I got this in an e-mail from a member of the Toastmasters.
"Apparently some carjackers have set up a scheme in which they stick a piece of paper to the back window of a passing car driven by a woman. She puts the car in Park and gets out to take the paper off. The waiting carjackers get in and drive the car away, with the woman’s keys and purse inside, leaving her stranded holding the bag (the paper).
“Women should watch for this, and wait for a convenient spot, distant from where the paper appeared, to remove the paper unless it falls off of its own accord.”
This is how I posted the warning on the Classmates website, though I can’t vouch for its veracity.
Snopes says false: Are Carjackers Leaving Flyers and $100 Bills on Car Windows? | Snopes.com
The Snopes crime warning page is a pretty good source for almost any crime rumor; I always check there when I get any of those warnings, and usually there’s an article about it there.
Also, a thought on the version you apparantly recieved, where they stick the paper on the window of a passing car. If someone did that to my car (assuming I was going slow enough for him to do this without getting himself hood-ornamented), I really don’t think I’d stop anywhere near them to get out of my car.
I think I would have a good mind to back up and squirt the paper-placer in the eye. With a water pistol full of ammonia water. THEN take off. :eek:
That’s why I always carry a water pistol full of ammonia. Vindicated!
I think the idea is to put the paper on the back of the car in the parking lot while the owner is shopping, lie in wait, and hope that the paper isn’t noticed until they get in the car (but before the owner leaves the parking lot. Seems like a fairly flawed scheme.
dougie_monty writes:
> This is how I posted the warning on the Classmates website, though I can’t
> vouch for its veracity.
You’ve been on the SDMB a long time, so I’m surprised you would do this. In general, don’t pass on any sorts of warnings sent you in E-mail that have been forwarded around the Internet. The chances that it’s about real events is very small. You can usually find the E-mail debunked at Snopes. Generally the events warned about are theoretically possible but unlikely and so far nonexistent. When you post warnings about such things, all you do is increase the general paranoia level without actually preventing any even slightly possible events.
Your point is well taken; however, that I would post something in this manner is rare indeed; the person who e-mailed it to me is older than I am and someone I respect. I would not consider it likely he would give me a bum steer.
In any case, I think it’s wise for all women (including my own mother, who is 77) to watch out for the very real weirdoes who are all too common out there, with or without “flyers.” 
I feel this irresistable urge to increase my general paranoia level, but I just can’t put my finger on why.
I know. And the damndest thing - I have a feeling that it wouldn’t actually preventing any even slightly possible events…
?? Why would you think that when the OP said “…they stick a piece of paper to the back window of a passing car…”? (Bolding mine.)
I think a key feature of all these kinds of warnings is that they come up with ingenious and unusual ways in which crimes might be committed. Apart from the fact that there are obvious flaws in the described method (you have to stick a bit of paper to a moving vehicle, ensure you get it in a place that obscures visability, assume that the driver stops immediately, hope that noone else is too close to prevent you from jumping in the car/stealing stuff, etc), you have to think it’s just quicker, easier and safer (for you as a criminal) to break into a parked car or, if you are carjacking, just to order the driver out by gunpoint or something.
And on preview, I think that’s the longest single sentence I’ve ever written on SDMB!!
I gotta say, not Pit worthy, but this attitude bugs me no end. Most women already ARE all to aware that there are rapists, carjackers, and muggers out there. They generally don’t need a fake crime alert to remind them. You are either on your guard and smart about public interaction or you are not. This sort of thing, IMHO, spreads panic and fear into people who don’t know any better.
I meant to add, when I first moved to Charlotte, NC we had a rash of carjackings- must be ours didn’t get the memo, because they weren’t scamps who put a piece of paper on a car, they pulled guns out at a stoplight, stuck it in the victim’s face, and stole the car. Carjackers in general, I would expect, prefer the quick and dirty method of crimminal activity to the “I know, I’ll play a trick! Won’t they be surprised!” method.
I’m a very large young man, and I, for one, would nail the gas if someone tried pulling this with my car. I can’t imagine most women would react differently, although my reflexes might include slapping the car in reverse if this happenned…
My boss, who is older than me, is a super-intelligent woman. She has practiced law for years, and is about the sharpest attorney in this firm. Yet she still falls for these “look out for this new tricky way the crooks are out to get you” e-mails and forwards them on to me. I’d love to snopes them for her, but she’s my boss and I find it more politically correct to affect gratitude for her looking out for me.
As if to illustrate this point, years ago I snopesed something that a cow-orker forwarded to me. I sent it back to her with the link proving it was false, and she hasn’t talked to me since. Ya can’t win!
If a glurge-forwarder who gets offended when learning the truth stops talking to you, you have won.