Criminals are getting craftier these days and while many of them aren’t very smart, there are a few clever ones who are pioneering new ways to target you. One of the latest schemes we’ve seen is carjackers using Facebook Marketplace to lure victims to where they’ll be vulnerable.
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The Irvine Police Department in Southern California has sounded the alarm on this problem, warning residents that a “sophisticated auto theft ring” is focusing on people who speak Spanish in the area. Those thieves are using Facebook to advertise jobs with huge promised payouts, like $12,000 for running cash from one location to another.
Someone looking to transport a large quantity of money and is willing to pay a driver $12,000 for the service is either running a scam or is getting you to participate in a crime. Either way, we wouldn’t touch anything like this with a ten foot pole. We watched that episode of Better Call Saul and things didn’t turn out so great, did they? But people are falling for it.
Those dumb enough to respond have been lured to Irvine where they’re immediately carjacked at gunpoint or threatened with severe violence. Police say many of the vehicles taken this way have been driven to Mexico, which really isn’t shocking.
As police say, if something sounds too good to be true it likely is. Pretty much everyone is feeling the pinch these days and thieves know that, so they’re using your financial desperation against you. Don’t fall for these schemes or you could end up losing big time.
Carjackers and car thieves in general are getting increasingly aggressive, so you need to be more on guard than ever. It’s not paranoid to be aware of your surrounds at all times, use dashcams, have a GPS tracker on your vehicle, and take other precautions.
Image via Irvine Police Department
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