Story:
‘Warning From Police’
This Applies To Both Women and Men
Beware Of Paper On The Back Window Of Your Vehicle–New Way To Do Carjackings (Not A Joke)
Heads up everyone! Please, keep this circulating . . .
You walk across the parking lot, unlock your car and get inside. You start the engine and shift into Reverse. When you look into the rear view mirror to back out of your parking space, you notice a piece of paper stuck to the middle of the rear window. So, you shift into Park, unlock your doors, and jump out of your car to remove that paper (or whatever it is) that is obstructing your view. When you reach the back of your car, that is when the carjackers appear out of nowhere, jump into your car and take off.
They practically mow you down as they speed off in your car. And guess what, ladies? I bet your purse is still in the car. So now the carjacker has your car, your home address, your money, and your keys. Your home and your whole identity are now compromised! Beware of this new scheme that is now being used.
If you see a piece of paper stuck to your back window, just drive away. Remove the paper later. And be thankful that you read this e-mail. I hope you will forward this to friends and family, especially to women. A purse contains all kinds of personal information and identification documents, and you certainly do NOT want this to fall into the wrong hands.
Please keep this going and tell all your friends.
Analysis:
The message claims that carjackers steal your car while you are leaving from a parking lot, by diverting your attention on to a paper stuck on the back of your car. This message is not from Police and cannot be a fact.
Carjackers and thieves seek various ways to divert the attention of car owners and run away with the car, but there are no particular reports of this kind of thefts. One or more incidents like that might have happened somewhere, but there are no such chain incidents reported that makes this warning alarming. Had anything of this sort happened, it would have definitely made into news.
Thieves and Carjackers generally try to steal unattended cars from busy and unsafe places like gas stations, road junctions, ATMs, freeways, etc. They can even go a step forward and steal a car while the owner is inside and has stopped for a while, by threatening him with deadly weapons like a knife, gun or something; but to stick a paper on back of a car in a public parking lot, wait for the owner to return, and to start and stop his car is a risky trick no clever thief will employ. Moreover, cars in a parking lot will generally be parked in such a way that their back part will remain outside, clearly visible to the owner while he returns to his car, who can easily remove the paper stuck on the back. Also, most cars of today do not have wipers or something at the back to stick the papers as mentioned in the message.
These viral messages have been circulating since 2004, in several variants, through emails and social networking websites, but there is no such serious threat for car users. Having said that, car owners must be careful and wary of carjackers in public and unsafe places, especially when they have important documents inside their unattended car. Mentioned below in the reference section are some important safety tips to prevent carjacking.
Hoax or Fact:
Hoax.
0 Comments