I think it appropriate to add yet another warning for those who drive in Barcelona. We were departing the City when suddenly we were alerted to a flat tire by both the car’s tire monitor and also by a motorbike traveling alongside us as we were about to enter the motorway. I had earlier noticed a motorbike immediately behind and to the right of the car when we stopped at a traffic light, but made no connection. He signaled to us not to take the route I was aiming for to get off the road, and so we followed his directions to take a quick turn to a quiet street that seemed ideal to deal with changing a tire. As this was a leased car from the French short-term lease program, our license plate was red, easily noticed from a distance as a lease. Very soon after we started to deal with trying to find the spare / jack / tools on the Citroen, a local guy appeared on the scene and conveyed that he could not speak English but that he would help up get the spare on. We had unloaded our luggage from the car to get the tools, and he consulted with a YouTube video to see how to remove the spare. Shortly after another local appeared, offering broken English about where to find a tire repair shop, and also pointing out a very tiny wire or nail in the center of the tread that was surely the cause of the flat. There were 4 of us in the car, and apparently we all were not paying as much attention to the car as we were concentrating on getting the spare on. At the end, even I tipped the fellow who was so enthusiastic (almost excessively) to finish the job. When he drove off, he waived and smiled that he had helped us out. Two minutes later we discovered that two backpacks that were inside the car the whole time were missing…The confusion was our downfall, and their opportunity, but they were very slick.

The local Police office we not far away, and the senior officer who they summoned immediately asked us if we happened to have seen a motorbike direct us to a safe place to change a tire. We later learned from the tire shop that the sidewall had been stabbed, ruining the tire, and setting up the heist. The Police says that it happens at least twice a month, by a very organized crew that use two different spots to steal from tourists. The tire shop said that they see it monthly, and our traveling companions from Norway learned that many with plates from outside of Spain have been similarly targeted. At least we did not get hurt, but just that morning we were commenting that we didn’t experience any hint of being targeted by pickpockets while spending a total of 5 days in Barcelona. I will not visit there again.

scary stuff....

Sadly this is not restricted to Barcelona.
Never ever follow the instructions of a "helpful" motorist/motorcyclist/bystander. Sad but the way of the world I am afraid.

Amen.

unfortunately, I think that's true. Any helpful people who magically just show up for various problems are invariably doing illegal things. Makes you not want to rent a car in some places. I could understand pickpocketing or stealing phones/whatever more easily than stealing entire backpacks from a car as the majority of stuff in them would be of no value to you (like old clothes, etc.). And then you'd have a lot of stuff to get rid of. I suppose guys like that don't care and just dump it all someplace.

We had something similar happen in Buenos Aires.

4 in the car would indicate day packs which could very well hold wallets and passports. Italy's roads south of Rome used to be notorious for that type of event.

One more reason why I will will continue to take, as I always have, the train to any of the many Spanish towns and cities that are served by that country's great rail system.

Very true. I learned that the hard way in my own home town, NY, as part of "the mustard scam". Unfortunately, when it's happening you don't realize anything is amiss, but now.....forewarned is forearmed.

Thanks for the heads up and sorry to hear about being scammed. Just when you think you can trust someone, they turn out to be thieves.

Sorry you got robbed. it is a very old robbery technique.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Barcelona/c..._in_barcelona/
https://www.barcelona-tourist-guide....fety-tips.html
Rental cars, no matter what registration is used are easy identifiable. Stickers of agency, number plate holders with agency name. Fuel type stickers near the filler.