WATCH: 15 second car jamming video goes viral
January 6, 2017
Crime Intelligence and Community Awareness (CICA) recently posted a video to Youtube of a car jamming incident that happened in under 15 seconds.
The incident took place in Sandton, Johannesburg and has reached number one status on Youtube’s trending list since being posted on Wednesday (4 January 2016).
How to avoid becoming a victim
Car remote jamming has been around for a few years , but as automated locking systems have now become the norm – more criminals have taken an interest.
What exactly is car remote jamming? It seems that a lot of us have developed the habit of casually walking away from our car, fully trusting the locking function of our remotes. We simply assume that if we’ve pressed the button – our car will be locked, without actually checking to make sure.
Criminals have caught on to this and have developed ways in which they can wirelessly block or scramble the locking function of your remote. So using various devices they are able to block certain radio frequencies, leaving your car unlocked as you walk away none the wiser. They can then simply walk up to your car as if it were their own, jump in and steal anything that you’ve left behind.
Also read: Car jamming device warns you when thieves try to block your remote
The types of devices that can be used, vary from things as simple as modified garage remotes, to more sophisticated devices that are able to broadcast and jam signals at further ranges.
Most car remotes operate on fairly standard frequencies, meaning that the guess work – in terms of what frequency these criminals need to scramble – is fairly minimal.
Fortunately these devices are not able to unlock your car. They are only able to prevent your own remote from locking your vehicle.
Being aware of how this type of theft works, goes along way in being able to prevent it. Be aware of your surroundings when you park, be wary of any lurkers or suspicious looking activity and basically just make sure that your car is indeed locked before walking away!
After reading the following article, it appears that devices that are able to store your particular car’s remote signal, are in fact real and fairly easy to make. Very few vehicles out there have systems that could bypass a device detailed in the linked article.
So what does this mean? Basically if someone is determined and intellectually capable enough, they pretty much will be able to get into your car.
The best ways to reduce the risk of being targeted by car remote jamming remain:
- Don’t leave valuables in your vehicle, especially not in plain sight.
- When locking your vehicle with a remote, make sure you physically see the doors lock.
(For most of the less sophisticated devices, if you can hear and see the vehicle lock, then the car remote jamming hasn’t worked.)
Video via Youtube
