Be Aware: Car Thieves Are Using Some Kind of Universal Car Remote...And Cops Are 'Stumped

Image source: NBC

The thief walks right up to the locked SUV parked in the driveway. It's hard to see, but police say he aims something at the passenger-side door. Just like that, the lock clicks, the lights come on and the thief is in the car. Then, an accomplice shows up and does the same thing to the other car in the driveway, all captured by security camera.

Police in Long Beach, Calif. admit they're baffled by the break-ins.

"This is bad in the sense we're stumped," Long Beach Deputy Police Chief David Hendricks told NBC's "Today." "We are stumped and we don't know what this technology is."

Image source: NBC

It seems to be some kind of universal car remote, overriding the car's built-in encryption security. Thieves have used the technology from California to Illinois, according to "Today."

"I felt pretty unsafe," said Michael Shin, whose Honda Accord was breached. "It was shocking. It just opens magically without him having to do anything."

Even more mystifying: the device seems to works on some cars, but not on others. More footage shows a Ford SUV and a Cadillac remaining locked, but an Acura opens right away. The device also seems only to work on the passenger-side door.

"We've reached out to the car manufacturers, the manufacturers of the vehicle alarm systems. Nobody seems to know what this technology is," Hendricks said. "When you look at the video and you see how easy it is, it's pretty unnerving."

(H/T: BoingBoing)