Wildguzzi.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Tom on November 30, 2021, 12:49:00 PM
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I did not know the $ numbers involved. :tongue:
https://thehustle.co/why-thieves-love-to-steal-catalytic-converters/?utm_source=GetTheElevatordotcom
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Reminds me of a few years back, when the prices of scrap metal were very high, and thieves would rip open vacant houses and buildings to steal copper wiring. I was working out at Ft. Dix around that time and the ranges were relatively open then. There are hulks of old APCs and other vehicles that serve as targets on mortar/grenade/machinegun ranges. We were going out to one such place to set up our stuff we were working on one morning and there's a couple of seedy characters trying to push out a stuck pickup truck with a bunch of metal in the back. Including dud 40mm grenade rounds :shocked:
Not the brightest guys, and plainly not ex-military. We called the DoD coppers who came along with the MPs and NJSP, after we advised these geniuses to leave their stuff lest the 40mm rounds decide to become ert all of a sudden when jostled around. Just such a thing had happened a few weeks earlier with a 60mm mortar dud that a reservist had picked up to show his goombahs. They and him were wowed into the next life.
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SOP in Mexico. If you take your car to any shop for any reason the converter will get cut out and a pipe welded in its place. People just shrug their shoulders and say it is what it is. Very few cars there have a converter. That was my experience about 5-6 years ago.
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I had to swap the cat on my godson's Honda Element when it started failing emissions testing... Thanks to these damn meth heads, I can't even sell the thing in NC due to the safeguards they have put in place.
We have had tons of these thefts here, the cops are working on it, but when have they ever prevented a crime vs. investigating it after the fact? With a cordless angle grinder these guys can have one off in a matter of minutes. It makes a hell of a racket, but it's so quick, they are gone before LEO's arrive.
There are TONS of toyota prius here, about every 5th one you pass is driving down the road sounding like a top fuel dragster cause someone hacked out their converter. Supposedly the prius is one of the easiest to access quickly and snatch it.
I was at a machine shop next to a landscape business a few weeks back. The dude said the landscapers got hit and like 8 of their trucks had their cats stolen... The owner had them all replaced and took several to the welder shop down the road to have plates or rebar or some such welded in to shield them from another attack... The little dope fiends came in the night and stole all the brand-new ones off the trucks while they were sitting at the welder's place awaiting the mods!
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We had three ripped off in one night where I work. Now we have cameras EVERYWHERE!
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Yeah, it's happened in the NE Ohio area in the last few weeks...one of the places was a school bus parking lot, car dealer, etc. Gotta love those battery powered sawzall's.
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Where I live there is an increased risk to participate in criminal activity.
Crime tends to stay in the city limits or perpetrated on acquaintances of the criminals.
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Been happening in the Philly area recently. A few weeks ago, they pulled one off of a car at a suburban shopping center in the afternoon. Threatened the woman owner that confronted them.
https://6abc.com/catalytic-converter-montgomery-county-theft-giant-parking-lot-maple-glen-crime/11140636/
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I thought stolen catalytic converters and copper wire/plates from buildings etc. was a EU thing only. Same shit in US? :shocked:
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We are seeing it in eastern Tennessee too.
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If this thread goes away there’s no need to ask why.
If you had a post removed there is also no need to ask why because you already know.
Dan
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Part of my past job involved interviewing convicts and when it came to the question of past employment the usual answer was "scrapper" as in they sold metal to recyclers. There was a radio report of one such scrapper who tried to steal the copper from a transfomer with expected results. The fire captain said he wasn't just dead, he was"burnt turkey dead".
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Had mine ripped off at the hotel when in IL for moms funeral. Didn't replace it, no testing here. Not getting another.
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After several works vans were broken into, we now have cameras in out fenced in yard at work too. The only difference the cameras make is we can now watch the break in over and over instead of seeing the glass window smashed out once. To date zero arrests have been made even with video footage.
Trained guard dogs used to be a good deterrent. Not sure what works with the emboldened criminals of today.
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Trained guard dogs used to be a good deterrent. Not sure what works with the emboldened criminals of today.
