VIDEO: Car Thefts in Rye Up 60% – How the Scam Works & How to Stop It

(PHOTO: Security camera footage shows how gang operated car thefts operate in Rye.)

Once again, Rye PD is pleading with residents to please lock their cars. “I don’t know how to make it any more clear,” Lieutenant Mike Anfuso told MyRye.com.

The department has seen a sixty percent increase in stolen vehicles this year, including a rash of thefts since Thanksgiving. This week alone one car was stolen Tuesday night from Intervale Place and found crashed and totaled in Waterbury. A second car was stolen Thursday morning from Grace Church Street and recovered later in the afternoon in Bridgeport.

All 28 vehicles stolen from Rye this year were left unlocked with the keys inside. If for some strange reason you don’t care about protecting your personal property, perhaps some consideration to the safety of our police officers and the wasted time and money to manage this dangerous situation will give people pause. Lock your cars.

How the scam works – watch on video.

Lieutenant Anfuso told MyRye.com typically under age gangs (18 years old and younger) come down from various cities in Connecticut including Bridgeport, Waterbury, Hartford, New Haven, Stratford and Enfield. Two to three cars with 3-4 people in a car will enter a town like Rye. They stop, all exit their cars and shake car doors in the neighborhood.

Any car that is unlocked has valuables removed, and if the car starts – it is gone. The process takes less than three minutes. A security camera video, provided to MyRye.com from Rye PD, shows the scam in action.

It is imperative residents report any stolen vehicle immediately. There is a network of cameras with license plate reading technology across Rye, Westchester and police patrol cars. But the police need you to tell them a car is missing.

Watch the video – forward to minute 0:02:25 where you will see a car pull up and four people exit the car and start to shake car doors in the immediate vicinity.