A South City resident is sounding the alarm about a new way in which car thieves are stealing vehicles—by hijacking a car’s key fob against itself.
Brian Wahby’s vehicle was stolen off the street in Compton Heights last Saturday. He thinks he was a victim of what’s called a key fob relay theft. That involves one thief holding a device near a house, close enough to pick up the signal of a key fob inside. The relay device then sends the key fob’s signal to a second device held by an accomplice near the car the pair are trying to steal. That in turn tricks the car into thinking the fob is much closer to the vehicle than it is, allowing an accomplice to open the door, start the engine and drive away.
“We walked out to have coffee on our porch and my wife was like, ‘Where’s your car?’” Wahby recounts. “And I’m like, “I don’t know!’”…