Devices designed to seem like Nintendo Sport Boy consoles from the 1990s are literally highly-technical keyless automotive fobs.
The devices could be had for £20,000 and work by mimicking the sign from a standard fob to achieve entry to a automotive inside seconds.
As soon as contained in the automotive, the automobile’s system recognises the gadget and begins the ignition.
Marketed because the ‘most superior locksmith device’, the devices are bought by a Bulgarian tech agency referred to as SOS Auto Keys. Whereas it comes with a warning that it shouldn’t be purchased by anybody with ‘illegal intentions’, it’s all-too-easy for it to be picked up by criminals.
The AA says that the gadget, which went on sale in June, exhibits how know-how employed by automotive thieves is getting extra refined. Though costly in the meanwhile, the value will doubtless come down because the technical parts get cheaper.
In response to crime figures, automotive thefts have risen 50% during the last six years. There have been 106,291 recorded within the UK final yr.
The motoring physique has now written to the Residence Workplace and the Division for Enterprise calling for a ban on the gadget’s sale. In response to the Every day Mail, the Residence Workplace has raised the problem as a matter of urgency with Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims, of the Nationwide Police Chiefs’ Council.
Jack Cousens, from the AA, mentioned: ‘As quick as automotive know-how evolves, criminals are working simply as arduous to cheat these techniques.
‘What’s most worrying is that one thing bought a long time in the past has been repurposed to assist thieves. With loads of outdated devices accumulating mud, some will tinker with them within the hope they will unlock a automotive.
‘Thieves have levelled up from enjoying Grand Theft Auto on a console to utilizing the console to commit Grand Theft Auto.’
