Portland police say car thieves are using ‘deception’ to steal from unsuspecting drivers

Portland police are alerting the public to a type of “deception” that thieves are using to lure drivers out of their cars so the thieves can steal them.

Police on Saturday described four separate instances this past week when two to four teenage boys or young men reportedly ran up to victims’ cars “frantically” yelling that something was wrong with the car or something was hanging out of the back of it. In some of the cases, the victims banged on the cars. When the drivers got out to check, the suspects got in the car and drove off, police said.

The suspects didn’t threaten or injure the drivers, who are all women. All of the thefts happened in Southeast Portland:

• Tuesday at about 3 p.m., a Ford Fusion was stolen from a 29-year-old woman near Southeast 28th and Woodward Street, a residential neighborhood. The car was recovered unoccupied the next day more than three miles away, near Mt. Scott Park in the 5700 block of Southeast 72nd Avenue.
• Tuesday at about 5:45 p.m., a Subaru Outback was taken from a 47-year-old woman near Southeast Tibbetts Street and Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard. Three days later it was discovered parked near Northeast 119th Avenue and Sandy Boulevard, near Parkrose High School.
• Thursday at about 4:30 p.m. a Subaru Outback was stolen from a 75-year-old woman at Southeast 28th Avenue and Franklin Street, which is next to Cleveland High School and just four blocks south of the first theft on Tuesday.
• Twenty minutes later, a Kia Sorento was taken from a 36-year-old woman at Southeast Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard and Lambert Street, a residential neighborhood.

Police advise that drivers don’t open their doors and instead drive away if they’re approached in a similar fashion. Anyone with information about these thefts is asked to email crimetips@portlandoregon.gov.

— Aimee Green; agreen@oregonian.com; @o_aimee