Man warns you should never approach a car if string is tied to the handle

A man has taken to TikTok with a spine chilling warning after a woman shared footage showing a car door with string tied to its handle.

A man has claimed you need to avoid returning to your car if you ever find something tied to the door handle as it could be a sign you’re the target of a malicious crime.

TikTok user Reece, who goes by the handle @achunkyguy, responded to a viral clip shared by another user, Shannon, who raised the alarm after noticing something suspicious in a car park.

Shannon, whose username is @ice.lemon.water, noticed that two separate cars in a US carpark had pieces of string or wire wrapped around the door handles.

She shared a clip of the incident which has since gone viral with over 20 million views.

In the footage, Shannon is sat in the front seat of her car when she notices the wire wrapped around the door handle of a near by car.

She wrote: “WTF is this a joke? Somebody better not get kidnapped.”

Soon after she spots another car with the exact same thing and panicked, adding: “We found a second one. I’m getting out of here.”

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Apparently string or wire tied to a car door handle is a well known tactic used by criminals to create distractions. Picture: TikTok/@ice.lemon.water

The clip left many wondering why it was a bad sign, prompting Reece to respond with his own series of clips to explain.

He said: “What you see on her car handle right there is wire. It can come in all different forms, but the reason people use wire is because it will distract you for longer.

“It takes you a long time to get it off, and even if you had wire cutters, it’ll still take you a minute.”

Reece warned that you should never approach your car alone if you see it on your car, saying he “can’t stress this enough”.

He continued: “The best thing you can do in that situation is go back to wherever you were that was the most populated and grab somebody to escort you to your car. And best case scenario, multiple people.

“Just know it’s not a good sign and just please stay safe.”

He said: “Tactics like this are being used in the US prominently but in the UK as well, where people will put stuff on your car to distract you for that split second, so they can grab you before you get into your car.”

Reece responded to Shannon’s clip to warn other woman about the technique used. Picture: TikTok/@achunkyguy

Shannon noticed two cars in one parking lot with the same thing, which is said to be a criminal distraction technique. Picture: TikTok/@ice.lemon.water

He mentions that other items can be used as well, not just wire, such as things slipped under windscreen wipers and placed on the bonnet.

Earlier this year, another TikTok user from Cincinnati, Ohio, shared her own scary experience after a potential kidnapper tried the same tactic.

In a viral TikTok video, Hayley spoke from her car while leaving a supermarket car park.

“I’m literally shaking right now the weirdest sh*t just happened to me,” she said.

“I’m leaving Fresh Thyme and I’m parked in this big parking lot. This guy was walking like kind of close to me, kind of not, but you could tell he was, like, staring at me while he was walking, and he yells over to me like, ‘Hey what’s your name?’

“I just ignored him and I kept walking and he just kept following me,” she went on.

“This man walks right up to my car and he’s like, ‘Come check out my car, it’s nice, it’s a Lexus, you like it?’ Like it’s my car!

“Though, I didn’t react to that, because that would have given away that it’s my car, although I think he already knows.

“I then went across the street to this TJ Maxx,” she said. “I got help, I made sure he wasn’t still out here.”

When she got back to her car, though, she spotted a water bottle sitting on the bonnet – and was more alarmed than ever.

Another TikTok user previously shared her own scary experience after finding a water bottle on her car bonnet. Picture: TikTok

Hayley was left shaken after being approached by someone in a car park. Picture: TikTok

“I don’t want that to correlate but that’s never happened to me. I just wanted to say be aware of your surroundings at all times, especially if you’re a woman, be careful out there,” she warned.

Her video went viral also and was picked up by a user named Elle who said she had every right to be scared.

“[Haley] was followed by a man and then when she came back to her vehicle after seeking out help a water bottle was left on the hood of her car,” Elle said.

She claimed in the clip that “this is a tactic used by traffickers and kidnappers to get you to exit your vehicle and take whatever is on top of the car.”

Ellie also claimed that ‘this is a tactic used by traffickers and kidnappers to get you to exit your vehicle and take whatever is on top of the car’. Picture: TikTok/Ellesb423

If something is on the bonnet of your car, she suggests leaving it, and when you drive away it will fall off on its own.

Ellie claimed that traffickers can also put GPS trackers on the bottom of a person’s car – so if you suspect anything or feel “extremely threatened” you should drive straight to a police station.

“Traffickers don’t care how old you are, they don’t care what you’re wearing they don’t care about your size, if they want you, they’ll try to get you,” she said.

“Always be aware of your surroundings, try to go shop with a friend I know it’s hard during COVID, keep pepper spray or protective device on you. Please stay safe.”

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission