Warning - Barcelona Slashed Tyre Scam

[surfbus]

Hi all,
Apparently this is a very common scam (not just in Barcelona) but unfortunately I was unaware of it.
We had just arrived in Barcelona after a 15 hour drive from the UK and pulled up at traffic lights on a busy main road. As we pulled away, I was aware of a rumbling from the rear of the cali and almost immediately, a scooter rider knocked on the window and pointed to our rear flat tyre so we pulled over to the side of the road to have a look. My wife and I got out and the scooter guy, who I assumed was trying to help, rabbited away in Spanish ..... or it might have been Catalan, .....who knows?
While we were distracted, his accomplice opened the passenger door and made off with my wife's handbag containing our phones, passports and wallets. We only discovered this after the first guy had rode off and I asked my wife for my phone to call Green Flag for assistance.
Picture this ..... middle of Barcelona, no id, no phone, no money, very little Spanish (una cerveza por favor doesn't really help in a situation like this) and a car that is not going anywhere.
We eventually got a friendly local to call the police but all the police do is give you the address of the nearest police station.
I won't give any more details as it will take forever, but we eventually got emergency travel docs from the local British Consulate (over 100 Euros each) and managed to cancel all our bank cards with minimal loss.
The biggest inconvenience was the loss of our spare car keys and both of our vehicles are now in different garages having the locks changed. My wife's Ford Focus will be ready next week as it only needs re-programming (keyless locks) but I am told not to expect my cali for another two weeks. :-(
Hopefully this will prevent anyone else from falling foul of this scam.

PS
A BIG BIG thank you to Green Flag.
When I finally got access to a phone and called them, they (unbelievably) had a local technician with us in 30 minutes!!!! and the wheel was changed very quickly. (our cali is lowered and I couldn't get the spare out or the jack in because it was too low to the ground)

Rgds,
Bill.

 

[GrannyJen]

What a nightmare for you! Well done green flag but thanks for the warning. A terrible experience, I hope you are both ok now.

 

[T6 CFO]

Thanks for the heads up and congratulations on getting yourself sorted as well as you have.

Mike

 

[BerndRos]

This is quite common in Barcelona and other places.

Beware the coast from south of Barcelona through to east of Marseille. Caution & common sense are required in large measures.

 

[Hotel California]

Happens in many couwded touristic places ....
Always be aware ....hope it never happens to you ....

Bummer for sure.
I keep pasportcopy's hidden in the Cali .

 

[surfbus]

Thanks All.
Normally the passports are locked in the glove box but we were only 10 minutes from our destination and my wife had gathered everything together for our arrival ......... creating the perfect collection for would be thieves. :-(
Things could have been worse and we are both still around to tell the tale ........ you live and learn ....hopefully.

 

[Sonas]

Same scam happen a friend of mine while traveling through Austria :-(

 

[CYCLOPATH]

Thanks for the advice, I had no idea....
I am sorry for you
And it does seem worth hiding stuff...even a locked glove box would be the first place they would go for.

 

[Gasgas]

Wow what a nightmare!!! glad you got it all sorted safely though out of interest how did they puncture your rear tyres do you know ?

 

[JohnGuppy]

What a nightmare for you both is nothing safe these days

 

[hirsty]

Very sorry to hear this & glad you're nearly resolved.

Exact same ploy happened to my Aunt & Uncle driving their Jag down to Spain for the summer - her handbag taken out of the passenger side with a big wedge of Euros & irreplaceable sentimental jewellery.

You'd almost have a grudging admiration for a straight-up mugging but this 'good samaritan' sneaky +%#¥ really sticks in my craw. Scumbags.

 

[DM]

Sorry to hear your woes - thanks for the warning. I guess the lesson is don't keep valuables in obvious places such as the seat pockets or glove box at any time.

 

[surfbus]

Thanks guys (& gals).
The police said a knife but I'm not sure how easy that would go through the wall of a tyre. i thought maybe an ice pick .... but that would only make a small hole ..... and the tyre went flat very quickly, so I'm not sure.
I have a dash cam, but that only shows one of the thieves riding in front and waving us down. I gave my memory card to the police.
There are loads of reports of this type of scam on the internet. here is just one of them.
http://tourist-scams.com/tourist-scam-destinations/barcelona-spain/car-tire-puncture-scam/

 

[terry1956]

Sad to say that this as been going on for years. one other method they use is to knife your tire if you are parked up and then play the same game, ie get you to stop. it was mainly eastern Europeans around the boarder areas but looks like its moved to other groups. I also found last year that again EU,s hanging around unmanned toll paying stops in Italy waiting for motorhome drivers to get out to pay the toll. we always travel with our two dogs which puts the toe rags off. But you do need to take extra care these days. last year was the first time in 20 years that I saw first hand the damage these people do if they get into the van. a fellow brit had a window of his motorhome forced open and they just pulled off all the cupboard doors looking for money and pass ports.
sad, just very sad

 

[soulstyledevon]

I don't carry much cash when abroad as I use credit card 90% of the time. Plus I take very few belongings especially expensive jewellery etc.

