Luxury car owners who leave their precious possessions with valets at high-end spots in the Tampa area have more to worry about than dings on doors and dented fenders.
According to a Friday Facebook post from the Tampa Police Department, there’s been an uptick in reports of pricey cars being snatched from unattended valet stations in the area.
In the first video, taken at International Plaza, a mall with a number of designer stores and upscale restaurants, a man wearing a black cap and black shirt is seen hanging around an unmanned valet.
After a few seconds, he snatches some keys from the stand as another man, his alleged accomplice, in a white shirt and similar black cap approaches him and they begin to chat.
The scene moves to the mall’s parking garage as the first man dashes to a white Mercedes compact SUV and slides behind the wheel.
The second surveillance video in the post was taken at the parking lot outside Ciro’s, a fancy cocktail bar in the Tampa Bay area. A man in a black cap is seen taking keys from an unmanned stand while another man looks on, and then getting into a dark-colored Mercedes SUV.
It’s unclear if the men are the same individuals seen in the first video.
The agency’s FB post advises businesses to make sure that their stands are never left unattended and telling customers to always ask if their keys are securely stored.
Commenters left a number of surprised face emojis, with one woman writing, “This is my biggest fear of using valet parking.”
None of the vehicles, which also include a Lamborghini and a Land Rover, have been recovered,