You might want to reconsider parking in your driveway…
Matt Machowiak of Wiltshire, England woke up on a Tuesday morning and started getting ready to go to his job as a transport manager, only to find his new black BMW 640d was no longer in the driveway. It’s the kind of thing which makes every automotive enthusiast’s blood run cold: waking up to find someone has swiped your beloved ride in the night. The sad truth is it was the advanced technologies which were conveniences to Machowiak which helped the thieves swipe his Bimmer so easily, and it could happen to you.
A man in Florida chased down a car thief using a scooter. Find out more here.
What’s helping car thieves get into and start up newer vehicles with little effort is the keyless entry and ignition technology. Criminals simply have to hack the system and they can walk up to your car, open the door, and start the engine as if they had your keys.
Unfortunately, we see local news stories like this one all the time. Many law enforcement agencies have claimed this type of crime is on the rise and that certainly seems to be true, so simply hoping it doesn’t happen to you is likely not going to end well. Machowiak told local journalists he feels a “psychological scar” from his car being stolen from the driveway.
In fact, police in the area where Machowiak lives say they’ve seen a dramatic rise in this kind of car theft. On the same night the 640d was stolen, another BMW nearby also went missing. Machowiak says he’s going to invest in some surveillance cameras, thinking that will stop future thefts. However, we’ve posted quite a few videos of car thieves at work, so cameras don’t seem to deter many these days. After all, they likely will spend little time incarcerated for their crimes, if they’re even caught.
One method thieves use to break into cars is a signal booster, which captures the signal being broadcast by the owner’s keys inside the house, extending it to the car parked outside. Placing your keys inside a Faraday cage at night is an excellent idea since that will block the signal entirely. Even better, if you’re able to park your vehicle in a garage, do so. To add even more security, lock the garage door since openers can also be fairly easily defeated.
Source: This Is Wiltshire
