on the rise.
If you own a high-value car, like Roger, make sure that you've put your trust in the best insurance cover, and that you're actively securing it. If you've got an ounce of doubt that your vehicle is safe, you're not getting the right guidance.
1The names used have been altered to preserve our client's privacy.