Keyless tech blamed for sharp rise in car thefts

Criminals no longer need to rely on ‘smash and grab’ as they use radio signals to compromise new locks

CAR thefts being reported to the police have risen by nearly 10 per cent in a year, with keyless technology being blamed for the rise, figures show.

Some 113,037 offences involving theft or unauthorised taking of a vehicle were recorded by police in 2018, the Office for National Statistics said, taking the figure to a 10-year high.

This drove an overall 2 per cent rise in total vehicle offences, which reached 463,497 over the 12-month period.

It comes amid growing concern about thefts of keyless entry cars, which normally involves offenders targeting a car parked outside someone’s home.

The Association of British Insurers said a “worrying” explosion in vehicle crime saw insurers pay out record costs of £376million to cover stolen cars and thefts from cars last year.

This represents a 29 per cent spike on 2017, while theft claims are now being made every six minutes, amounting to 56,000 in 2018 – a 12 per cent increase on the year before.

Criminals are able to get around keyless technology by using a device to relay a signal from the key to the car, tricking the system into allowing access to the vehicle.

Tactics used against keyless cars include “relay thefts”, which capitalise on key fobs that allow drivers to open and start their cars just by approaching them.

Criminals, usually working in pairs, will hold a device up next to a car to capture the signal it sends out to a key and then relay that signal to a second device outside the owner’s home, thereby activating the key’s own signal inside.

The car will then be fooled into thinking the key is 6ft away rather than in the owner’s house, causing it to unlock and start the engine.

Edmund King, the AA president, said: “The increase in vehicle thefts is

‘[It] is very worrying. One area of concern is the increase of cars with keyless entry being stolen’

very worrying. One area of concern is the increase of cars with keyless entry being stolen. Thieves have changed their tactics from ‘smash and grab’ to ‘bounce and roll’, as they bounce the radio signals off the key to unlock the car and roll away with it.

“Having access to your keys is the easiest way for a thief to steal your car, so drivers need to ensure they protect them properly.”

There were 811,000 offences of criminal damage to a vehicle last year, a 14 per cent increase.

Mr King said: “We believe a large proportion of these could be down to vehicles in car parks being bumped or scraped by others and then they flee.”