Man ‘feels so stupid’ over what happened to him in Spain

A cyclist has issued a warning after falling prey to a sophisticated roadside scam that resulted in the theft of thousands of pounds worth of equipment. Global Cycling Network's Conor Dunne[1] was driving along the AP7 road that links Barcelona with France when the drama unfolded. The 33-year-old, who had participated in the Traka gravel race, was with a cameraman when they were signalled to stop by another vehicle using flashing headlights and gesturing urgently. After pulling over, they were distracted by one thief while another stealthily stole their camera gear and personal items.

In a distressing turn of events, as the criminals made their getaway, throwing Conor and his colleague's passports out of the window, presumably to prevent pursuit. In a video on GCN[2], Conor said Spanish police told him it was a little-known trick that many people fell for - he was apparently not the first person that day to fall victim to it. Authorities reportedly suspect a gang is targeting unsuspecting travellers in the region. Conor expressed his shock at the incident as he said: "I have learned that this is a really common thing to happen on the AP-7 motorway between Girona, the French border, and Barcelona."

"I have never heard of it in my life. I've had teammates living in Girona and Andorra. I feel so stupid, but I have never heard of it, and I don't know anyone who has heard of it either.

"I thought it was the police so I thought I was doing the right thing. You don't have to stop for an unmarked police car if you are not 100 per cent sure it is a police car, so the advice is just to drive slowly to a police station. Apparently these guys are part of a highly organised ring."

The situation has escalated to such an extent that there are signs warning drivers not to stop for other vehicles. Dunne said that the police even had photographs of the suspected perpetrator, which he picked out.

The British Embassy in Madrid has previously issued a similar warning, urging holidaymakers to "watch out for ruthless gangs of modern-day highway robbers who are preying on people driving foreign-registered vehicles and hire cars." In Catalonia alone, over a two-year span, authorities handled cases involving 126 British nationals who were robbed on the AP-7 motorway stretching from the French border to Valencia.

Conor said: "We headed to the airport, got on the motorway, and literally played one song on the radio as we came down the slip road onto the motorway and we started relaxing for a bit. Then everything just happened. "The time was weird - it was just all so fast.

The guy came up next to us in a car and pointed at my front wheel. We had been filming in a rough, gravelly car park so I just thought maybe I've got a puncture and this guy came round me put his hazards on to slow our vehicle down. We slowed to about 60KPH on the motorway and I just thought 'what the hell is going on?'.

"I went round him and carried on and he was really animated, saying 'you need to stop' and pointing at the car. It was a new car, no scratches, and part of me thought maybe he was an undercover cop and he has seen my car has a problem and he wants to pull me over. There was only one guy so I just stopped.

"We pulled over, stayed in the car, and he came out and seemed friendly enough. He was pointing at the wheel saying 'you need to come and see the wheel'. In hindsight, you feel so stupid but at the time, I thought i would get out and see the wheel.

"It was just one guy and you could see through the back of the car and there was nobody else. We got out and were looking at the wheel, and then, in hindsight, it was so clever how he did it. He distracted us, shouted in Spanish over the noise of the motorway, and my Spanish couldn't keep up.

"He brought us round to the back of the car - this was all 20 seconds - and suddenly he just left. We got back in our car then we saw him throw some stuff out and Liam said, 'why is he throwing stuff out of our car?' and we realised it was our passports and our wallets and then the penny dropped. We looked back and all of our bags had gone, my bag with my personal belongings, entire camera kit, two camera bodies, all the lenses, brand new drone, the entire film from the Traka which was in the hard drives in the bag.

"I think what's key about this that was the main thing to trip us up, was that we always thought there was just one guy in the car that stopped with us the whole time.

We had our eyes on him always, but he was just distracting while a second hidden guy -or two - got out and stole from the other side of our car without us seeing.

It's crazy how he managed this."

References

1. ^ Global Cycling Network's Conor Dunne (www.globalcyclingnetwork.com)
2. ^ In a video on GCN (www.youtube.com)