New Scam Going On In Toronto - Theives Stealing Catalytic Converters On Cars
 

And melting them down for their metals!

Catalytic Converter Theft Warning For Car Owners
Monday March 19, 2007
What's the one thing you'd expect car thieves to take besides your vehicle itself?

A stereo system, your cell phone, maybe something out of your glove compartment.

But your catalytic converter?

Chances are most drivers don't even know where the device, which helps control emissions, is on their automobiles.

But crooks do.

It turns out the piece of equipment that sits out of sight on your car contains ingredients that are becoming increasingly valuable on the black market. And it's incredibly easy to steal.

"All it takes is a sawzall with a metal blade, a couple of quick cuts and it's out," explains Cam Young, a mechanic at Cam's Auto Service. "Less than two minutes."

And it's a growing crime. One Brampton auto shop recently lost $1 million worth of catalytic converters.

What's the big attraction? It's what inside that counts.

Catalytic converters contain expensive precious metals like platinum - which is worth up to $1,200 an ounce; palladium, which can fetch $320 an ounce and rhodium, the biggest prize of all. It goes for up to $6,000 an ounce on the market.

The fact so many are disappearing doesn't shock Young. "With the price of the scrap, the value of the part, how easy it is to steal, I'm not surprised at all."

Ironically, replacing a converter will only run you about $300. But to a thief, all those separate parts are as good as gold.

"It's not just warehouse thefts we're hearing about," relates P.C. Sean Piper of Peel Regional Police. "We're actually having small cases of public parking lots, vehicles that are being left in GO stations."

You can't lock them down and you can't really stop a determined thief from making off with it. So what can you do to protect yourself?

Try to park in a safe and secure place, where a stranger with a saw would be instantly suspect. And when possible, keep your car in your garage instead of on your driveway.

Man that sucks

How much are they actually getting per one melted down? If its only $300 to buy new?

where can i find lots of th is rhodium

sucks hardcore

2 minutes? it doesnt even take that long for someone to steal a car. i wonder how much they get for those things.

I wonder what the cars sound like with the converters removed. :winkwink:

thats what u get for being canadian... god punishes all heathens...

Lol..wtf is next..that's the first I've heard of that

good money in catalytic converters, thats what core haulers buy and sell around in the south, shit makes alot of money.

get hydraulics and drop yer shit to the ground. good luck stealing shit with 1/2 inc ground clearance :winkwink:

Then just wait till they start carrying jacks. Not that a guy walking around with a jack and a sawsall would look suspect or anything...:1orglaugh

haha I'd call the cops if i EVER saw a dude with a jack and a sawsall chillin in a parking lot :1orglaugh

damn that certainly sucks

maybe i should keep saying mine was stolen and buy them for $300 a pop, then get the metals out of them and make $5000 that way.

with 15 years delay,old scam from europe :)

if the material is worth more than $300 wouldn't it make sense to start buying them and tearing them appart legally and reselling the parts?

SD, many do it. Thing is most ppl don't know its value, so when they replace one they leave it to car shop. Others throw it away which if i recall is not legal due to health issues.

Better then the people here stealing your copper plumbing...............

It's been happening in and around Texas for years. I know someone who made his fortune in part thanks to stolen catalytic converters lol... sick. He sells both legally obtained and illegally obtained converters to some Japanese firm that reclaims the precious metals out of them.

The materials in them aren't worth 300, or they would cost more than that for a new one. They probably get paid, at best, 30-50 bucks for a used one.

if you could just go buy them new and sell them for a profit people probably wouldn't be stealing them.

sounds like meth finally found its way into canada :1orglaugh

Go to a platinum mine, its in the same family of metals. Mostly used for industrial plating,such as jewellery,to make it more white looking:thumbsup

lol we really live in a sick world