BBC News - Keyless car theft devices used by criminals sell for £20k online

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Tell

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BBC News - Keyless car theft devices used by criminals sell for £20k online

www.bbc.com

Keyless car theft devices selling online for £20,000, BBC finds

It is not illegal currently to own the gadgets but the government has promised to ban them.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com

Well I keep my keys deep inside the house. Out and about is more risky. Interesting they say dont take them upstairs to bed. That's like having an aerial on the roof of the house. The pouches are useful except you have to keep taking them in and out to use. Newer Seat / Cupras allow you to change the functions like turning kessy off.
 
Just been reading the BBC article, and then came here. Seems to be a subject that pops up in the news from time to time.

My first Cupra Ateca, bought a little over four years ago, was my first car with KESSY.

I learned of the issue at some stage and started using a signal blocking pouch in the house. However, you need to test the effectiveness of these periodically as they seem to wear out and lose their blocking ability.

Subsequently, I've learned you can neutralise KESSY by locking the car using the push button on the fob and, whilst the mirrors are folding in, touch the door handle. This dead locks the car and you need to use the push button on the key to open it. I still keep the key in a signal blocking pouch in the house.

Guy

Sent from my Galaxy S25 Ultra using Tapatalk
 
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I still use Kessy. At night the keys are in the cloak room buried deep inside the house so not available to relay theft. Out and about they could be to people getting close to you in queues, one that's been cited. Kent Police did give the minimum distance inside a house the keys should be placed. 6ft or something. Now guidance talks about close to windows etc. The old biscuit tin, tobacco tin etc is a cheap solution or that Faraday pouch.

Some car thieves come in via the front door physically forcing it. Know someone where that happened on the security cameras, door open and inside. The bang of the door being forced woke them up, lights on, saved the car, they were off. Difference between the high tech low risk thieves and the traditional ones that risk a dog bite 😉 etc.

Newer cars like Syphons you can disable the Kessy via the infotainment screen. So you choose whether to use Kessy or not. Key combinations or otherwise on older implementations, Faraday pouches, biscuit / tobacco tins or sighting otherwise. Reckon for me a nine year old diesel Ateca isnt on the hit list. Something more valuable would be.

www.locksmiths.co.uk

Prevent Keyless Car Theft (8 Quick Tips) & What Relay Theft is

Keyless Car Theft (relay theft) is a crime on the rise, find out what keyless car theft is, along with how to prevent your keyless entry car being stolen.
www.locksmiths.co.uk www.locksmiths.co.uk
 
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My car has keyless entry and one of the first things I did when I got it was to permanently disable it (I ‘m able to do this in the vehicle settings via the infotainment screen). I’ve never found it to be a great inconvenience to press the lock and unlock buttons on the key fob to lock / unlock the car and I’ve managed without this feature for the majority of the years I’ve been driving. Yes, there might be the odd occasion when I’m laden down with bags and the convenience of the car unlocking itself might be useful, but for me those occasions seem to be the exception rather than the norm.

I also always garage my car when I’m at home. Admittedly, some cars won’t fit in a standard’ domestic garage but IMHO out of sight is out of mind and temptation of would-be perpetrators. Lots of people around where I live have cars that will fit their garage but they choose to ‘garage’ a £100 - £200 (or lower value) lawn mower and leave their car worth many thousands of pounds parked outside to tempt anyone looking for a free ride 🤷‍♂️. (My lawn mower lives in the shed).

Interesting that the BBC article states 60% - 70% of car thefts last year were keyless. It doesn’t come as a great surprise that this figure is quite high as I dare say more car manufacturers are fitting keyless to more of the cars they build. Also interesting that over on the Golf R forum, the majority of car thefts of this popular target for car thieves have involved the owner’s home being broken into and the car keys stolen rather than the car being stolen using the relay method.

IMHO, anyone whose car has keyless and they have a garage that is too small to get the car in, it’s worth taking a few sensible precautions to avoid being a victim of keyless theft;
  • Ensure you have GAP insurance to cover any financial shortfall between the insurance payout and the cost of replacing the car if it does get stolen.
  • Use a physical, visible steering wheel security locking device e.g. Disklok, Milenco bar, Stoplock Pro Elite.
  • Review your home security and upgrade if appropriate (e.g. install exterior PIR lights, fit anti-snap door locks, fit anti theft driveway bollards).
  • If you have to park on the road, if possible avoid parking directly outside your own house (makes it more difficult for a would be perpetrator to know which house the key / key fob is in for them to pick up the keyless signal).
  • Get dog 😮🤣. All joking aside, a barking dog may well deter a perpetrator helping themselves to your pride and joy.
 
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What is the range of these tools? My car is kept in a steel garage that is about 9 metres way from the back of the house and about a further 8 metres from where the keys are kept.
 
xxup said:
What is the range of these tools? My car is kept in a steel garage that is about 9 metres way from the back of the house and about a further 8 metres from where the keys are kept.
Click to expand...
Reckon a steel garage is a big Faraday cage. A locked car in a garage is the safest with a steering wheel lock if you want to go all the way.

The devices relay the signal from the remote to the guy that is trying to get into the car. If they cant pick up the remote signal that's blocked them. There is chatter between the remote and the car. The device relays that as if the key is outside the car. Car locked in a steel garage that cant be accessed is a good starter.

Here with rural life I've accidentally left the car unlocked for a few days, a few times, but crime is so low nothing to worry about. Just fancy agriculture equipment gets nicked. Even on the jetty the speed boat engine was left in position for months. In Outer London / Essex I had the car vandalised a few times but I put that down to the Seat / Cupra sponsorship adverts "for drama on ITV" at the start of each episode. The critens then came out of their houses to see what damage they could do to these new cars they saw in the adverts. Street parking is the order of the day in London. Saved from all of this now.
 
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@Tell There are very few snakes in Australia that are not poisonous. You might be thinking of the red belly black snake. The problem with snakes in a car is that they don't really care who owns the car, they will bite anyone. I will stick with the big dog for now.
 
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The increase in break-ins for the physical keys will have likely come about for a couple of main reasons:

Trying to code a new key to a vehicle with a KESSY system but without any existing keys present is difficult and can become costly.

Vehicles on the MQBevo chassis use an RSAD anti theft system that prevents relay type theft, hence the necessity for the keys.
 
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