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Comment by waterside81 | Hacker News Reader

Yup. A Land Rover was stolen right near my house in broad daylight and I live in a very good neighbourhood. Cops came by and asked me if I had home cameras, but they explained to me this is very common. High-end SUVs are targeted and this is run by organized crime. Cars are overseas within days to be re-sold.

The thief just hangs around the target, waits for the fob to be used, clones the signal and can steal the car within 3 minutes.

The problem is so pervasive that Land Rover offers discounts to previous customers who are victims of theft:

https://www.landrover.ca/en/ownership/protection-program/veh...

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In the US it seems like theft of parts is a lot more popular. Things like wheels, light housings, and catalytic converters are especially popular. Getting a car out of the country is a lot harder when you don't share land borders with eastern europe. When people steal cars they usually only use it for as long as it takes to commit another crime. A lot of the car chases are with stolen cars so police have no clue who is inside since running plates returns the owner.

GP's link is to landrover.ca, implying Canadian origin - a country which does not share land borders with Eastern Europe. By the time a group is big enough to be fencing cars overseas, I wouldn't be so quick to discount their ability to move through a seaport.

"We know our vehicles depreciate faster than average, and rather than fix common security flaws or encourage gap insurance, we'll offer a token discount."

I guess that falls in line with their reliabity standards and replace every 2 year business model.

Don't even need to hang around. Just plant a small official looking box near a car or hide it in the bushes or something. Easy.

The wifi pineapple equivalent of this would be a device that records all signals sent, filters it for unlock and start car commands, and then allows you to just bulk replay each set back until cars start.

You could effectively leave it in the bushes at a work parking lot, come back the next day, and unlock + start all of the cars with keyfobs that were present the day before.

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