Have You Had Your Bike Stolen?

My friend Bryan from Spectre Apparel had his CBR stolen in LA on May 14th of 2012. After much research, he found out it had been sold through the website autobidmaster.com after it was retitled to Oklahoma as a salvage and the VIN was slightly altered. It was sold on May 29th, just over two weeks after it was jacked.

The reason I’m posting this is not only to give you some tips on how to find your stolen motorcycle via searching the internet, but also warn others in the Los Angeles area who may be victims of the same thieves. Read on for more info.

The background used to photograph Bryan’s stolen CBR is used on many other listings on this website, meaning it could be a large theft operation. Check the autobidmaster.com listings for your bike or perhaps bikes of friends that have been stolen in the last year.

Now for tips on finding your bike being sold online.

Don’t just search ebay
Check major craigslist cities (they often check lesser cities and surrounding areas)
Use google to scrub websites using the vin number (directions following)

How to search for your VIN # using google

Define which website you want to search using “site:” followed by the URL (no space, no www. preface)
Paste either full or part of your VIN (entering a portion of your VIN will give you the ability to find your bike if they changed only some of the numbers)
Search
Repeat for other auto sale and auction websites. You can also do this for craigslist (example site:portland.craigslist.com).

And remember, whether your motorcycle is a fancy new sportbike or an old “ran when parked” project… make sure you file a police report when your motorcycle is stolen, and always have the registration up to date and in your name.

In case you’re curious… here’s the message Bryan sent me with more info about the CBR theft incident:

Hey Moto Lady In search for finding my replacement CBR which was stolen. I found the stolen one on an auction site I never new existed. you may be able to put the word out as you have a great following. My bike was stolen may 14 2012 it sold on the is site autobidmaster.com on may 29 2012. For some reason they still have it listed. The background in the pics is used behind quite a few bikes on the site from LA. So this may be a high theft ring operation. They retitled it to Oaklahoma by changing 3 digits in the vin# and auctioning it as salvage. LAPD has tracked the bike to HONG KONG China…. They now know the shipping company auction details etc. My main thing is to get the word out about this site because folks automatically tend to search EBAY and like myself neglect these other sites for their stolen bikes.

Cheers,
Bryan

(Top photo: Dennis Dindy, flickr creative commons)

☣