Urgent help please - Is my M4 about to be stolen tonight?

[anderoo]

Hi all, I woke up this morning to doorbell footage of two men inside my car, one had a rucksack with presumably a laptop in holding a wire around my front door presumably for a key relay attack. They were able to unlock the car as if using the key and got into it but either couldn't start it or are planning on coming back later.

Obviously this has rather shook me up, can anyone please advise on whether the car is now vulnerable since they have been inside (access to odb etc) or if a steering lock and a faraday pouch is enough to keep the car locked in the future.

I'm worried they might be coming back later on for another go, so outside of getting a steering lock, I'd appreciate any advice how I can now secure my car properly before its taken.

[ingenieur]

It won't be any more vulnerable than it otherwise would be. But if I were you I'd be sitting up all night in my front window with a shotgun. What a terrible state of affairs. Perhaps consider some physical security that could deter them. Maybe if you can park another car in front to block their exit?

[anderoo]

Here is the guy with the rucksack, so you know I'm genuine. They were out there for about 20min waving the wire around.

[Every day a journey]

Yes.

[Olivergt]

Is it worth sending the pictures/footage to the police?

The only things I can suggest are:

Leaving some lights on at the front of the house.

Move the keys to the back of the house

Some cars have the option of turning OFF certain features on the key/car, might be worth checking the manual to see if you can disable some of the remote functionality on the key.

[JakeT]

If it were me, I’d sell the car personally. But that’s a bit final. I’d probably:

• Park another car behind it, or in the garage. Failing that park it on the road
• Steering lock and faraday cage. I’d also consider having a ghost immobiliser fitted
• Leave the key somewhere visible from the front door. If someone is going to break into the house for the car, take it and ps off. I’m not going to stop you.
• More CCTV covering the driveway and ingress/egress points of the house
• Doberman (probably the most expensive. Even a yappy little dog would do)

[leyorkie]

In the old days you could take the rotor arm out to prevent it starting. Suppose these days you can remove a fuse to immobilise it. Check your handbook for which one.

[geeks]

You'll need to report this to the police, they will be very interested in the footage, a few years back now someone was out trying car door handles and some sheds were broken into, we showed the police the ring footage and they immediately knew who it was, there is enough face in your footage for an ID I would say.

Park the car somewhere else if you can for a couple of nights but my concern would be they have left a tracker in there somewhere in case of that so I would be over the car with a fine tooth comb.

Can you disable keyless unlock on it?

[vikingaero]

Take the battery out.

[VeeReihenmotor6]

Aside from blocking it in, parking elsewhere and adding physical locks there isn't much you can do about it. Anything you do to make it more difficult increases the risk of them breaking into your house to get what they want. I'd personally rather they didn't do that so would leave the car as it is.

[Olivergt]

Some information here on how the keys work

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t...

[TimmyMallett]

Put a sticker in the car.

"I saw you last night. I installed new cameras and the police know about you so good luck."


Short term take a few HT leads out.

Then get some hidden kill switch installed.

[paddy1970]

File a police report immediately if you haven't already
Move your car to a different location if possible (friend's house, different spot)
Contact your dealer to check if the keys can be changed/reprogrammed
Get a steering lock, OBD port lock, tracker, Faraday pouch

[Wills2]

They really are scumbags, personally I'd go all Chilean dictator on them if I was charge with a one way helicopter trip over the north sea, but failing that get a faraday pouch and test that it works.

[IanJ9375]

Keys kept in a metal tin would have prevented the relay access - I guess they've failed to get anywhere with the OBD port for either starting the car or coding a key to work with it.

[RSTurboPaul]

Worth checking it over for airtags or similar?

[vikingaero]

anderoo said:

Here is the guy with the rucksack, so you know I'm genuine. They were out there for about 20min waving the wire around.

Promising footballer, musician, cheeky chappie, salt of the earth, wouldn't harm a flea type, in need of BMW M4.

[Gary29]

I used to disconnect the fuel pump on my old car when I used to live in a dodgy area back in the day that was rife with car theft, lean back between the front seats and lift up the rear bench, the connector was right there.

But yeah, what a sorry state of affairs, can you park it a local friend/family members house for a few nights?

[sjc]

Can you put an obviously physical deterrent out like a wheel clamp or two ?
They might just move on to another car then ?

[anderoo]

Olivergt said:

Some information here on how the keys work

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t...

Thank you, reading up now.

I've called the police but not expecting much there, also the main dealer who sold me the car to try and get some advice but also not expecting much. Annoyingly I have a faraday pouch for the keys but had to do a quick run late and hadn't put them back in it afterwards.

I suppose my main question is, is the car now compromised since they had managed to do the relay and got inside for 10 mins? Or if I secure the keys and the car now will they be unable to get into it again?