Attn Ladies

[Mary h]

Just recieved this from my fried = May well be worth the read......

ALL CAR OWNERS AND CAR DRIVERS PLEASE READ Warning!!!!

>Be aware of new car-jacking scheme.

You walk across the car park, unlock your car and get inside. Then you lock all your doors, start the engine and shift or put into reverse. You look into the rear-view mirror to back out of your parking space and you notice a piece of paper stuck to the middle of the rear window.
>
So, you shift the gear stick back into park or neutral, unlock your doors and jump out of your car to remove that paper or whatever it is that is obstructing your view. When you reach the back of your car that is when the car-jackers appear out of nowhere, jump into your car and take off!! Your engine was running, you would have left your purse in the car and they practically mow you down as they speed off in your car.

BE AWARE OF THIS NEW SCHEME THAT IS NOW BEING USED IN
GLASGOW AND MANCHESTER AND IS MAKING ITS WAY ACROSS
THE COUNTRY!!!!!!!!

Just drive away and remove the paper later! It is stuck to your window and be thankful that you read this email. I hope you will forward this to friends and family especially to women! A purse contains all identification, and you certainly do NOT want someone getting your home address. They already HAVE your
keys!!!

JUST BE AWARE AND TAKE CARE IT WILL PROBABLY SOON
ARRIVE IN YOUR AREA
Brian Molloy
Detective Constable
Force Intelligence Bureau
Strathclyde Police

[omg]

Whatever next, thanks for the info.

[Hmm]

I think that email is a hoax...

[leo]

I received that email about 4 years ago so it's not new knowledge, however i don't think you can call it a hoax! It is something that very plausibly would happen and whether the email is genuinely from who it says it is is irrelevant, it's still good advice!

[lookout]

I have also seen this email before

and there is a more recent one in similar vein about a message left at people houses saying a delivery firm have tried to deliver a parcel but as no one was in you are required to dial a telphone number to arrange delivery. The number they use is a premium rate number and is charged to your bill.
Please be careful and make sure you know who you are contacting before you dial.

[Guestless]

As Leo says it could in fact be used to steal cars, but that particular email is included on the urban legends website.

www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/carjack.asp

[Welshy]

I'm afraid this is a total hoax and possibly only sent to instill more fear in lone women drivers.

No police force in the UK or most other countries would condone driving off with a vehicle rear view obstructed. If any force member had written this, then the guide would have been to remove your keys before stepping out of your car.

Of course, the onus is always on any vehicle owner to make sure their view through all windows is not obstructed prior to starting their engine, possibly even before stepping into their vehicle.

Its also interesting to note that the syntax in the note is most definitely north american not English, definitely not Scottish!

[sallyw]

We could use this thread to warn each other of other patential scams. We had someone come to see a driving pony that we had for sale. In the course of showing them the pony they were(of course we know this now) able to see where we kept the vehicle and harness. Unbelievably it went the very next day. The police told us that the people we described to them were probably known to them but there was nothing we could do. I don't know how you avoid this if you are selling a pony - but - we have now got CCTV in our yard.

[cheeky]

My brother in law was car jacked in manchester so it isnt just women and its defo on the increase heard of quite a few jackings recently around manchester.

[Philippa]

There is another one where a woman returned to her car in a car park to find the window smashed and a well dressed man stood next to it. He said he had disturbed the people who broke the window and waited for her to return so it wasn't stolen. She thanked him and he asked if she could give him a lift as he had missed his lift home. She replied that she was very sorry but she was in a rush herself and while she appreciated him waiting with the car she couldn't give him a lift. She took the car to a garage and while the glass was being cleaned up inside they found a knife and rope hidden under the seat. Scarey thought.

[Guestless]

philippa said:

There is another one where a woman returned to her car in a car park to find the window smashed and a well dressed man stood next to it.

That one is on the snopes website too.....scroll to the bottom of the examples....it's a relatively new one!

www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/hairyarm.asp

[armada]

I suppose its a new take on the 'escaped lunatic with an axe' one, but it does'nt do any harm to be aware at this time of year, there are some very desperate people who also have access to this website and are quite capable of doing a copycat scenario. When I lived in London, and now when I drive there, my doors are locked and the windows open only marginally, urban myth or not, when you least expect it , it has a habit of coming up and hitting you in the face, BELIEVE ME!!!