‘Did hi-tech criminals steal my car?’

THE victim of a recent car theft has raised the possibility that a hi-tech break-in method could have been deployed by criminals.

On Thursday, June 27, Stephen Gillan from Dublin 15, parked his car as usual at 6.30am on Coolmine Link Road where he leaves it before heading to the train station to get to work and used his key fob to

‘zap’ the door locked.

Having followed the same routine for the past eight years without incident, he never gave his car a second thought throughout the day and so was totally stunned when he returned that evening to discover his 2010 car had been stolen.

“I had only just finished paying for it last winter,

? Stephen told Northside People.

“I nearly had a stroke when I was walking back to the car and there was no car there. I had my car keys in my hand and the spare keys were in the house as my wife’s got them.

?

Stephen was told that it was possible the electronic signal from the key fob he uses to lock the car door had been

‘hacked’ by thieves who steal cars to order and ship them to Eastern Europe.

“I was told by a guard that this is a common thing but I’d never heard of it before so I was wondering exactly how common it was,

? he said.

“I don’t know how it’s done, but I believe there’s some way of taking the signal off the zapper and copying the code or something. I’d never heard of it before and I didn’t see anybody around me when I was parking the car.

“I park my car every morning on the Clonsilla Link Road and I’m usually the first one there.

“I want people to know about this, if it is happening. I’ve heard of it happening to three other cars. I was advised not to lock the door with the zapper, but to lock it with the key.

?

While possible, thieves

‘hacking’ into cars hasn’t been reported here in Ireland, but there are recorded incidents in both the UK and the USA. Two months ago police in California admitted they were baffled by a series of car thefts apparently involving the use of a small hand-held electronic device.

CCTV footage showed thieves using the device to remotely open car doors so they could steal the contents. The device wasn’t effective on all models, and seemed to only work on passenger doors.

In the UK, high-end cars have been also targeted by thieves using an electronic kit capable of scanning and copying key fobs via the vehicle’s computer system.

Experts say that while there were no reports of widespread key fob scanning in Ireland, it was technically possible.

“It would require a certain amount of technical know-how and it is possible, in theory, to scan any car key fob,

? a motoring industry source said.

“We haven’t heard of it happening here in Ireland. What we have seen in a few cases is spare car keys being stolen from houses without the owner noticing and used later to take the car from a different location.

?

Gardai were unable to respond to queries at time of going to press.