Methods of a car thief - unmasked

Methods of a car thief - unmasked

Author
Discussion

595Heaven

2,387 posts

77 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
70proof said:
keyless entry... the fob is always transmitting....

Edited by 70proof on Sunday 19th November 10:22
Errr.... no they aren’t...

The passive (clue is in the name) keyless entry system uses an RFID style system. The vehicle has several antennae around it, which transmit their signal frequently. If the fob is in range (usually a few meters), the RFID chip is energised and the unlock signal is sent to the car Via 433MHz radio using a rolling code.

I normally keep my keys in my tin foil hat. You can never be too careful.

Ultimately, car security is a damn sight better then it used to be, and increasingly the thief willl need the key to take the car. How much you want to fight them is up to you. Friend had BMW M240i taken off their drive overnight last weekend. She heard them in the kitchen downstairs and decided not to wake hubby unless they came upstairs. In the end they found her bag and took the keys and car. Probably a good decision - thieves are going to be much more alert, fully dressed and in a better position to win the argument than a bleary eyed bloke without his glasses on, in his boxers.

Their neighbour had their Macan stolen by two thieves who threatened the owner who had just got back from Tesco and was unloading her car on the drive at lunchtime.

I’d say let them take it and let a tracker find it.



Edited by 595Heaven on Sunday 19th November 13:39

liner33

10,642 posts

201 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
gottans said:
As for the ODB port issue, simple solution is to make sure this is not live without the ignition being on, leaving it powered all the time was a serious but basic security error.

.
That wouldn't work , think about how modern cars work

kambites

67,461 posts

220 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
liner33 said:
That wouldn't work , think about how modern cars work
I don't see why not. A car could easily enough disable the port when the immobilisor kicks in but still leave the rest of the CAN bus active. You could shove a second OBD port somewhere much more difficult to get at for debugging/resolving problems with the immobilisor.

OddCat

2,515 posts

170 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
skyrover said:
Basically the most culturally enriched cities?
Joking aside, I wonder whether a disportionate number of cars are stolen by certain ethnic groups relative to their proportion of the UK population ?

Just asking......




captain_cynic

11,874 posts

94 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
rallycross said:
Weren't these notoriously easy to remove? Most would just come loose with a good whack.

andymc

7,334 posts

206 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
skyrover said:
Yipper said:
Most car thefts today happen in just a handful of places. Best way to avoid car crime is to not live, work or shop there (if possible).

Basically the most culturally enriched cities?
yup the huge elephant in the room, a lot of the scrappies where they end up are "culturally enriched"

MDMA .

8,849 posts

100 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
captain_cynic said:
Weren't these notoriously easy to remove? Most would just come loose with a good whack.
Most old axial pin tumbler locks can be opened in less than 5 seconds with just a Bic pen smile

6point2

45 posts

96 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
How about this classic?



Excuse the pun

captain_cynic

11,874 posts

94 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
70proof said:
car jacking
70proof said:
theft with keys...
As interesting as the other scenarios are, these are the only ones you really need to worry about. If someone is stealing cars, they're going to take the path of least resistance, which thanks to modern immobilisers, is just nicking the keys.

So what can you do to defend against that, well most thefts occur at home, so not putting them on a hook by the front door is a good idea, keep keys at the back of the house or in your bedroom. Same with defending against pick pockets, dont leave them hanging out of your back pocket (easiest place to steal from) or leave them lying around whilst you pack the shopping and simply be aware of your surroundings, I would also suggest attaching them to something heavy so you'd notice someone trying to lift them. With keyless entry and start, you dont even need to remove the keys from your pocket.

Now a direct attack, either a car jacking or being held up at knifepoint, number one priority is to keep yourself safe, its just a car and not worth dying over. Get yourself to a safe area and call for help (the Rozzers or a friend, its important to speak to someone). Fortunately here in the UK these crimes are pretty rare.

Although I've trained to perform a "cavalier" disarm, it's never something I'd do in real life, people who've had the more training and have worked in the military or enforcement where they've actually had to take down an armed attacker has said they've never used it because it's easier to immobilise the weapon and beat the living crap out of them (we learn disarms in Krav because it's part of the curriculum, if you grade you'll be tested on them). However if someone came up to me with a knife and said "Gizza yer khakis" I'd just hand them over. First rule of a knife fight is you will get cut, the best thing you can do is avoid the situation, if you cant, just hand the keys over. The plod and insurance can sort it out.

