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Japanese man and his two wives steal rental cars using hidden GPS devices
Mitsuhisa Kobayashi, an unemployed 30-year-old in the small town of Itami northeast of Osaka, Japan, has been caught in an ingenious plot to steal cars.
Kobayashi worked with his two ex-wives. The women would rent a car, bringing it to Mr. Kobayashi. He had been a worker at an auto plant, and was able to attach a GPS device to a car where it would operate even while the car was turned off. A wife would return the car, and then Kobayashi would track it when someone else rented it.
When he saw his chance — the car parked in a lot, say, with the current customer elsewhere — Kobayashi would use a key copy he’d made and steal the car.
Unfortunately it didn’t last: both of his ex-wives’ identification cards, used when renting the cars, were outdated and reflected a still-married status, as well as Kobayashi’s home address. When the ruse was discovered, finding the culprit was easy.
In total, the man and the women managed to steal eight cars. When police arrested him, three of the cars were in his possession. The other five, he said, he’d sold “on the internet.” The reason he gave for the whole scheme was that he wanted to drive nice cars.
The women have also been contacted by the Nishinomiya Police. Exactly what they got out of the scheme is unclear.
