Car plates removed to get drivers to pay up
Print Edition
A suspect has been detained for blackmailing car owners by stealing their vehicle plates and then trying to sell them back to their owners.
Police said yesterday that thefts of car plates had been reported in downtown Shanghai near the Jiangsu Road Metro station in late July.
A paper note was left at each of the cars whose plates were missing, seeking 100 yuan (US$16) from the car owners, via a social media contact, if they wanted their plates back. All the stolen plates are non-Shanghai plates, meaning the vehicle owners would have to travel out of town to reapply for replacement plates.
A thief was seen on a surveillance camera using his bare hands to pull off a car plate.
Meanwhile, car owners who lost their car plates found themselves in a dilemma. “I didn’t want to pay the money because that would encourage him to do the same to others, but I would have to spend at least 1,000 yuan to get a new plate in Fujian Province,” said one of the victims, a man surnamed Zhang.
To trap the suspect, police asked Zhang to add the suspect on WeChat, pay the money and then ask for the plate to be dropped at a certain spot.
The suspect, a 24-year-old man surnamed Lin, was nabbed at midnight by the police.
Lin had stolen at least four plates to make 400 yuan, according to police.
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