What a cavalier disarm looks like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9XkJZxGyrU

rallycross

12,747 posts

236 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
captain_cynic said:
Weren't these notoriously easy to remove? Most would just come loose with a good whack.
Yes many of them are laughably weak, I've found a few older heavy style ones that would put up a good fight.

Gareth1974

3,408 posts

138 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
Yipper said:
Most car thefts today happen in just a handful of places. Best way to avoid car crime is to not live, work or shop there (if possible).

This “handful” of places almost exactly correlates with a list of the top 10 largest population areas in England. More people = more criminals?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_localities...

anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
Yipper said:
Most car thefts today happen in just a handful of places. Best way to avoid car crime is to not live, work or shop there (if possible).

Hahah, nice link to a map from the daily mail... ofcourse that is the best source for not biased or racist information....

This thread is basically been created by a nazi, with other nazi's posting in it.... I'm out..

70proof

Original Poster:

6,045 posts

154 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
595Heaven said:
Errr.... no they aren’t...

The passive (clue is in the name) keyless entry system uses an RFID style system. The vehicle has several antennae around it, which transmit their signal frequently. If the fob is in range (usually a few meters), the RFID chip is energised and the unlock signal is sent to the car Via 433MHz radio using a rolling code.

I normally keep my keys in my tin foil hat. You can never be too careful.
Thanks for the clarification.... So that video I linked to, they wouldn't have been able to steal the BMW if it had not been parked on the drive? Can they not clone the car signal?

70proof

Original Poster:

6,045 posts

154 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
6point2 said:
How about this classic?



Excuse the pun
This was a famous pic out of south Africa, when jacking was common there, and unheard of here

AndStilliRise

2,295 posts

115 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
Does anyone know anything about the high end cars, how do they get stolen? I presume that they are tracked to their homes and stolen when not present.

70proof

Original Poster:

6,045 posts

154 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
AlrightYouns said:
Hahah, nice link to a map from the daily mail... ofcourse that is the best source for not biased or racist information....

This thread is basically been created by a nazi, with other nazi's posting in it.... I'm out..
Lol.... I'm Asian dude, the thread was started as some here on piston heads don't even know dry summer tyres will lead to poor traction in the wet, so won't know this either.... I'm certainly wiser after my theft...

stewjohnst

2,442 posts

160 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
I find driving st cars is a good theft deterrent.

In addition, think about what you show or post in public places on the internet...listing your cars and location in profiles for example?

A determined their is easily able to look at a few Instagram posts, Facebook posts/check-ins, etc to work out roughly where a car they might want is.

This, incidentally is how I found my wedding photographer that ran off with my money - he'd moved house and done a number on a load of folk, turned out he'd left me on Facebook and was using an app to track his distances walked.

"Great walk tonight out and about from the new flat" wasn't hard to do a quick zoom in on the map to his house he'd just created and locate said person a day later biggrin

anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
70proof said:
AlrightYouns said:
Hahah, nice link to a map from the daily mail... ofcourse that is the best source for not biased or racist information....

This thread is basically been created by a nazi, with other nazi's posting in it.... I'm out..
Lol.... I'm Asian dude, the thread was started as some here on piston heads don't even know dry summer tyres will lead to poor traction in the wet, so won't know this either.... I'm certainly wiser after my theft...
I didn't mention being asian, what does being asian have to do with anything in this thread?

70proof

Original Poster:

6,045 posts

154 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
AlrightYouns said:
I didn't mention being asian, what does being asian have to do with anything in this thread?
You say thread started by a Nazi, my bad, I'm not a Nazi then... Happy now

Stants

98 posts

97 months

Sunday 19th November 2017
quotequote all
Friend has thier mk2 focus Rs taken from the drive the other week, obviously stolen to order as there was a new RS & sti parked on the same drive they are now looking at these

https://www.obdportector.com/portector/?gclid=CjwK...

Not that expensive around 350 fitted I think