Ground Master of Car Theft: A Victim’s Insight into the Eye Gouging Method Behind Alphard Robberies

An Alphard with only 30,000km was 1 to 1.5 million yen cheaper than the market price. Looking back, there were some suspicious points, such as the fact that the payment method was cash on delivery, but I believed them because they had the proper vehicle inspection certificate and the documents for changing the name were in order,” he said.

Mr. A, a company owner in his 30s, expressed his frustration. In June of this year, he purchased a ’22 model Alphard for 3.9 million yen. However, the car was reported stolen last December. Despite this, both the registration certificate and the license plate number did not belong to the stolen car, but to an actual, legitimate car.

This is a technique known as “eyeball-pulling,” and the number of victims who have been tricked into purchasing stolen cars through this method has been increasing in recent years. Kumiko Kato, an automotive journalist who covers this issue, explains.

The “eye-pulling” method is a criminal technique in which a popular car model that has been involved in an accident is bought at a low price and replaced with a car that has some special features. The VIN number, which can be considered the vehicle’s household registration, is removed from the wrecked car and replaced with that of the procured car. In addition, the vehicle inspection certificate, liability insurance, and license plate number are also replaced. To find out, we need to know the original VIN number before it was eyeballed out. In this case, after taking various measures to identify the VIN number, we asked a dealer we know and managed to identify the number by applying a diagnostic machine to the ECU (car’s computer). In addition, we were able to verify the number at the Transport Branch Office. We had the number cross-checked at the Transport Branch Office, We found out that the car was stolen.

This method of selling a car by changing the VIN number and license plate number and pretending to be a different car can be described as the “automotive version of a criminal.

A Direct Hit on the Automobile “Jizushi

In mid-September, Mr. A, together with Mr. Kato and others, pursued the realities of the fake sales and negotiated with the vendor for a refund. They were met by a middle-aged man with a stubble beard. When we asked him why he had falsified the VIN number, he replied, “It’s a financial vehicle (a form of debt),

When I asked him why he falsified the VIN number, he replied, “It was a finance car (a car repossessed to settle a debt), but the debtor went missing, and we couldn’t change it through the regular procedure, so we transplanted it from another car.

When Mr. A complained, “I can’t pass the inspection with this,” the vendor man replied,

When Mr. A complained, “I can’t pass the inspection with this car,” the man at the company told him, “Normally, we can’t pass it, but there is a company that can pass it “in the dark. I will introduce you to one.

He said, “I’ll introduce you to a company that can pass the inspection. When we finally reported the matter to the police, the man reluctantly refunded the purchase price in full on the spot. He left as if he was running away.

According to the National Police Agency, the number of car thefts in 2011 was 5,762, an increase for two consecutive years. Among them, 700 Alphard cars were stolen, more than double the number of the previous year. Some of these are believed to have been sold off.

The first photo shows Mr. A’s car, which had a license plate number issued in a different region than the one in which it was sealed (first photo). If you find any discrepancy, avoid the vendor” (Mr. Kato).

In the face of increasingly sophisticated schemes, it is best to abandon the notion that you are the only one who will not be fooled.

From the October 11 , 2024 issue of FRIDAY