These thieves do not break windows and target recent vehicles. A network of car thieves specializing in electronic hacking or “mouse-jacking” which was rampant in several departments, has just been exposed and five people have been indicted by the public prosecutor's office in Libourne, in Gironde.
A new encoded startup key
It all starts at the beginning of 2024, when four vehicles are stolen in Libourne. Two individuals are arrested during the flagrant investigation and reveal their technique. “The latter consists first of opening the vehicle using a rod, then once inside, encoding a new start key by connecting to the vehicle's diagnostic socket using “a box”, details the gendarmerie in its press release.
Under the authority of the Libourne public prosecutor, the Bordeaux research section is taking charge of the investigation in co-responsibility with the Libourne departmental gendarmerie company. During investigations and surveillance, she discovered “a specialized team”, from the order giver to the one responsible for re-registering the stolen vehicles.
In total, the investigation made it possible to identify around thirty vehicles stolen by this team, some of which were replated, disguised and administratively regularized. And seven of the stolen vehicles reveal fraud with “overwriting of data from the Vehicle Registration System (SIV)”, involving two establishments in Gironde and Bouches-du-Rhône.
Eleven arrests and five indictments
Eleven suspects were arrested on November 5 following an operation launched jointly by the gendarmes of Gironde, Dordogne, Aisne, Alpes-Maritimes and Seine-Saint-Denis.
The searches made it possible to seize “several stolen vehicles, numerous French and foreign administrative documents (Germany, Belgium), numerous telephones and other car keys of different brands, an ODB adapter for diagnosis as well as cash”, specifies the press release.
The majority of those arrested were known to the judicial authorities for theft, receiving stolen property, violence and drug offenses, according to the gendarmes. The five indictees were placed in pre-trial detention.
According to statistics from the Theft Observatory, produced by the specialized company Coyote Secure, theft by electronic hacking, which does not damage the vehicle or alter its value, represents nearly nine thefts out of 10 in France.
