Thieves are allegedly using a ?mystery device? called a relay attack unit to unlock and drive off in cars and trucks with keyless-entry fobs and push-button starters, the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) once again warned this week.
On the heels of prior warnings and studies conducted on similar theft methods, NICB spokesman Roger Morris said the agency got its hands on one of the devices and tested it on 35 different vehicles. The testers were able to open 19 of the vehicles and could start and drive away in 18 of them. The contraption used by the NICB consisted of two modules, one the size of a tablet and the other roughly the size of a garage-door opener, but the agency wouldn’t elaborate on its exact construction.
Morris said the NICB first started seeing such mystery devices surface about two years ago but has yet to be able to quantify how often the devices have been used in vehicle thefts. Feedback from some of its member insurance companies suggests that for some stolen vehicles, ?these are the only explanation,? Morris said. The NICB bought their test device through a third party, which Morris said he couldn?t name. We’ve begun looking for such devices ourselves, with designs on performing our own tests; we’ll let you know if we’re able to secure any devices and how well they work?or don’t. For police in Modesto, California, a city that the NICB cites as having the highest rate of car theft last year, such devices indeed remai...