But get a decent back pack and don't let it out of your sight. We keep our cards and passports in their and it goes everywhere with us. Make sure the pack has an inside zipped pocket...!!!

Had some mickey taking over the years from mates about my pack. But a friend left his passport in a bar earlier in the year and when we recovered it, he asked if I would look after it in my pack

Also worth keeping a spare CC hidden in the jacking compartment, stick it in an aqua pack, tie and fish it down the sides for emergencies.


Glad your sorted, must have been a nightmare

 

[MattBW]

Sad to hear but appreciative for you sharing this.

 

[rippers]

We drive to south of Spain every year, I would not recommend stopping anywhere near Barcelona, in fact I don't stop anywhere in northern of Spain, forever hearing stories around these areas and have been followed in the region by groups of men in cars checking us out as the drive past. If you do stop at the services, never leave the van unattended. We do the toilet stops one person at a time. Dash cams (front and rear) can be a deterrent. Don't stop for no one! I'd also recommend not having smart phones visible like in a suction clamp etc on the windscreen.
I also despite the cost always use toll roads as there are too expensive for a petty thief!
I have not had any issues personally but I am mega careful and suspect everyone lol

 

[T6 CFO]

We drive to south of Spain every year, I would not recommend stopping anywhere near Barcelona, in fact I don't stop anywhere in northern of Spain, forever hearing stories around these areas and have been followed in the region by groups of men in cars checking us out as the drive past. If you do stop at the services, never leave the van unattended. We do the toilet stops one person at a time. Dash cams (front and rear) can be a deterrent. Don't stop for no one! I'd also recommend not having smart phones visible like in a suction clamp etc on the windscreen.
I also despite the cost always use toll roads as there are too expensive for a petty thief!
I have not had any issues personally but I am mega careful and suspect everyone lol

Intending to travel in that direction in September. Looks like I shall be plugging my Carista dongle in and setting doors to auto lock whilst on the move. Sensible heads up awareness has kept me safe so far whilst traveling but I can see that being in a U.K. Registered Cali is like driving around with a target on your back.


Mike

 

[soulstyledevon]

Intending to travel in that direction in September. Looks like I shall be plugging my Carista dongle in and setting doors to auto lock whilst on the move. Sensible heads up awareness has kept me safe so far whilst traveling but I can see that being in a U.K. Registered Cali is like driving around with a target on your back.


Mike

Same here. We are in Northern Spain this September, so some of these points will be on my mind. Think i shall be more alert after the heads up.

 

[briwy]

My daughter lives in Barcelona and says it is very common with foreign registered vehicles.
Happened to her in her UK registered car a few years ago. Two very smartly dressed men in a new Merc flagged her down. Stupidly she got out and one immediately nicked her bag from the passenger side floor. Lost her money, cards etc but fortunately not her passport. Said she felt such a fool as she'd just returned from living in Columbia for a year.

 

[Gasgas]

Thanks for the heads up

 

[Teejay]

Intending to travel in that direction in September. Looks like I shall be plugging my Carista dongle in and setting doors to auto lock whilst on the move. Sensible heads up awareness has kept me safe so far whilst traveling but I can see that being in a U.K. Registered Cali is like driving around with a target on your back.

Mike

I have that set and they unlock automatically when you remove the key from the ignition. Someone can always get out if pull the handle twice, once to unlock and one to open. I've had it on mine from the day one.

..me..

 

[dennfo]

Just on the Passports thing - have you thought about scanning and saving to Dropbox or other Cloud drive, same with credit cards. Doesn't necessarily help if your phones are gone but if you can get online you have copies..

 

[Trebor]

So sorry to hear your story but thanks for making us aware . I have a theory about getting spare wheel off in emergency . I always carry levelling wedges in the slot under back seat . I haven't tried it but plan to reverse up wedges to raise the back of van about 6 in . Has anyone done this ?

 

[trailtrotters]

Really sorry to hear of your experience surfbus, it must have been horrible for you, we all so look forward to our holidays. Great that you shared it thank you and to the others who added similar warnings, it helps to know some of the bad stuff to look out for.