Have you been victimized?

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, have you been victimized, this year? [2011] Seems that people are talking more about protecting their fuel, Airstreams, and tow vehicles lately. Has anyone on this forum actually lost some gas, or had their Airstream broken into. [or tow vehicle] It seems to me that whenever gas prices go up, people have a fear of their gas being stolen. I have read a lot of concerns on how to protect from gas theft and from trailer break-ins lately, but haven't read where someone actually lost something or suffered some damage. Is this just fear, or reality?

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, have you been victimized, this year? [2011] Seems that people are talking more about protecting their fuel, Airstreams, and tow vehicles lately. Has anyone on this forum actually lost some gas, or had their Airstream broken into. [or tow vehicle] It seems to me that whenever gas prices go up, people have a fear of their gas being stolen. I have read a lot of concerns on how to protect from gas theft and from trailer break-ins lately, but haven't read where someone actually lost something or suffered some damage. Is this just fear, or reality?

My truck was broken into earlier this year. The contents were rifled through and a handful of change was stolen from the ashtray. We moved from the apartment we were living in, moved into a house, and have had no further problems.

[overlander64]

The Worthington Aluminum LP tanks were stolen from the tongue of my Minuet about a month ago while it was parked on my property within sight of my front door. The tanks were full and the deputy sheriff who investigated the theft speculated that they were stolen by a meth lab operator as most theives around here don't know about aluminum tanks. We did contact all of the recyclers to be on the lookout for the tanks in the hopes that I could re-purchase them if the theif tries to recycle them . . . the re-purchase is because there isn't a method to positively identify them since I don't have a record of the numbers stamped in the collars.

I was also warned by a local RV dealer to keep check on my 30-AMP power cord. It seems that theives in our area are cutting the power cords off of RVs and selling the copper to recyclers. This may help to explain why someone used a slide-hammer to pull the lock cylinder on the one-stop service compartment on my Overlander . . . hoping to find the power cord . . . which they didn't since it has been converted to a Marinco adapter and the cord is not stored in the coach. The compartment incident happened in the same location as the Minuet on the same weekend.

Kevin

P.S.: We have had gasoline siphoned from every one of our vehicles except the two that have locking gas caps . . . before too much longer all of our vehicles will have locking gas caps. Fuel siphoning isn't a new problem on our farm . . . dating as far back as 1980 when a foolish theif decided fill up his gas burning car from our diesel fuel tractor tank . . . thief caught and prosecuted . . . .

[masseyfarm]

This incident just happened within the last week.

What a way to destroy a good motorhome!

RV that caught fire was being used to steal gas: police | CTV Vancouver News

Dave

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by overlander64

the re-purchase is because there isn't a method to positively identify them since I don't have a record of the numbers stamped in the collars.

I know this is an old thread from 2011, but this bit of advice is for anybody new who wanders into the thread now that it's active again. Paint your name or some other distinctive mark on the bottom of the tanks. Since it's on the bottom, it won't ruin the aesthetics of the tanks, and besides, who looks at the bottom of a propane tank except you and maybe the guy who inspects it before refilling? It will provide a means of identifying your tanks if the same thing happens to you.

[DKB_SATX]

Originally Posted by masseyfarm

This incident just happened within the last week.

What a way to destroy a good motorhome!

RV that caught fire was being used to steal gas: police | CTV Vancouver News

Dave

The policewoman needs to learn what "siphon" means... since the tanks were underground I'm sure they were "pumping" instead of "siphoning." I wonder if the motorhome was also stolen.

Later in the video (not mentioned in the text) they said that people sell stolen gasoline on craigslist. Really? Who'd buy 2nd-hand gasoline off craigslist?

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by masseyfarm

This incident just happened within the last week.

What a way to destroy a good motorhome!

