Thief steals car after test drive then asks owner for £500 to reveal where it is
A teacher has revealed how his car was stolen by a conman after advertising it for sale on the AutoTrader website.
Jake Bateson, 27, was selling his Kia Rio, but a man posed as a fake buyer and took the vehicle after a test drive on Monday.
He said the thief ‘floored the car with the door open’ and later messaged him demanding £500 for the location of the car in a blackmail attempt.
Mr Bateson, who is of Moseley in Birmingham, said: ‘I feel quite shocked and shaken. We were taken advantage of. You do it all in good faith and don’t want to be cynical about people spinning you a web of lies.
‘Perhaps I should have asked to see his driving licence at the start – but that just feels like an unnatural thing to do.’
The teacher explained he was selling his 2016 car, which had 36,000 miles on the clock, for just over £6,000.
He spoke to the ‘purchaser’ over the phone after interest within an hour of posting an ad on AutoTrader.
‘He said he was in the area and would be with me in 20 minutes,’ Mr Bateson said, ‘I wasn’t expecting it so soon, but I quickly drew up a contract.
‘He was asking about coronavirus and social distancing and, “Was it alright two keep 2m distance?” I said that was fine and would wear a mask.
‘At that point we swapped details, so I had his number and I gave him my address. He came walking down the road and looked around the car.’
Mr Bateson said the test drive lasted around 10 minutes and he sat in the back with a mask on.
He said: ‘We pulled back into my road and said, “Shall we go and get the paperwork then?”
‘He made to get out of the car and I did get out of the car. I was standing in the doorway with the door open.
‘In the space of about five-seconds he got back in the car, turned on the engine and floored the car with the door open down the road.’
The thief later messaged his victim asking: ‘You want your car back? £500 and I’ll tell you where it is.’
Mr Bateson replied, saying no and warning him he ‘faces prosecution’.
The thief ended the the extortion attempt by saying: ‘Loooool x’
A vehicle recovery company said his car was found days later ‘completely battered, unusable and on false plates’.
Mr Bateson gave a description of the offender to the police. He was aged between 25 and 35, mid-height and overweight, Asian, with short black hair and sporting a beard. He said the man walked with a ‘noticeable’ limp.
The teacher shared his experience on social media, and one of his friends who lived nearby came forward to say a similar thing had happened to him.
The dad-of-two, who did not want to be named, posted an advert for a VW Golf on Gumtree over a month earlier.
The 32-year-old said: ‘I feel shocked. I tend to trust people and believe what they say for this kind of thing. Stealing a car in the middle of a pandemic – you just lose a bit of trust in people.’
He said the ‘buyer’ got in touch just 10 minutes after the advert had been posted, saying he needed a car urgently, and went to his home for a test drive in a similar way.
The victim said: ‘We got back outside my house and parked up. He asked about paperwork and stupidly, oblivious me I got out the car and he said he would wait by the car.
‘He was unbuckling his seatbelt as if to get out. Then suddenly he drove off. My wife called the police straight away.
‘While she was on the phone to them I rang his mobile. He actually answered and said: “Really sorry, just wanted to take it for a quick drive.”
‘I was like, “You’re joking, come back.” Obviously he didn’t come back.’
Police have now confirmed they believe both cases are linked to the ‘same offender’.
A spokesperson for West Midlands Police said: ‘We received a report of a car theft in Kings Heath at 1.45pm on March 7.
‘The victim listed his VW Golf for sale on Gumtree, the offender attended the address and drove off in the vehicle without paying for the car.
‘We also received a report of a car theft in Moseley at 6.30pm on April 12. The victim put his car up for sale online and after arriving to view the Kio Rio, the offender drove away without making payment.
‘The two crime reports have been reviewed and there are similarities to both crimes and we believe it is the same offender.’
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