A CAR theft victim used a clever trick to find his stolen motors… and was then forced to take matters into his own hands.
Jayy Robinson, 23, from Birmingham woke up to find thieves had broken into his house and taken the keys to his two cars – but he was able to use the internet to track them down.
SWNSThe Seat was discovered by a pal on a Snapchat story, with a £2,000 price tag for its return[/caption]
SWNSGoogle Earth was used to locate the street where the cars were being kept[/caption]
GettyThieves broke into the victim’s house and took the keys to the two cars[/caption]
The engineer posted details of the theft on social media after waking up to discover his Seat Ateca and a Volkswagen Golf had both been stolen.
Jayy said: “I was due to go to work at 6am, went downstairs and both cars were gone, I was devastated”.
But Jayy quickly received a tip-off from tech-savvy friend Jamie Pollin, 22, who spotted someone trying to sell Jayy’s Seat in a Snapchat story, complete with a blurry video of the car.
Jamie messaged the thief and learned of a £2,000 fee to return the vehicle.
The pair reverse image searched the building the car was parked next to and narrowed down the location after spotting the name of a housing estate on a wheelie bin in the photo.
Jamie then used Google Earth to identify the exact street where the vehicle was parked before informing the police.
Taking matters into his own hands, Jayy was able to locate the Seat in West Bromwich, just six miles away from his home in Birmingham.
Jay said: “I didn’t know what to say when I saw it, I was amazed, I tried my keys and the car unlocked straight away so I knew it was mine.
“I didn’t think they would be that stupid to leave the car in the same spot I at least thought it would be in a different place.”
However, Jayy saw little effort from West Midlands Police in re-locating the stolen vehicles.
He said: “I called them on Saturday afternoon for an update but they told me it hadn’t even been allocated yet.
“I then called them on Sunday and they said it was still pending allocation, I wouldn’t have got the Seat back if I hadn’t taken matters into my own hands.”
In a statement, West Midlands Police told us: “We are investigating after we received a report on Friday morning (27 Oct) that two vehicles, a Seat Ateca and a VW Golf, had been stolen overnight from a driveway.
“The owner then contacted us to report one of the stolen cars had been seen on social media advertised for sale.”
The statement added: “When he contacted us we responded quickly and recovered the car for forensic examination.
“It will be returned to him as soon as the examination has been completed.
“We are conducting house to house enquires and looking at CCTV footage to trace those responsible.”
West Midlands Police urge anyone with any information to contact them.
This comes after an urgent warning to drivers over a terrifying new car theft method – as an expert mechanic reveals the signs to look out for.
Meanwhile, according to new figures, three out of four car thefts are left unsolved.