Video catches car thieves in action
Stories of stolen cars flood in following a Star investigation on the growing crime spree
Jay Franco is music to the ears at nursing and retirement homes across Canada. For 20 years he has been performing the songs residents grew up with — like “It’s a long way to Tipperary” on Remembrance Day. His Toyota with the licence plate “1MANBAND” is his roadie.
“My musical instruments, speakers, everything I need to put smiles on the faces of people at the homes, that car gets me to my job,” says Franco.
His Toyota RAV4 was almost stolen in what would have been just another statistic in a record year for auto thefts in Toronto and the GTA. What Franco found out, and what he’s doing now, is a cautionary tale. His buddy was not so lucky.
Franco’s story is one of more than 100 tales of car theft Star readers shared this week, following publication of a story on the growing crime spree that has seen 6,000 cars stolen in Toronto this year, and 80,000 across Canada. From young families starting out to grandparents who splurged on a vehicle big enough to drive their grandchildren to events — they all woke up to an empty driveway. Some have been hit two, even three times.
Franco and his wife and two kids live in Scarborough, near Ellesmere and McCowan Roads. On Aug. 31, they were enjoying a relaxing afternoon. This next part of the story was only revealed to Franco the next day when something happened to make him check the video camera trained on his driveway.
Video from his garage-mounted camera shows an Infiniti sport coupe driving slowly past his house seven times, between 2:29 and 2:55 p.m. There are two men in the car, wearing masks. The vehicle was later identified by police as an Infiniti G35 Coupe, made between 20032007. It’s impossible to make out the plate number. The car slows and stops at Franco’s driveway, close to his two-year-old white Toyota. Police believe thieves were trying to acquire the electronic signature of his vehicle — to later open the door and start the ignition.
Franco had several music gigs that week. His instruments he always brings inside, but speakers and bulky equipment stay in the car. He and his family went to bed, oblivious to what was about to happen.
A neighbour and close friend (he and his wife asked that their names not be published) live just around the corner. They had just purchased a new silver Honda CR-V two months previous. Hondas and Toyotas are popular, well-made vehicles. They are also in the top-10 lists of cars most commonly stolen and shipped overseas by what police say are organized crime groups, some of them using the proceeds to fund terrorism. Insurance investigators say these cars are “all world cars” — parts and servicing available around the globe.
This Honda was a big purchase for the neighbours — roughly $36,000. They wanted the car to last so they had a garage apply a rustproof coating, then left it on the street overnight so they would not get drips on their driveway.
His video shows that at 4:25 a.m., the lights of the Honda flash once, an indication that someone has unlocked the door. Due to the positioning of the camera, and the darkness, it is not possible to see the person inside. A minute later, the lights flash again, headlights come on and the car drives away, stops a few metres later and a person wearing a hoodie comes from across the street, gets in the passenger side, and the Honda drives off. One minute later, the neighbour’s video records the Infiniti chase car — the one that buzzed Franco’s house the previous afternoon — following.
“The next morning I looked out my window and said to my wife, ‘Oh my God, our car is gone,’ ” the man said. They’d heard about thefts in Toronto before, but had not realized how widespread they were.
“We never thought it would happen to us,” his wife told the Star.
The neighbour is waiting for a new vehicle, delayed because of the worldwide shortage of cars caused
by the pandemic. Franco, who still has his Toyota, now keeps it in his garage and has a steering wheel lock called a “Club,” which he uses all the time, even if just running a short errand.
“It’s an operation, I am telling you, these guys are so sophisticated,” Franco told the Star. Police looked at his video, and at his neighbours’, but nothing came of their investigation.
Across Toronto and the GTA, neighbourhood groups are pressuring police to do something about car theft. York and Peel have auto theft squads, but Toronto disbanded its squad years ago.
Eight of the top 10 most commonly stolen brands are either Honda/Acura or Toyota/Lexus products. Almost every one of the more than 100 readers who reached out to the Star had one of those vehicles stolen. Some have had two, not unusual because as one Toronto police detective told the Star: “They take your vehicle and figure insurance will pay out, so let’s check by later and see what shows up in the driveway.”
Sylvia (she asked that her last name not be used) wonders why auto manufacturers cannot come up with a fix.
“I am now questioning why Toyota and other car manufacturers cannot prevent these thefts with smarter devices on their vehicle,” Sylvia said. “What good is the built-in alarm system when it cannot prevent the simplest theft?”
The story Sylvia and her husband tell is all too familiar. They splurged on a Toyota Highlander in 2017 (roughly $40,000) for practical reasons. “We are elderly and not ready to retire to armchairs and puzzles ... comfortable drive and lots of room to take grandkids and stuff to the cottage,” she recalls.
On April 30, 2020, “it was stolen from our driveway.” Insurance replaced the vehicle with a new Highlander.
“One year to the day, April 30, 2021, in the early morning hours, it was stolen from our driveway,” says Sylvia.
This time she had her key fobs in a Faraday box, in the hopes the key’s electronic signature could not be copied by a thief. She said authorities have told her that thieves are now using a device to scan the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) embossed on all dashboards and visible through the windshield and using that to create a duplicate key fob. (You can cover your VIN number with a thin metal plate slid between the windshield and the dashboard’s rubber seal.)
Sylvia said that both times, police said their vehicles were likely in a shipping container, bound for an overseas destination. Again, insurance covered it and they have ended up with a third Highlander. They have reconfigured their garage to keep the vehicle safe. She says if that Highlander disappears, “I am going to self destruct!”
Like many of the Star readers who were victims of car theft, Sylvia raises practical solutions. Here’s a sample of suggestions by her and others:
Install a password so that the car cannot be driven without it. Provide something that covers the VIN so that thieves cannot see it. Provide new car buyers with a steering wheel lock and a Faraday pouch for the fobs (useful against some car thieves, police say). Have car companies warn owners of theft concerns and what they can do about it.
Toyota Canada’s public relations manager Michael Bouliane said Toyota is “committed to helping address the security challenges that are facing the entire auto industry by continuing to develop technology that strengthens the security of our vehicles.”
In relation to key fobs that police say can be too easily copied, Bouliane said Toyota has developed a feature that turns the fob off. The Star checked a Toyota owners manual and found this feature — listed under the heading “Battery Saving Function.”