Highway robbers at the service area: this is how you can protect yourself
Especially during the holiday season, there are numerous gangs, such as the robbers of the highway, who are at work on rest areas or highways. So, to protect yourself from theft or worse, you should be very careful.
Autobahn robbers - the worst of the stitches
When it comes to a well-deserved vacation, we like to take everything a little easier and are usually more carefree than usual. Some criminals take advantage of this with rather perfidious tricks.
- A gang is currently on the move with a tire trick: at motorway service stations, car tires are punctured by parked vehicles. If the travelers continue their journey, they will not get far. As soon as they have to stop with the flat tire on the hard shoulder, the criminals are of course also there, since they followed the car. As a rule, the criminals then have an easy time robbing the car occupants.
- Hardly anything helps against this lousy trick, which in addition to theft can also be very dangerous for car passengers and all other road users. The only thing you can do is keep an eye on your car.
- Another trick is pretending an emergency to rip off the helpers. The variants are varied and range from a car breakdown to an accident or a health emergency. Sometimes the helpers are not only robbed, but forced to go to the nearest ATM with the gangsters and withdraw as much money as possible there.
- Basically, you can only protect yourself if you don't get involved and don't stop. Make a note of the position and, depending on the situation, inform the emergency services or the police immediately. This is especially true if you are alone in the car. In fact, people have often been harmed because they wanted to help alleged accident victims. Stop, lock all the car doors in advance, and open the window just a tiny crack to communicate.
- It is still popular to borrow money and deposit gold jewelry as a deposit. The crooks pretend that there is an emergency at the motorway service area or on the motorway for which you urgently need cash. You turn supposed gold jewelry as a pledge on the good-faith helpers. Needless to say that it's just cheap junk and of course no one will show up to bring your money back.
- Conclusion: Be careful when you are on holiday and protect yourself early if a situation strikes you as strange. Do not let your car or your valuables out of your sight. If you are traveling to poorer countries by car, you should be particularly careful and inform yourself beforehand about the meshes used by criminals.
Some tips on how to protect your car from theft have been summarized in a separate post.