Land cruiser broken into but left no signs

sellasheep

Hope this is the right place. My fathers 09 Toyota Land cruiser was broken into today at 2pm in an Aldi car park. He had just withdrew a sum of 4,500 cash from the credit union, stupidly counted the money in a nearby car park and then drove to Aldi. He locked his wallet into the glove compartment and then locked the jeep with the key as fob battery gone. He spent 15 minutes in the store. When he returned to the jeep, he opened it to discover the lock smashed on the compartment, wallet open and cash gone.

None of the doors or windows of the jeep were forced or broken. It was left as it was prior to when he entered Aldi - perfect.

Can anybody explain as to what happened. Two young gardai attended the scene and couldn't offer any insight into this.

What it a professional pick lock? I probably sound very sheltered but would just like some insight. We assume he was watched and followed.

My father was silly but you learn the hard way.

he prob left it unlocked by mistake

sellasheep

BrownFinger wrote: »

he prob left it unlocked by mistake

No he most definitely didn't!

sellasheep

sellasheep wrote: »

No he most definitely didn't!

they must have used a magic spell so

dazza161989

Sounds unlocked to me also

bazz26

Does your father withdraw large sums of money occasionally i.e. in conjunction with his work or business? It's very possible that they have been watching him and his routine well before they struck today.

BrownFinger

BrownFinger wrote: »

he prob left it unlocked by mistake

Listen to what your saying,
the smashed open the glove compartment lock but took the time to pick the door?
makes no sense.
Not that it matters.
they knew the money was there if it was locked they would have busted in the window.

TOss Sweep

Were the doors locked when he came back out or opened?

BorneTobyWilde

Who knew money was there.
Who works in credit union
Was there a tip off
Seems so random that they knew where it was, in the glovebox
Inside job

sellasheep

bazz26 wrote: »

Does your father withdraw large sums of money occasionally i.e. in conjunction with his work or business? It's very possible that they have been watching him and his routine well before they struck today.

Yes, it's quite common for him and we believe he was indeed under surveillance.

mayota

The thief may have opened the passenger door just before your dad locked with the key.

sellasheep

TOss Sweep wrote: »

Were the doors locked when he came back out or opened?

The doors were locked when he returned.

sellasheep

mayota wrote: »

The thief may have opened the passenger door just before your dad locked with the key.

Ah, this.

BorneTobyWilde

Must be a thick wallet to hold 4.5 k in cash
Even in 50 euro notes that a thick bundle

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

There is one particular scam gets pulled in supermarket/shopping centre car parks. It runs like this:

Thief watches as victim parks.

Just as they get out, thief opens the back passengers door a chink.

Central locking then clicks, but naturally doesn't lock.

Thief waits a moment, enters through the open door, closes it on exit. No signs of forced entry, because there was none.

sellasheep

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

Must be a thick wallet to hold 4.5 k in cash
Even in 50 euro notes that a thick bundle

It's an old handmade wallet that was gifted to him, therefore quite large and distinctive.

wait you never said it was locked when he came back.

Is it possible the wallet has falling inside the dash somehow?

TOss Sweep

sellasheep wrote: »

The doors were locked when he returned.

That is odd that a thief would even go to the bother of re-locking the door after they are done. Whether they picked the lock or used a coat hanger method surely there would be signs of even these methods. Is there is even a lock pick out there designed to break into cars that quickly? I know you can get them foor house door locks but for cars?

Atlantic Dawn

I'd say either as said they opened the passenger door or boot as he was exiting before the fob locked it. The other possibility is they cut the wiring loom on one of the doors with a hacksaw blade to gain access, this was possible on previous model, not sure if 09 is different, you should check that cables on all doors are intact.

sellasheep

BrownFinger wrote: »

wait you never said it was locked when he came back.

Is it possible the wallet has falling inside the dash somehow?

I meant to include that. No, it was locked into the compartment.

TOss Sweep

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy wrote: »

There is one particular scam gets pulled in supermarket/shopping centre car parks. It runs like this:

Thief watches as victim parks.

Just as they get out, thief opens the back passengers door a chink.

Central locking then clicks, but naturally doesn't lock.

Thief waits a moment, enters through the open door, closes it on exit. No signs of forced entry, because there was none.

This definitely would make sense in this situation for sure. Never thought of this method.

kirving

Will the car 'double lock' if you use the key?

In my car, if I press the key fob twice it will double lock and prevent the door being opened from the inside. If I only press it once, it will double lock after 30 seconds.

I once locked the keys in my parents Ford Escort while we were away. Lock smith would have been very expensive so my dad asked the local Garda station. They called some local fella who was probably 'known' to them, and he had the door bent and a wire around the handle in 30 seconds. Opened no bother. Bent it back a bit afterwards and zero trace left.

bazz26

sellasheep wrote: »

Yes, it's quite common for him and we believe he was indeed under surveillance.

