“Mouse jacking”: a car theft network by electronic hacking dismantled in Gironde

The operation was launched jointly by the gendarmes of Gironde, Dordogne, Aisne, Alpes-Maritimes and Seine-Saint-Denis. A network of car thieves specializing in electronic hacking, which was active in several departments, has been dismantled, the gendarmerie announced in a press release on Tuesday.

The team is suspected of the theft of“around thirty vehicles”using the technique of “mouse jacking” (“mouse theft” in French), a consistent electronic hacking “to open the vehicle using a rod, then to encode a new start key, (…) using a box “said the gendarmerie. The network, hierarchical between order giver, thief, receiver and data modification specialist, had “replaced, made up and administratively regularized” part of the vehicles stolen, added this source.

Five people indicted

Eleven suspects were arrested last week following an operation launched jointly by the gendarmes and five people were indicted by the Libourne public prosecutor's office (Gironde). 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.

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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 out of ten thefts in France.