Mercedes Benz V Class is a Top Target.
If you’re a rental company with multiple Mercedes Benz V-Class models in your fleet, you’re a prime target for thieves. These luxury vehicles are so popular that DIGITPOL has recovered dozens in 2023 and 2024. The typical method involves renting, driving, and stealing: thieves rent the vehicle in one EU country, usually a non-English-speaking one, and drive it to another country with a different native language. They then present false invoices and car registration papers to attempt to import the vehicle, often with the assistance of an insider at the registration office.
Since the vehicle is rented and the rental company is unaware of the crime in progression, it isn’t recorded as stolen and has no alerts. However, importing a vehicle from one country to another, even with false documents, is not easy. European import authorities have access to EUCARIS, allowing them to check ownership. If checked, an official could quickly see that the "to-be-imported" vehicle is a rental car and should block the process. Yet, the process continues, indicating these criminal gangs likely have insider assistance. Dozens of cases have involved vehicles being imported with the original VIN using false documents.
Due to the high appeal of the Mercedes Benz V Class to vehicle crime gangs, DIGITPOL advises rental companies to install advanced tracking solutions and block the vehicle in national databases to prevent re-importation. If your fleet includes multiple V Class models, contact us for advice.
Corporate-like criminal enterprise @Europol
In an operation codenamed “Matador”, law enforcement from France, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Spain and Ukraine arrested 13 persons responsible for large-scale luxury car theft across Europe. Ongoing investigations have revealed that the criminal group consists of over 50 persons from various countries and is responsible for the misappropriation of at least 36 high-end vehicles. During the action day on 21 May 2024, authorities conducted over 70 searches, leading to the seizure of six vehicles, forged documentation and license plates, as well as EUR 132 165 in cash. In Ukraine alone, police officers conducted more than 50 searches in the premises of persons involved in criminal activities, including those who recruited and assisted with logistics.
Over the course of a year and a half, the authorities involved drew up an intelligence picture of the criminal network’s operations across Europe. The organisation, mainly based in Ukraine, hired Ukrainian citizens to travel to the EU to rent or lease luxury cars using their real identities. In other cases, forged identity documents were used. With the criminals arranging flights, hotel rooms and other logistics, each person would rent one to two cars, mainly in Spain or France.
Once rented or leased, the cars were handed over to contact persons who arranged for the vehicles to be taken, by land or sea, to various countries, including Lithuania, Germany and Poland. At these processing locations, a separate branch of the organisation, consisting of specialised car mechanics, prepared the cars for export. This included disabling the GPS transmitters installed in the vehicles and the forgery and replacement of licence plates and other numbered parts of the vehicle. In some cases, the cars were completely disassembled for sale on the spare parts market. Authorities arrest 13 criminals responsible for the theft of at least 36 rented high-end vehicles @Europol – Source below.
https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/rent-drive-steal-how-luxury-car-thieves-were-stopped-in-their-tracks
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/european-rental-companies-major-targets-vehicle-crime-gangs-mercedes-xlcle
You must be logged in to post a comment.