Female car thieves on the loose

Beware: attractive female car thieves are on the loose.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) warned the public over the weekend against the new modus-operandi of a big car theft syndicate which employs women agents, posing as legitimate clients, in victimizing car companies involved in the car rental business.

Senior Superintendent Ramon Gatan, assistant director for intelligence of the PNP-Traffic Management Group, said the new syndicate has been shipping out stolen vehicles from Metro Manila to Davao and Cebu cities.

"Car thieves have found a way to steal cars without forcing their way into them. We are advising car dealers and rent-a-car companies to be more strict in their operations, because there is a syndicate taking advantage of the rent-a-car scheme," he said.

In Metro Manila, the TMG said Quezon City remains to be the car theft capital in the metropolis because of its wide area and the large concentration of business establishments in the city.

Gatan warned car owners that the prime targets of the car syndicates are vehicles parked along the Timog, Quezon and Kalayaan avenues and the Scout areas in Kamuning and Kamias, also in Quezon City. Earlier, the TMG reported that an average of seven cars are being stolen daily nationwide, five of them in Metro Manila.

Ten of the 23 car theft groups identified by the police have Quezon City as their central area of illegal operations.

The TMG also said the syndicate, victimizing car rental businesses, started its illegal operations in February but their operations were uncovered only last July when the TMG operatives started to recover stolen vehicles from Cebu and Davao.

Gatan added the gang is using female agents who pose as legitimate customers, and utilize spurious and fake documents in their operations.

"Our concern right now is the shipment of stolen vehicles from Metro Manila to the provinces, especially in Cebu and in Davao. We have just uncovered a syndicate that has been shipping stolen vehicles here in Metro Manila to Cebu," Gatan said.

The modus-operandi was uncovered by the police after the TMG recovered 15 stolen vehicles in the past three weeks. The traffic police investigators traced the stolen vehicles to four car rental companies, whose representatives revealed to the police about their problems.

"The victims of this syndicate are mostly rent-a-car firms and its scheme includes employing women agents in stealing vehicles. The women are used to rent cars from the companies using fictitious documents and identifications. After successfully renting the vehicles, they pass it on to the syndicate who will then ship the goods to Cebu," Gatan said.