Offered for sale

Cheeky thief simply towed away eleven caravans

The thief stole the caravans from long-term campers and sold them on

(Bild: P. Huber)

It was simple and cheeky: a thief simply towed away eleven caravans during the winter and spring months this year and sold most of them. He clumsily offered them for sale on an internet platform and two police officers promptly appeared on the doorstep as buyers of a vehicle stolen in Enns.

Starting in January 2024, caravans kept disappearing, mostly from permanent campsites in Upper and Lower Austria. The victims often only noticed the disappearance weeks later when they went to check on their vehicles or summer homes. 

Owner recognized her caravan
And the robbery would probably have continued if a woman from Enns had not accidentally discovered her own caravan on an internet sales platform. She was clever, wrote to the seller as an interested party and at the same time informed the theft experts at the Upper Austrian State Office of Criminal Investigation. They got involved as customers and arranged a meeting in the northernmost part of Burgenland on the border with Slovakia. There, the seller directed the investigators to an abandoned railroad station site where two caravans and various other vehicles and trailers were parked.

After inspecting the parked caravans, it was established beyond doubt that the Enns woman's caravan was also there and the handcuffs clicked.

No paper, no matter
During the subsequent interrogation, the unemployed man from Lower Austria (34) confessed and admitted to stealing a total of eleven caravans for 200,000 euros. He drove up in his car with a trailer coupling, attached the caravans and drove off with them. During the sale, he openly stated that he had no papers. But that didn't bother the buyers, as they wanted to use the caravans as permanent campers anyway. Three caravans were seized, the rest are gone.

Also insurance fraud
A trailer was also seized at the station site, which the accused had officially purchased but reported as stolen - he had collected the insurance money.