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The following warning concerning a mysterious white X subtly marked onto at least two vehicles in Texas was circulated online in May 2015. However, the theme of secret codes used by bands of outsiders for a range of purposes (typically criminal ones) is not new to modern lore and far predates the unusual markings spotted in Texas. Similar tales (each quite popular) have involved hidden markings bestowed upon the vehicles of gun shop customers and the homes of dog owners, presumably to target their owners for later acts of burglary or other untoward dealings. The seemingly mysterious 'X' markings on vehicles have simple explanations, ones that have nothing to do with criminal intentions: they're put there by manufacturers, vendors, used car dealers, auction houses, car washes, or auto repair facilities, and can indicate anything from which services or repairs a vehicle owner has requested to what types of work has already been performed on a vehicle. In short, they're guides to assist those who fix, sell, and clean cars, not come get me signals to car thieves. In any case, auto theft is overwhelmingly a crime of opportunity; hardly anyone but steal-to-order car thieves is going to bother with casing and marking cars for later boosting. Just before the warning about X marks on cars popped up in Texas in May 2015, several British tabloids reported upon a supposed housebreakers' code discovered via a tweet (and Facebook post) published by a police department in the UK: So groundbreaking was this April 2015 revelation by the Lanarkshire Police that the British press appeared to have suffered grave amnesia on the matter of new burgling innovations. Both the BBC and the Guardian had cracked the mysterious Da Pinchi Code way back in 2009, and the Telegraph only got wind of the burgeoning threat of chalk symbols four years later, in 2013. Like many claims of their ilk, what the housebreaker's code warnings rest upon is claimants who believe they were targeted as potential victims due solely to unexplained markings found on the outside of their homes (or near their property, or on their vehicles) even though no evidence demonstrated any ensuing attempt was mde to burgle or rob them. These rumors typically lack any demonstrable connection between a belief in the presumed purposed of the markings and the actual intent of the persons responsible for them, or any details as to how police could have conclusively determined that symbol X was linked to the commission of crime Y. Nearly all property crime is predicated upon the desire to enrich oneself or one's interests with minimal effort, and an element missing from the belief that thieves pre-mark homes to rob is one that fails to sufficiently explain where the added value in such a proposition lies. It's possible to burgle a home without first essaying a legend detailing its contents and the temperament of its occupants, an unpleasant reality of day-to-day life that plays out with unfortunate frequency. As mentioned in one of our articles about a similar legend, gangs of criminals working together can simply jot down the addresses of their targets and share them by a variety of means; there is no benefit or advantage to risking exposure and foul-ups by physically marking homes: The scant few incidents of this alleged form of crime described in UK media reports generally comprised folks simply reporting their impressions that they'd been targeted: The article included no information about who discovered this shibboleth and identified its meaning, nor did the elderly couple describe enduring a break-in at their home — the pair were simply targeted by an unspecified number of annoying door-to-door salesmen over a period of years, an unpleasant experienced shared by many residents living in unmarked homes. While it's possible the pattern of blocks could have been meant to signal other shady dealers of an easy mark, simple shoddy worksmanship is a much more likely explanation. Postscript:In January 2016, BBC News reported that the previously mysterious signs associated with the so-called Da Pinci Code were actually related to planned utility work.
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