Do you have a high-end car? Do you know that in recent times the trend of luxury car theft has risen? How is it possible that in the era of electronic keys and GPS can a car be stolen and disappear within seconds before the eyes of the authorities without a trace? How is the modus operandi of the perpetrators of these robberies?
Indeed, everything points out that lately there has been an increase in the theft of high-end cars, also known as luxury cars. It seems that the brands are no longer very important: Mercedes Benz, Audi, BMW, Nissan, everything will depend on market demand.
In many cases it is not a simple street robbery, no threats or robberies in the parking lots of the shopping malls, they do not take advantage of the fact that you left the keys in the car while you went down to refuel or to have a coffee.
The theft of luxury cars has become a real art, an action that can take place within few seconds. The centralized locks, electronic keys, alarms and GPS are no longer an obstacle to the stealing or a security for the owner. It is no longer necessary to break a glass and expose yourself to a police pursuit throughout the city.
The thieves, with high knowledge of electronics and state-of-the-art sophisticated devices, are able, in less than a minute, to obtain the codes of the centralized locks, cancel the alarm systems, connect to the OBD (On Board Diagnostic) socket of the vehicle to obtain the start codes, and using a blank key they manage to start the car and inhibit the GSM signal so as not to be detected by the GPS.
When robberies occur in European countries, as there are no borders between the countries of the European Union, it is easy for thieves to travel by road and move from one country to another. Otherwise, the cars are cut and transported by trucks or sent by sea to another country. In many occasions, the most luxurious cars end up in countries like Qatar or Dubai, where they are acquired almost twice their value in Europe.
But how is it possible for buyers to decide to buy these cars without papers in other countries?
For stolen cars, new documents are obtained in less than 72 hours, therefore, most of the times those who buy these cars cannot even imagine that they were the product of a theft.
What sanctions are imposed on those people who commit the crime of luxury car thefts?
Sanctions may vary depending on the country in which the crime is committed. Usually the sanctions of these events are between 10 and 20 years of imprisonment. Within these sanctions will also be included those people who dedicate to modify or reproduce the documentation of these cars knowing their illegal origin; as well as those who are responsible for transporting them (whole or by pieces) and those who alter or modify the documents that prove the ownership of these vehicles.
If there is an aggravation of physical aggression to those who report the theft of the vehicle, the penalty may be extended up to 30 years of deprivation of liberty.
And for those people who buy stolen cars, will there be any sanctions?
Although it depends a lot on the country where the event occurs, in almost every country in the world, buying stolen items is a crime, regardless of the type of objects involved or the fact that the person who has acquired this property does not know its illicit origin.
This issue is delicate, because although there is a mitigating factor that the person who acquired the car, did it "in good faith" and received from the seller all the properties by legal means, now an electronic certification can be obtained that proves that the vehicle is not found in a database of stolen cars, and the buyer must verify this before purchasing the car.
Therefore, the buyer of the car, conscious or not of the origin of the vehicle, besides being affected by the confiscation of the same and its return to the original owner; can also be sanctioned with a fine for receiving illicit items and is also exposed to a penalty of deprivation of liberty, depending on the circumstances in which the act occurred.
Anyway, in those cases in which it is detected that a vehicle has been stolen, it will always begin an investigation that will show as a result if the buyer is really involved or not in the crime and what degree of awareness he has about the origin of the vehicle.