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Car thieves have been targeting surfers up and down California’s coast in waves in recent years. Every year or so new stories pop up of a rash of robberies — surfers leaving their cars near the beach, and returning to find their car broken into or gone altogether. The latest reports of this are coming out of San Diego’s Pacific Beach area, specifically with local residents along Pacific View Drive saying they’ve seen the thieves in action.
The scene isn’t very complex: a surfer finishes getting ready and slyly slips their car keys under their car bumper or into a wheel well, completely clueless that someone was watching them all along. You can imagine the rest.
According to local CBS 8 news, San Diego police are reporting just eight vehicle thefts in the area since January 2025, and overall crimes have decreased in the area over that period too. That puts into perspective just how rare this old racket of targeting surfers and beachgoers is. But there have been two thefts reported just in the past month, so nobody wants to see it become a trend.
Editor’s Note: You can find waterproof key pouches our editors have tested here.
