The Disturbing New Trick Thieves Are Using With Pennies and Your Car

It looks harmless at first glance—a single penny wedged into the handle of your car door. Most people might laugh, flick it away, and move on. But the next time you approach your car and see that flash of copper, don’t laugh. Don’t dismiss it. That penny could mean someone, somewhere, has already chosen you as their next target…

It looks innocent enough. You’re walking back to your car after grabbing groceries, juggling your keys, maybe sipping your coffee. That’s when you spot it—something small wedged into your car door handle. A penny. Just a copper coin glinting in the sunlight. At first, you laugh it off. Maybe a kid played a prank. Maybe it fell out of someone’s pocket. But what if I told you that penny could be the first sign you’re being set up?

Police and security experts have been warning about a disturbing trick that’s resurfacing across the U.S., and it’s targeting ordinary people in broad daylight. The tactic is simple, almost genius in its cruelty: thieves slide a penny into the passenger-side door handle. Why? Because that tiny piece of metal can jam the mechanism, making it harder for the door to lock properly. You think you’ve secured your car, you walk away confident, but in reality, someone’s watching, waiting for the moment you leave it unattended.

Imagine it: you push the button on your fob, hear the reassuring beep-beep, and stroll off into the store. But what you don’t realize is that one door never latched. That penny, cheap and unremarkable, left just enough of a gap for someone to slip inside. By the time you return, your glove compartment is rifled through, your purse is gone, maybe even the car itself.

For one woman in Texas, that nightmare became real. She left her vehicle in the parking lot of a shopping center and came back twenty minutes later to find the passenger door wide open. Her wallet, her phone, even a small family heirloom she kept in the console—all gone. Security footage later revealed a man waiting in the lot, watching as she walked away, before casually opening the door and helping himself. When police inspected the car, the officer held up a single coin and said, “This is how he got in.”