Video of a high tech car theft that happened in the U.K. is going viral. What is intriguing about the heist is not what the robbers might have done to elude capture, but how they were able to get away with the vehicle in the first place.
As the recording shows, the hooded men who pulled the operation off were able to do so swiftly and silently. The West Midlands incident went down in the dead of night on September, 24. Surveillance footage shows two suspects pull up to a white Mercedes parked out in front of a home in the Elmdon area, and walk up to its doors with devices in their hands.
Those devices have been identified as relay boxes, which cunning thieves have apparently figured out can be used to open car doors that function at the command of proximity keys. One man is seen shining a flashlight into the passenger side window.
He then moves over to the rear passenger's side door and sets the box near the door handle, while the other man walks towards the house with his box. Moments later the suspect by the vehicle is able to open the door and enter, before he is joined by his partner to complete the theft.
Apparently, the weakness of proximity systems is that such devices as relay boxes can be used to pick up the key's passive signal and fool the car into detecting that it is nearby. One recommendation provided to combat against such a crime comes from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, who suggest that proximity keys be placed into an RFID signal blocking bag to keep it from being hacked.
West Midlands Police crime reduction team member Mark Silvester responded to the September heist by advising car owners to get a more conventional steering lock and to ensure that tracking solutions have been installed. Recent reports confirm that the stolen Mercedes still hasn't been recovered.
