A Vietnamese man disguised as a customer has attempted to steal a high-end scooter from a shop in Ho Chi Minh City, and been caught in the act by a security camera.

The entire incident which happened on May 13 at a grocery store owned by Ly Duy Thinh in Go Vap District was recorded by a surveillance camera installed inside the venue.

The footage appears to show that the man, wearing a face-mask, a grey sweater and red helmet, was pretending to look for chewing gum packs on sale at the store.

As he approached the counter, he laid his hands on Thinh’s SH scooter, a luxury brand produced by Honda, and checked whether its handlebars had been locked as the camera recorded.

Occupying the shopkeeper’s wife by having her select packets of gum, the man turned his gaze around the room and locked on the vehicle. 

After purchasing the gum, he hopped on an Exciter motorbike and was carried away by another man.

Five minutes later, the man returned to the shop, crept toward the vehicle, and attempted to hack the scooter’s lock, before the alarm went off and he fled with his companion, who was waiting outside.

“Hearing the alarm, I rushed outside immediately and saw two men fleeing by bike,” Thinh recounted, adding that his scooter’s lock was damaged with a part of the attempted thief’s hacking tool stuck there.

 Thinh has since installed a new security system solely for the vehicle.

“As the shop is quite small, I just equip a camera to supervise it,” he said.

“But it is much better to have someone keep an eye on the shop.”

The man gazes around the room while pretending to buy gum.

Ly Duy Thinh, the shop owner, stands next to his SH scooter on May 13, 2016.

A part of the hacking tool stuck in the scooter’s lock

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