RV that caught fire was being used to steal gas: police | CTV Vancouver News

Dave

The article says the cause hasn't been determined. Dollars to doughnuts, the cause was a spark due to a buildup of static charge. There's a reason gas hoses have a braided metal inner cover and a metal nozzle, that's supposed to be in contact with your fuel filler; it's to electrically bond everything and prevent static buildup. Bet they didn't bond the motorhome to the tank. Lots of seaplanes in WWII caught fire from that very cause, until they figured out that they had to use a jumper wire to electrically bond the plane and the seaplane tender before pumping fuel.

[xrvr]

Pro, great info! Jim

[RickDavis]

Never have had any of my vehicles or Airstreams bothered as long as I have been driving or trailering.

I do however have the identifying numbers of my propane tanks in my home inventory list just in case

[Chief Simba]

No matter what you call it stealing is stealing. Siphon or Pumping? Isn't that word play? People are parking many type of vehicles (RVs, alot of them are mini vans or larger type vans) over where the fuel tankers dump the fuel into the gas station pumps and removing the fuel for their personal illegal gains. They (the thieves) will drive these vehicles loaded "unsafely" with their stolen fuel for many miles that we all drive and live on until they can sell it at a discounted rate. People will buy this fuel just to safe a few bucks. This happens more than most of will ever realize.

Minivan used in gas theft - Sun Sentinel


Be safe all and may we never be a victim of these thieves.

[wahoonc]

Stealing gas has been probably going on since they second car hit the roads way back when. Back in the late 70's they caught a guy running I-95 corridor with a cattle trailer with a big tank in it, he would park over the storage tanks of closed gas stations and help himself.

I have not lost gas out of a personal vehicle recently, but I have gone to locking gas caps on most of them. We had a rash of gas thefts at a couple of motels our crews were staying at, added locking gas caps and put locking cables on the gas cans in the back of the trucks. Then they started stealing the catalytic converters...

I use a padlock on the base of my LP tanks to lock them to the rack, if there isn't already a hole in them, I will drill one. It won't stop a determined thief, but it will slow them down and stop the casual grab and run guy.

As far as buying stolen gas on craig's list? There is always a certain percentage of the population that is morally challenged.

Aaron

[Billb]

I have just had my catalytic converter stolen. Cost $2100 to repair. The vehicle was stored and covered in a fenced and gated storage area. They stole 4 catalytic converters from 4 Rv’s.
Does anyone know of a panel that can shield the catalytic converter and make it difficult to take or another theft deterrent device.

[ITSNO60]

Originally Posted by Billb

I have just had my catalytic converter stolen. Cost $2100 to repair. The vehicle was stored and covered in a fenced and gated storage area. They stole 4 catalytic converters from 4 Rv’s.
Does anyone know of a panel that can shield the catalytic converter and make it difficult to take or another theft deterrent device.

Coincidentally there is a discussion of this going on at my welding forum. General consensus is a device using cables like this https://www.autoaccessoriesgarage.co...YaAoi6EALw_wcB is best to defeat the sawzall that they usually use. We had a car lot get a whole bunch of them cut out one weekend, the loser showed up on video but wasn't caught.

A device with the cables would be very hard to remove with a sawzall and they would need both a grinder to cut the cables and a sawzall to get thru the exhaust pipe as the grinder wouldn't have room to go all the way around the pipe, and they are unlikely to use two tools or spend much time at it. Plus there would be the extra work of removing the remains of the device from the cat before selling it.

Another reason for a cable type device is that it won't interfere with cooling as cats get very, very hot and boxing them in is not a good idea.

Of course a baseball bat would be better, but you'd have to be there.

[GetawA-S]

Our household alarm company in NC offers a "property protection" device that detects movement of the item to which it is attached. I believe the system is Honeywell. The hockey puck sized sensor does require a control panel, a cell tower, and an account that for us runs $35/mo. You could add motion sensors and a smoke detector if you go that route. The "protection" device is fairly sensitive - it might well detect the efforts of someone removing a catalytic converter.