Locked cars rifled. No sign of physical damage.

By reporter Steven Smalley

It’s happened several times recently on 27th Avenue – owners with locked cars come outside to find them unlocked and ransacked, their valuables stolen. How is this possible? How can criminals get inside a locked car without causing any physical damage or obvious signs of forced entry?

One local Magnolia IT professional, who wishes anonymity, found his late-model car opened and possessions missing even though he always secures it.

“We religiously keep our car locked, including the alarm feature,” he says. “In the past six months we’ve come out three times where the car has been unlocked in the morning. It’s been really strange.”

After his car was gone through a few days ago, he walked down his Magnolia street to see if others had similar experiences.

“I found four cars,” he explains. “All of them were wide open without any physical damage. I guess for now we can think our cars can be opened at any time.”

Nationally, police and insurance companies possess video evidence of thieves opening secured cars with unknown electronic devices that has law enforcement stumped. There is even a famous case of soccer star David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 getting ripped-off without a trace.

Published reports suggest the answer may be as easy as plunking down a hundred bucks on Craig’s List.

National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), a trade group for auto insurers, has a YouTube production you can see here revealing surveillance video of criminals effortlessly opening cars. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqYJi6DV21A

Magnolia Voice spoke with Roger Morris, a manager with NICB in Chicago to find out the latest on this technology and its proliferation. 

“We started seeing security videos of people walking up to cars and unlocking them,” Morris explains. “Then they enter the car and ransack it looking for valuables. Then we started seeing cars actually stolen after they were broken into. There was no evidence of a theft. If police don’t know what they’re looking for, they can be clueless about it.”

There are surveillance videos where criminals are seen holding small boxes pointed at car doors. Then the car instantly opens and access is gained. Morris has seen those too.

“There is an ‘amplifier unit.’ It amplifies the signal from your fob sitting in your house to your car. It will take the signal from the fob, amplify it, and open the car.”

Published stories tell of Craig’s List and Ebay listings with these devices for sale. Reportedly, $100 can get you a box.  

“It’s frightening stuff,” says Morris. “We are hoping to see some arrests. Catching them in the act has proven difficult.”

Can you protect your fob by putting is a metal box? One man said he put his in the freezer.

“It may help to put it in the freezer, it may not. I don’t know,”
 Morris said.

Europe has been on the leading edge of these devices creating havoc all over the continent for several years. These boxes and resulting crimes are reported to have begun there, according to Dr. Boris Danev, co-founder & CEO of 3db, a startup company in Zurich, Switzerland. His firm produces distance measurement computer chips for securing pass-key entry systems for cars. Magnolia Voice spoke with Dr. Danev in an exclusive interview.

“This is a type of ‘relay attack amplifier’ can go after any car that has a passive keyless entry and start system,” he says. “The advantage of these devices is that they leave no trace. If your key is used to start your car, this device can also start your car and be used to steal it. We know these devices have been picked up by the French and German police.”

So, what can we do to keep from being ripped-off?

“I can tell you what I do to protect myself,” Danev says. “I have a Honda CRV. When I go home I leave my keys in a metal box. The best way is to find a thick box that can stop the radio frequency waves. This will not help if you’re outdoors with your keys in your pocket. Someone could still hijack your car. I would not put my keys in the freezer.”

What about the future? Can we put an end to this menace?

“We are working with major German and American car manufacturers,” he says. 

A spokesman for the Seattle Police Department states, “At this time we have no confirmable cases of this nature to report.”

SPD says you can report property crimes of this nature by going to their website. It will even give you a case number.