Tear This Sticker From Your New Car If You Don't Want It Stolen
Vehicle theft is a major issue not just in India but around the world. Just like cars, thieves are also updating themselves and getting familiar with the new tech in cars. Many of them actually rely on advanced tools to break into vehicles. Recently, Delhi Police busted a gang known for stealing high-end cars and solved the puzzle of how they were stealing these vehicles. The harmless-looking sticker from the manufacturer on your new car’s rear quarter glass was the villain.
Usually, when a manufacturer makes a new car at their facility, they place a barcode sticker on the rear quarter glass of the vehicle. This is for their convenience to easily track and identify inventory. The sticker consists of a couple of pieces of information like VIN, model name, variant, engine version, fuel type, and even the color of the vehicle.
The gang busted by the cops recently told the investigation team that they would take an image of the sticker on the rear quarter glass and send it to their technical expert working from Dubai.
As per DCP (Central) Nidhi Valsan, the expert would help them unlock the security system using the codes on the sticker, generate a new code, and send it back to the gang in Delhi.
Once they had the new code, they would return to the same car, break the window glass, and get in. Then they would use a special device to run the new code and start the vehicle. After entering the car and starting it, the first thing they did was block the GPS in the car. They had jammers specifically for this purpose.
Once they were sure that the security system of the vehicle was down, they slowly moved the car out of the parking spot. Since they were using a new code, the car owners did not receive any alerts or notifications when the glass was broken.
The car, on the other hand, believed the original keys were being used to enter and start it. Because of this, the engine immobilizer also failed to work in these situations.
What To Do?
In India, we like to keep things new. We have seen many people who do not like to remove plastic covers from the seats of their cars even after using them for over a year. We often buy cars and ignore such small things, thinking they are harmless and of no use to us.
But the VIN number and the barcode on the sticker are actually enough for anyone with the right set of tools and expertise to extract critical info about the vehicle and use it to access the car. So, the first thing to do in such cases is to remove the sticker from the vehicle to avoid such incidents.
Apart from this, ensure that you park your vehicle in well-lit areas and also use accessories like gear locks, steering locks, and even an intruder alarm to ensure that thieves cannot easily drive your car away.
If they have to spend a lot of time with the vehicle, they usually avoid such cars as it increases the chances of them getting caught. They always look for jobs that are quick and easy.
via:TOI