A group of thieves broke into a New York City home and stole the keys to a $400,000 convertible Rolls-Royce Dawn.
But the gang had not bargained on what happened next: the owner tracking the luxury car down and taking it right back.
Surveillance camera footage sees the group breaking into the Staten Island home earlier in June by throwing a rock through the window in the middle of the night.
Two thieves wearing hoodies can be seen chucking a large rock through the rear patio doors to the home.
Thieves spotted a $400,000 convertible Rolls-Royce Dawn sitting in the driveway and then saw the keys through the window of a home in Staten Island
The bandits then smashed the window to the pricey Staten Island home
Starting at $356,500, the Rolls-Royce Dawn is the most expensive and luxurious convertible on the market (file photo)
The 38-year-old owner who has only been identified as John was awoken by the burglar alarm going off at his home in the leafy Lighthouse Hill neighborhood at around 4am.
The thieves were quick to grab the keys and make off with his 2017 Rolls-Royce Dawn sedan convertible which was parked outside.
'I was downstairs within seconds while they were pulling out of the driveway,' said John to the Staten Island Advance.
But unbeknownst to the bandits, their every move was being tracked by the car's owner thanks to an onboard GPS device as they crossed state lines into New Jersey.
John activated a built-in kill switch and disabled the car in the middle of Newark, New Jersey with the thieves unable to switch the ignition back on.
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The robbers were easily able to get inside the home in order to snatch the keys
'They were attempting to turn the car on, but they couldn't because I disabled it,' John explained.
He then went to Newark to pick his car up in person.
'Obviously my family is a little unnerved after everything that's gone on,' he said.
The theft of the Rolls is the latest in a string of break-ins and car thefts in the well-to-do neighborhood of Staten Island.
They include three car thefts on June 12 and another the following week on June 20.
In all cases, the robbers took the keys transportation from staten island to newark airport inside the home before stealing cars that were parked nearby.
The robbers then made a run for it but they were quickly stopped in their tracks after the cars owner activated a 'kill switch'
John says he believes the suspects responsible targeted him after spotting the luxury ride in his driveway and then saw the car keys through the window of his home.
'They had to have seen the key because of where it was sitting and that's why they broke the window,' he explained.
Law enforcement say Newark appears to be a base for thieves who trawl through real-estate websites in order to search for the priciest homes in borough with the intent of stealing luxury cars.
Surveillance footage from John's break-in is currently being examined by detectives. It is proving hard to identify those involved with many of the thieves wearing both masks and gloves.
New York