Brooklyn, NY – Unscrupulous Towing Companies Targeting Unsuspecting Motorists

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    Dee Voch photographer Hershi Rubinstein, caught a tow truck in action at Caesar’s Bay Bazaar shopping center in Brooklyn, NY, On July 29 2011. Mr. Rubinstein was the first to publicly report on this scam more then 3 years ago.Brooklyn, NY – A scam being perpetrated by local tow-truck companies has motorists on edge.

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    The New York Post reports (http://bit.ly/SsVxSv) that unscrupulous tow-truck drivers are towing legally parked cars – usually from shopping center parking lots – and hiding the vehicles around the corner out of the line of sight of the owners. The tow drivers then contact the owners and demand $200 for the return of the vehicle. If the owner refuses to pay, the tow driver tells them they will need to retrieve their car from the impound lot for a $100 fee.

    This scam is successfully pulled off an estimated 20 times per hour, according to the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA). Since October 2009, over 50 towing companies have had their licenses yanked and another 19 saw their licenses suspended following an influx of consumer complaints to 311. The worst offender, Fastway Towing & Recovery of Brooklyn, illegally towed over 1,200 cars before going out of business.

    “The kind of purposeful fraudulent activity from Fastway has been seen in dozens of other tow companies,” Department of Consumer Affairs Commissioner Jonathan Mintz told the Post. “That’s why DCA has responded with such broad and massive investigation, not just to make an example of here and there.”

    Because the towing companies only hide the vehicles, but technically do not steal them, they cannot be criminally charged with larceny, the DCA said.


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    21 Comments
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    11 years ago

    This is outrageous. There’s nothing we can do about this?

    cynic
    cynic
    11 years ago

    If the story really is accurate as relayed by the NY Post reporter then this surely is Grand Theft Auto. So either she’s got it wrong – for example, people may have left their cars in the lots while walking across the street, etc., or the District Attorney has yet another embarrassment to explain away.

    11 years ago

    So much for all the brilliant commenters on this post http://www.vinnews.com/88307/2011/07/29/brooklyn-ny-vin-community-alert-cars-being-towed-at-caesar’s-bay-bazaar/
    to say that the Jewish people parking there were wrong.

    Just another instance of the self haters being proven wrong in a spectacular way.

    DACON9
    DACON9
    11 years ago

    and parking lots in NYC that disconnect your battery so when you got for your car it doesnt start and they give you the rush job that it has to be towed out of their lot and be repaired in their garage across the street.
    OPEN YOUR HOOD..LOOK FOR DISCONNECTED WIRES
    THAT THEY WILL HCARGE YOU HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS TO RECONNECT’
    All you need to do is snap them back in place. Do not be intimidated.Call police at once

    11 years ago

    Those specific tow truck operators, are the lowest of the lowest, as they make a black eye for the honest, hard working tow truck operators, and owners. Years ago, I legally parked my car on a street, not too far from the downtown area, where I was working. When I came back, I found that my car had been moved (evidently by a tow truck) to an area, about 30 feet away. Evidently, the municipality decided to pave the area where my car and others were parked, but never gave us any advance notice. Another time, I legally parked my car on another street. While my car was parked, the same municipality decided to install parking meters, where my car was parked. Again, there was no advance notice. When I came back, the violatioflag on the meter was on. Fortunately, I didn’t receive a ticket!

    Wise-Guy
    Wise-Guy
    11 years ago

    I don’t understand why this isn’t theft/larceny.
    How is this different than teenagers stealing a car and going for a joy-ride and then leaving the car a few blocks away?

    Isn’t it theft at least during transit?

    Sending a few Tow-operators to prison would certainly curtail this scam…

    from-here_to-there
    from-here_to-there
    11 years ago

    the tow trucks should be confiscated by the city to prevent the owners from painting them and opening under a new name.

    11 years ago

    They all took lesson from NYPD to tow ileagaly cars.
    NYPD tows every day ileagaly and there’s no 1 to stop them.

    Dr_Bert_Miller
    Dr_Bert_Miller
    11 years ago

    Obviously, these gangsters are not concerned about halacha. However, if one of these fellows asks you about the halacha, tell him to check out Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 348:1 – even hiding someone’s item as a “joke” is prohibited.

    11 years ago

    Thanks to ben lapin for exposing these crooks and not taking this quietly.It shows that if we see something wrong we should all apeak up.

    wakeUp_k1al-yisroel
    wakeUp_k1al-yisroel
    11 years ago

    “”””Because the towing companies only hide the vehicles, but technically do not steal them, they cannot be criminally charged with larceny, the DCA said.””””

    Now we know the rules….

    shredready
    shredready
    11 years ago

    Because the towing companies only hide the vehicles, but technically do not steal them, they cannot be criminally charged with larceny, the DCA said.

    this makes no sense what ever every crook can say that I did not steal your jewelry I just hide it in my house i

    amicable
    amicable
    11 years ago

    Taking the money is larceny by trick and also criminal fraud

    shredready
    shredready
    11 years ago

    Perhaps the most notorious offender was the now-defunct firm Fastway Towing & Recovery of Brooklyn.

    The company and its owner, Zbigniew Filipowicz, were hit with $1.2 million in fines and forced to surrender the firm’s towing license after it was found to have improperly towed some 1,200 cars, DCA documents show.

    11 years ago

    Many of these towing companies are doing a public service and should be commended. There are several well know locations around BP and Willy where eruv shabbos (especially in the winter with earlier licht benchen) are like the wild, wild west. Yidden just leave their cars double and triple parked near markets or outside mikvahs blocking others and run inside on the theory that their selfish need to prepare for shabbos trumps anyone else’s rights and needs. Fortunately, these tow trucks (both city and private) have begun a crackdown and the last few weeks and have towed hundreds of cars. Imagine coming out of the mikvah and finding all the groceries that you wife sent you out to buy for shabbos are all gone, along with your car. To th tow-truck drivers, keep up the good work.

    bored
    bored
    11 years ago

    Acc. To shulchan aruch if you take someone’s item with intention of returning it and did this in order to cause that person Tzaar, it is called stealing. Accordingly these goyim are Chayav their due punishment for stealing.

    11 years ago

    This is like communist Russia…!