Anyone with a keyless car fob, especially those with valuable/desirable cars are being targetted by professionals who can clone the Car fob with a special device.
The signal from keyless fobs can be captured and copied. Owners must therefore take special precautions to prevent this happening. It does though take away the advantages of having a keyless entry system...
Always keep keyless fobs in a ‘Faraday cage’ ! That means any metal container, which prevents the signal from escaping and being copied.
These include the small metal credit card cases, with the plastic card slots removed
Caged ladies purses and handbags are now available
Never place key fobs in a container, within 30 feet of the pavement or outside perimeter.
Some people come home and store them in the fridge / microwave !
If you have a performance car, likely to be targeted - please - take extra precautions at this time.
Local opportunist offenders, are used by career criminals from London, to spot and locate, car makes, models and colours, to order. Usually in threes, as that is what container holds. The local offenders, will follow you home and watch where you park. That way, when they call the London criminals, they know where to go, to find and copy, the fob signal. They have a small electronic, copying device. They will walk up and down the road, until they find and match the signal and then copy it - hence making sure your fob is more than 30 feet, from the pavement. The car recognises the copied signal and opens. The gadget, is slotted into the diagnostic socket under the steering wheel, via an integrated scart socket. The car then starts and can be driven away. The owner knows nothing and is not alerted, as any tracker that is fitted is not activated. The cars are then driven to a garage somewhere where the fob activation software is changed.
It is all too simple and is totally preventable. We get calls from the owners who have reported the thefts to us, confused, as they still have both sets of keys !