Report: Thieves are tricking keyless go systems to steal cars in London

London recently had a huge spike in grand theft auto as some new reports are in citing the hacking of new cars’ keyless go systems to steal the ride. And this seems like a red flag for anyone who owns a car from the last 10 years that utilizes a fob and push-button start to go.

According to the report fromĀ CarThrottle, Scotland Yard is even involved to stop the rise.

The trick involves thieves breaking the windows of new cars to access the OBDII ports for the central computer of the car. They then copy the car’s key information to a blank key and voila, you have a new key for the car.

The problem is so big, police checkpoints have been popping up in the region, checking cars classified as “at risk,” or basically any luxury or new car decently equipped within the last few years.

Last year, around 6,000 cars and vans were stolen in London because thieves were able to hack the transponders for the key remotes found on cars equipped with it. In total, around 42 percent of all car thefts in London were of vehicles equipped with keyless go.

– By: Chris Chin

Source: CarThrottle

Chris Chin

Chris Chin is the Editor-In-Chief of egmCarTech and is a regular contributor to Automobile Magazine.

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