Car thieves are increasingly using high-tech equipment to steal vehicles, making it look easier than ever.
While the number of cars stolen in the USA has dropped to half what it used to be over the past 2 decades, insurance investigators now believe that criminals have managed to take advantage of the remote keyless systems’ weak spots, giving them the ability to unlock and start cars with ease, as reported by CBS News.
“You can’t stop this kind of theft right now,” Roger Morris of the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) said.
He then explained that the procedure of stealing a car this way demands two devices; the first one is used by a person standing nearby, intercepting the fob’s specific code when the owner is using it. The code then is being sent to the second device that mimics the vehicle’s key fob.
With the second device armed and ready, the thief can easily unlock and start the car as easy as if he had the factory key. The NICB has made its own tests on 35 vehicles with a similar system, with the testers being able to open, start and drive off in 18 of them.
The NICB performed these break-ins using devices developed by a company that works with law enforcement agencies for this kind of tests, with Morris saying that professional car thieves know how to make their own versions.
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