Source:fbi.gov
Vehicle Theft
From 2011 through 2015, reported vehicle thefts averaged just under 707,000 per year. Industry experts estimate that vehicle thefts account for $4.95 billion in losses annually. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) estimates a national recovery rate of approximately 50-60 percent, making the average annual realized loss over $2 billion. In addition to the adverse economic impact, vehicle theft and its associated national and international criminal enterprises have been identified as having a strong nexus to threat financing where the vehicles are used as a medium or currency for worldwide financial transactions relating to drug trafficking, money laundering, terrorism, and RICO violations.
With a majority of stolen vehicles occurring in cities and states in close proximity to export areas such as international borders and seaports; it is believed that many unrecovered stolen vehicles are exported to Mexico and countries in Central America, Eastern Europe, West Africa, and Asia. The FBI focuses its limited resources on disrupting and dismantling the most sophisticated multi-jurisdictional criminal organizations responsible for the interstate and international trafficking of stolen vehicles, especially those that use the criminal proceeds from vehicle theft to fund other criminal activity.