I have ”heard rumors” that criminals use pepper spray on guard dogs, but just a rumor. :copcar:
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I have ”heard rumors” that criminals use pepper spray on guard dogs, but just a rumor. :copcar:
I remember guys training their dogs with pepper spray. The dogs would just lap it up. The smart dogs would not rush the fence. They would wait until the person was inside before leaving their spot.
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Before I retired as an electrical contractor about 7 years ago one of my customers was the one of the largest auto recyclers in western NY state . Thieves were constantly breaking into yard to steal convertors from wrecked cars..So this is not a new problem...And to make it worse, a local scrap yard was doing radio commercials stating highest prices paid for used convertors...
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As a K9 handler and trainer I’ve trained several “fence dogs” for business in my area. In fact over the past 25 years I have trained 4 dogs for 1 business, Piedmont Sheet Metal. Prior to the dogs they had their service trucks robbed almost every weekend. The first dog I placed there was poisoned before I could apply poison proof training. The dog lived and I completed the training. The next Monday morning pieces of clothing and blood was found at near the fence line.
Prior to placing the dog they contacted their insurance co and the company said they would probably cancel them. The owner told them to drop dead because the company could not turn in any more claims because the insurance Co threaten to cancel then the next claim they filed anyway.
To date, there had been no thieves that has entered their fenced end compound.
Like any other business, thieves also learn from others misfortunes.
(https://i.ibb.co/M2gBgr5/4-D7-F6-B08-561-F-43-E2-A844-F4552-CB48-C5-E.jpg) (https://ibb.co/M2gBgr5)
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The Honda Element and other vehicles with additional ground clearance make for the easier mark's.
Slide in, slide out.
Would love to stomp catch someone in the middle of the act..
But, as has been stated here, this theft occurs in the blink of an eye.
There is a booming business in devices to slow these cretins down some..
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I have heard of this, luckily not a victim.
I'm surprised the Primus is high on the list. Seems like a hard car to get under without a jack.
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I have heard of this, luckily not a victim.
I'm surprised the Primus is high on the list. Seems like a hard car to get under without a jack.
The convertor thieves at the auto recycle yard used Harbor Freight floor jacks.. They abandoned the jacks and sometimes the reciprocating saws..On vehicles with stainless exhaust systems it's tough cutting without specialized blades...
Dogs, the yard owners told me dogs were not worth the potential liability issues in NY
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Gosh, thats a very interesting story. I had no idea it was so big a problem!I live in a small town of 16K people on the border with Mexico. I have never heard of CC theft here, which surprises me. Maybe it has something to do with there being many more cars in the Mexican town, with about 160K people and alot more older cars, not to mention there are no emissions inspections here, on the US side or Mexican side. There are also no recyclers, or scrap metal places in this town, so stuff would have to be hauled probably 120 miles to Tucson to sell.
Rick.
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Gosh, thats a very interesting story. I had no idea it was so big a problem!I live in a small town of 16K people on the border with Mexico. I have never heard of CC theft here, which surprises me. Maybe it has something to do with there being many more cars in the Mexican town, with about 160K people and alot more older cars, not to mention there are no emissions inspections here, on the US side or Mexican side. There are also no recyclers, or scrap metal places in this town, so stuff would have to be hauled probably 120 miles to Tucson to sell.
Rick.
It’s gotten so bad in the NC Piedmont area that departments have special task forces just to combat that particular issue.
Our church bus had one stolen. However the video from the cameras that I had installed a few months earlier delivered such perfect images that the SD actually caught the thieves. The detective, assigned to the case, advised me the “punk”confessed to over 50 cases and that’s just the ones he could remember over a 6 month period.
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Just a WAG, but I think that the area that has shady converter buyers, would have a higher incidence.
In the greater Philly area, there must be buyers, that are supporting this activity. Stop buying the converters, or the melted metal, and this would probably dry up.
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Catalytic converters for some Toyota's in this part of the world are about $1300 new so I guess if you get a couple of hundred for a scrap one it's easy money.