Then that might explain it. They knew what type of car to break into well in advance so had the knowhow before doing it. It's very possible they were able to replicate the remote key fob's signal code to fool the car into opening the door.

BorneTobyWilde

How would he know all doors were locked
He would of clicked fob to open drivers door and got in
How would he know other doors were locked

sellasheep

sellasheep wrote: »

I meant to include that. No, it was locked into the compartment.

Oh yea,
I forgot the lock was broken open.
Check the door loom as said about.

cup of tea

My Toyota Corolla was broken into 3 times with no sign of entry outside my front door. The first time I convinced myself that I must have left it open by mistake. Couldn't figure out how it was happening as after the first time I was ultra careful with locking the car and double and triple checking. Third time I decided I'd call the guards. One of them was able to tell me that it was a foiled down Toyota key that was being used and they were able to open any Corolla below a certain year (think it was below 2008 IIRC) at will.

Decided I'd call to the door of 2 neighbors who had similar cars just to warn them, turns out their Toyota's had also been broken into the same way. I don't know if this us specifically a Corolla issue or a Toyota wide issue.

Atlantic Dawn

cup of tea wrote: »

My Toyota Corolla was broken into 3 times with no sign of entry outside my front door. The first time I convinced myself that I must have left it open by mistake. Couldn't figure out how it was happening as after the first time I was ultra careful with locking the car and double and triple checking. Third time I decided I'd call the guards. One of them was able to tell me that it was a foiled down Toyota key that was being used and they were able to open any Corolla below a certain year (think it was below 2008 IIRC) at will.

Decided I'd call to the door of 2 neighbors who had similar cars just to warn them, turns out their Toyota's had also been broken into the same way. I don't know if this us specifically a Corolla issue or a Toyota wide issue.

The double locking is good to prevent this, it won't even open with the correct key, has to be the button on the fob.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

brightspark

Apparently the doors are easily opened!

They could have driven it away too.

http://www.driving.co.uk/news/no-car-is-safe-how-hi-tech-thieves-are-defeating-sophisticated-security-systems/

sellasheep

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

How would he know all doors were locked
He would of clicked fob to open drivers door and got in
How would he know other doors were locked

He didn't use the fob as the battery is dead. He locked and unlocked it with a key. I don't see how they could replicate the signal that way.

easygoing39

bazz26 wrote: »

They knew what type of car to break into well in advance so had the knowhow before doing it. It's very possible they were able to replicate the remote key fob's signal code to fool the car into opening the door.

The jeep was'nt locked using the keyfob.

TherapyBoy

sellasheep wrote: »

He didn't use the fob as the battery is dead. He locked and unlocked it with a key. I don't see how they could replicate the signal that way.

When he returned to the car he unlocked it with the key to get in before he noticed the damage to the glovebox or any other sign of the robbery. If he unlocked the car himself how could he know that all doors were still locked before he unlocked them.

Del2005

BrownFinger wrote: »

he prob left it unlocked by mistake

Sometimes they open the rear door so that the car won't lock, then they can work away once the owner has left.

easygoing39

The fact that the thief smashed the lock on the glovebox tells us that they are'nt highly sophisticated.I don't think they used electronic means to open the jeeps door.I'd guess a slim jim or as suggested above,a filed down key of some sort.
The movements/actions of the owner regarding money withdrawal were noted in the past,so the thief knew what vehicle they would have to deal with.If it was parked in a less public spot I'd guess they'd have just broken the window to gain access.

Joeseph Balls

cup of tea wrote: »

My Toyota Corolla was broken into 3 times with no sign of entry outside my front door. The first time I convinced myself that I must have left it open by mistake. Couldn't figure out how it was happening as after the first time I was ultra careful with locking the car and double and triple checking. Third time I decided I'd call the guards. One of them was able to tell me that it was a foiled down Toyota key that was being used and they were able to open any Corolla below a certain year (think it was below 2008 IIRC) at will.

Decided I'd call to the door of 2 neighbors who had similar cars just to warn them, turns out their Toyota's had also been broken into the same way. I don't know if this us specifically a Corolla issue or a Toyota wide issue.

A local woman locked her keys into her 06 skoda, my worn VW key from a 03 bora opened it old locks get very worn and similar keys will do it sometimes I suppose

josip

sellasheep wrote: »

... He had just withdrew a sum of 4,500 cash from the credit union, stupidly counted the money in a nearby car park...

Why did your father not count the money at the credit union counter?
Regardless of the theft, if he had discovered a discrepancy, would his claim have been entertained since he'd left the premises?