Stolen catalytic converter?!?

[Madhouse]

So a friend sent me a text a few minutes ago saying her catalytic converter had been cut off her car in a parking lot while she was in a store.  Wtf!!

I hadn't heard of this before, so I looked it up and found it to be a fairly common thing.  Unreal.  I hate thieves.

[techmike]

Here also - we used to leave our cars at Belle Tire the night before if we needed service - can't do that anymore. Almost makes one think of setting out "bait" for those low-lifes.  :auto:

[imschur]

Bear traps  :thumb:

[lmao_37]

I have never heard of cats getting stolen but back in the early 90's it was common for cars to be stolen and the thieves to steal the air bags.

[rodent.22]

It got so bad here in central Virginia that the recycling centers are required to copy ID and license numbers when purchasing these ''used'' converters. The converters have platinum coated pellets inside and these are what makes the converters valuable. The problem is- a converter that is sawed off the bottom of a car with a sawzall and brings $35.00- $65.00 at a scrap yard could cost up to a couple thousand bucks to replace new. The scumbags will always steal something, but the recycling centers that purchase 10 converters a day from some punk obviously knows these are not legitimate takeoffs.....

[Microgunner]

Same problem down here as well as home air conditioner units being stolen at an alarming rate for their copper.

Scrap yards here are also required to get IDs and thumb prints now.

[asmurff]

Here it is also any type of copper, thieves broke into a large building remodel which went belly up with the economy and stripped it of almost all the copper wiring and pipes. The developer had gone bankrupt and there was no security on the site.

The salvage yards here are not know for their honesty.

[imschur]

It's bad here. No safeguards in place or they are not enforced. They steal manhole covers, storm drain covers, wheels, aluminium bleachers and all the stuff previously mentioned