Bike Index Uncovers Facebook reseller of bikes stolen in Colorado
I know several people that have been impacted by bike thefts in Colorado over the last two years and I’ve always wondered where the bikes actually end up. Well, Bike Index did some investigating and turned up a Facebook reseller in Mexico selling bikes stolen from individuals, shops and even manufacturers in Colorado. Alexander’s Bikes is up to no good and appears to be operating a full blown organized crime ring.
Here’s the synopsis of what they found if you’re pressed for time:
- In early 2021 several people tipped Bike Index off to a Facebook seller in Mexico that appeared to be selling bikes stolen from Colorado
- Bike Index confirmed there were many stolen bikes in that seller’s sales in our initial examination – but we wanted more confirmation
- We then enlisted the help of the Colorado cycling community and confirmed even more stolen bike matches
- Since February 2021, Bike Index has been capturing a record of all the seller’s listed bikes – screenshots, prices, descriptions, etc.
- We have spoken to many victims already, but there are likely many more victims that we haven’t spoken to yet whose stolen bikes are in this archive
- We are publishing this seller’s archive of bikes here, so other theft victims can look through these bikes – and to highlight the problem re: stolen bikes being moved out of state and fenced on Facebook
- We are publishing this archive on the heels of the Colorado AG’s announcement about ‘Operation Vicious Cycle‘, which hinted at bikes from Colorado being fenced in Mexico – but did not go into any detail re: that
- The Google doc manifest – with link to stolen bike images – is here but please consider reading this article to learn how to navigate and search it
