AA chief ’s guide to putting brakes on keyless car crooks

Just put your fob in a pouch in a tin box in the microwave. Couldn’t be simpler!

NO one wants their car to be stolen. But it seems AA president Edmund King goes further than most to make sure it doesn’t happen to him.

Not only does he store his keyless car fob inside a special pouch, he then puts it in a metal box – and then conceals the box in his microwave oven.

Mr King yesterday revealed the lengths he goes to so he doesn’t fall prey to thieves using a tactic which tricks keyless cars into thinking the fob is inside the vehicle, allowing them to start it up and steal it. He said he devised the method after hackers stole his wife’s Lexus.

Before placing the keys in a red metal box, he puts them in a Faraday pouch – a leather bag with wire mesh lining that blocks the signal emitted by the fob.

He then puts the box in the microwave, which is also away from the road at the back of the house. In addition, he has a £110 steering wheel lock to secure his car when it is parked at his Hertfordshire home. He is even considering having a retractable security bollard installed at the entrance to his driveway.

It comes amid a 22 per cent increase in car thefts in the past year, taking the total to nearly 110,000. Mr King’s paranoia was stoked after a gang stole his wife Deirdre’s £50,000 Lexus, he told the Daily Telegraph.

He suspects the gang scouted their house in advance, watched their movements and then intercepted the keyless fob signal when his wife parked the car at 6pm.

Mr King said: ‘We think they came back at 11.45pm and used their computer device to unlock the car and remove it with no smashing into the car or anything. We didn’t notice it until the next morning, by which time it was probably in a container with its plates changed on its way out of the country.’

Gangs use a ‘relay’ trick to redirect signals from key fobs inside drivers’ homes and into cars. The ruse involves one thief standing next to the property with equipment that picks up the fob’s signal.

It is then relayed to a second thief standing next to the vehicle with a transmitter that opens the car doors and allows them to start it.

An AA poll of 4,000 owners entry functions found half fail to protect their fobs in any way, leaving them exposed to theft.

Around one in five put them in a Faraday pouch, 9 per cent in a metal box and 7 per cent in a safe box. One per cent wrap them in foil while another 1 per cent put them in the microwave.

‘On its way out of the country’