Surrey car thieves target vehicles stuck in snow: police

RCMP in Surrey, B.C., are warning women whose cars are stuck in the snow to be careful when strangers offer to help.

Car thieves on separate occasions Monday drove off with two women's vehicles after offering to help get the vehicles back on the roads, Sgt. Roger Morrow said Tuesday.

A woman's 2007 Acura was stuck in her driveway near 160th Street and 80A Avenue Monday morning. A man in his 20s approached her and offered help.

"He tried to help me. He looked and seemed really nice," Sharan Sran told CBC News. "[But] I didn't think he's going to run away with my car."

"Not only was he able to get the vehicle out of the snow, but he fled with the car and the woman's purse," Morrow said.

About an hour and a half later, two men in a silver SUV pulled over and offered help to another woman, who lives about 14 blocks away.

One of them suggested that if he got into the driver's seat he could get the engine running. But once he freed the Honda Civic from the snow, he drove off. His friend drove off in the SUV.

The car thief in the first incident is described as six-foot-tall and in his mid-20s. He was wearing blue jeans and a black coat.

The other two thieves are described as a South Asian male and Caucasian male.