Thieves ‘use a laptop’ to hack car keys and steal £35,000 Merc
THIEVES stole a £35,000 Mercedes from its owners’ driveway – after allegedly using a computer to hack a key fob sitting on the kitchen table.
The car had a ‘Keyless Go’ system, meaning it could be unlocked and started without the need for a physical key, as long as the fob was in the immediate vicinity.
Owners Paige Foster and Richard Haydon said the fob was stored at the back of their house, far from the driveway. But they believe the thieves managed to hack it to extend its reach.
CCTV footage from outside their home shows a man waving a satchel, possibly containing a laptop, up against a wall. Minutes later the car door opens and a second man gets in and drives it away.
Mercedes-Benz said it was not aware of any thefts related to its keyless systems. But the incident will alarm owners of such vehicles, which do not have traditional ignition keys and instead come with a plastic fob containing a computer chip and security code.
When the fob is nearby – for example in a pocket or handbag – the code is detected by the car’s central computer, allowing the driver to start the engine at the press of a button.
The technology has been developed for convenience and makers say it is more secure. But there have been a spate of thefts of luxury vehicles in recent years, with some criminals managing to reprogram blank keys.
Miss Foster, 23, an estate agent from Grays, Essex, said she ‘burst into tears’ when she saw the CCTV footage. ‘It looks like the guy up against the house has an iPad or a laptop... it looks like they can decode the key to open the car,’ she added. ‘We have been told it’s some sort of Russian military software... the fact someone was watching me and took it not even a metre away from the front of the house is awful.’
Meanwhile, a couple who advertised their car for sale online were robbed at knifepoint during a test drive, police said yesterday.
The man and woman, aged 58 and 54, had agreed to take a man posing as potential buyer around the local area in the BMW 1 Series. But after they pulled back into their driveway in Paisley, Renfrewshire, a second man appeared holding a blade.
The two men then left in the £20,000 car during the raid at 2.50pm on Monday. The victims did not wish to speak when approached yesterday but their daughter Karen Frame, 29, a former NHS worker, took to Facebook to brand the thieves ‘absolute scumbags’. She asked web users to share her plea along with a picture of the black car.
Police Scotland said both suspects are white, Scottish and aged between 20 and 25.
Detective Constable Jamie Howarth said officers were examining CCTV in an attempt to catch the culprits.
He added: ‘No amount of vigilance on the part of the sellers could have prevented this callous robbery. We believe this is an isolated incident.’