Doorbell Cam Captures Moment Thief Steals Car. What Can You Do?

Automologist MAC gives us a simple solution for this growing problem. 

This is the somewhat creepy moment a thief in the UK appeared out of the nighttime gloom to use a technique called relay theft to steal a Mercedes Benz. The event happened in the wee hours of the morning in suburban England and was captured on the family home’s doorbell CCTV camera.

Many modern cars now utilise keyless entry and ignition systems. These on-board systems that were supposed to make our rides tougher to steal only need to sense a key fob for the doors to be unlocked and ignition to be activated. Thieves no longer need to be in possession of the keys. All they need to do is detect the key fob’s signal; to do this, they hold up a simple cable loop near doors or windows of the house to sweep for and detect the signal. The signal is then amplified to make the car believe that the key is next to the car and, hey presto, the car is open, on and gone.

According to the UK’s Automobile Association (AA), car thefts using relay loops have increased dramatically in the past year, from 104,000 in 2021 to 130,000 in 202, an increase of 27% and most of which were high-end cars. The new-age thieves, who usually work in pairs, do not need particularly high-end tech to manipulate the system, just a bit of know-how. Thieves can also access the on-board diagnostics to overcome any ‘jamming’ devices.

About 50% of all car theft around the world happens between midnight and 6am, outside the owner’s house. Making your car safe is not that easy, especially if you cannot park it on your own property and behind some form of lock. Using some sort of steering or clutch lock is effective, and making sure that the car is in a well-light area also helps. But with relay theft, what you need to do is put your keys in a place where the signal cannot get out of. To do this, you would need to get what is known as a Faraday Cage, and you can already get them easily. Basically, they are a pouch or box with a copper mesh through which radio signals do not pass.

A simple search on Google for a Faraday Pouch throws up literal thousands of options. Of course, being the cynic that I am, this leads me to believe that for there to be so many on the market already, the problem is probably much bigger than we are led to believe.\

image:BBC