Among the many downsides of being under lockdown or practicing social distancing is the fact that our cars end up parked in our driveways or up the street for extended periods of time, while we’re (hopefully) all at home being mindful of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Well, it just so happens there are plenty of crooks out there and apparently they are not shying away from exploiting the situation to their benefit.
Just look at what’s been happening in Quincy, IL, where surveillance footage shows a large group of people stopping in the middle of the street, only to rush out and see which vehicles have their doors unlocked.
Watch: A BMW M2 Competition Gets Stolen In A Keyless Relay Attack
The incident took place earlier this week and patrol officer Tom Miller told WGEM that more than 20 cars were broken into on Wednesday night. According to him, four individuals already admitted to stealing things like change, phone chargers and sunglasses.
“Remember back before the key fobs came out, everybody had to manually lock your doors,” said Miller. “We probably need to go back to that time frame now. Everybody is supposed to be in their house, so send one of the kids out or something to make sure all the car doors are locked.”
How worried should I be?
Since this is more “amateur hour” than anything else, probably not too much. However, you should be more worried about professionals car thieves, the ones that use keyless relay attacks by copying the signal from your key fob at close range, using it not only to open your car, but to drive off in it. With people quarantined inside their houses, their vehicles will be more vulnerable than ever to these types of thefts.
If you’re really serious about it, the best thing you can do in this situation is to keep your car key inside a metal box, or some type of ‘faraday cage’, thus preventing the relay box from picking up the signal and tricking your car into opening up for the wrong person.