A young Thai couple lost their life savings when their food caravan was stolen from a car park.
But the brazen theft was caught on camera, and the pair are hoping someone will recognise the distinctive van that drove off with their "everything" in the early hours of Sunday morning.
CCTV footage provided by the Massey fruit and vegetable shop where the caravan was taken shows a man in a red van with a white roof and tinted windows hooking the trailer up and driving away.
Chanidsara 'Eve' Supra-At Taku, 30, and Gritsaru 'Ize' Janshinorat, 29, had started up the food truck business selling chicken and pork buns and dumplings five months ago, and said they invested about $25,000 into the caravan and equipment.
They hoped to save enough money to buy a home and start a family.
To set up the business, Eve had worked two jobs, six days a week. She spent her days in an office and her evenings waiting tables.
"It's been hard to save up money since we've been in Auckland. I've been working from 10am to 2am," she said.
"Auckland is expensive - as anyone living here will tell you, so it's been hard. It's big money for us," she said.
The white caravan with aluminium base, which contained new cooking equipment and a generator, was not insured.
"What a lowlife scumbag," Ize's Kiwi stepfather Bill Gin said of the thief.
"They worked so hard to get where they are - this is a huge setback for them. The caravan is their livelihood."
"It's a material thing that can be replaced, but it's a real setback for them."
The pair hoped that someone would recognise the van, or notice their caravan, so that they could get back to business.