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Thread: Do some people really leave keys in easy to find locations

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    Default Do some people really leave keys in easy to find locations

    It seems every day on Face-ache there is a post some one has stolen my car.

    Today a 2019 Audi among several VW's

    Has the thieves cracked the OEM security systems in the VAG group of cars?

    To me to take a 2019 Audi A3

    1 it's on a tow truck (repo)
    2 disgruntled EX that has a key.
    3rd and more likely the key was on the kitchen table or in a bowl near the front door.
    That happen to a customer they where eating dinner and all of a sudden they there the car start and drive off.

    50 years ago you could leave the car key on a hook next to the unlocked front door to day the thieves sneak in and grab your keys while your home. That happen to a customer they where eating dinner and all of a sudden they there the car start.

    I also shake my head when they say the car was warming up out the front and got pinched while I was finishing my coffee.
    That happen to a customer they where eating dinner and all of a sudden they there the car start.

    Are people really that stupid? Don't answer that I now the answer.

    SS dave
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    Time was when I'd never lock my car or house. Even now we are still relatively "safe" in out town. We do lock the car and house at night, but, during the day most of our friends just yell out and walk in.
    I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message...

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    I park my car up the back yard and always leave the keys in it. I live in a nice place where break ins are virtually non existent and if someone is game enough to come all the way up the back for an old car, we'll I guess I'll learn my lesson. I don't think it's impossible for it to be taken or wont happen to me, I just don't want to live thinking I have to protect everything I own on my own property. I'll delude myself I don't have to be paranoid until such time as I'm shown I do.

    I also haven't locked the back door in as long as I can remember. Always figured if they had the balls to get past the dog, locked door was something else that was just going to be added to the damages. Thankfully, in my last place I never had a problem while houses around me that were well secured and even alarmed got done and some more than once.

    Mate of Mine had the exact thing you describe happen a few years ago. They came in round the back and took his keys from the bowl on the kitchen bench.
    He heard the thing bark up and stall and went racing out. He Bit one guy as the others 2 were beating him and when the well known crim turned up at the local hospital claiming it was a dog bite, the cops were notified and the 3 got eventually done. They wanted the car, a HSV for a big robbery the cops had a tip off about and were watching the POS's over. Obviously not watching close enough and they got lucky.

    Mate still leaves his keys in the same place but now they have 2 rather unfriendly dogs.

    I remember going to the country town area as a kid where we had our holidays and seeing signs in shop windows and in tourist guides etc for people to lock their cars. I also remember walking down the street and seeing all the cars with windows down and keys in the ignition. Locals said it was only ever a problem when the tourists came to town. Trouble was, often the stolen car would turn up in the city 350KM away or another state all together and the owner would have to go fetch it.

    While I might leave the keys in the thing in the back yard, I'm VERY careful not to leave anything valuable if I have to in sight. I always say to the mrs there is some benefit in having a bunch of coats and jackets in the car making it look messy. If I can, I ALWAYS take my gear with me. I have bumped into people in the shops saying what are you carrying that round for and I say because I'm not brave enough to leave $20K sitting in my car to make some Piece of shit crims day when he picks the wrong day for me to leave it in there.

    Years ago I put an anti theft system in the wifes new car. If you didn't hit a button that was a normal function of the Vehicle that was double wired to a 10 sec Timer, a Bunch of electronic sirens went off..... Inside the car. There was also a wire that went to the coil so it shorted it so even if the thing was Jumped, it still wouldn't go.
    On the car after that, a special plug I made up had to be put in the cigarette lighter which was set up as a switch. The switching activated a DPDT relay and pulled it open from shorting the electric fuel pump and blowing the fuse.

    I remember a mate paying a lot of money for this anti theft device they guaranteed made the car theft proof. He had it on his old beloved Hilux. The thing had a special key you had to insert into a slot. When he told me about it I laughed. He said but they gaurantee the car can't be started with this fitted. I shook my head and said well better go get your money back.
    Went up the shed and got a piece of wire. Having worked on the thing before and knowing the layout, I was able to get up underneath it and jump the injector pump cut off and the starter without opening the door or the bonnet.

    Mate was more than a little upset and did go back, rip the proverbial out of them and they did give him a refund. I said to my mate, If you can add something on you can easily bypass it, only logical.
    I then made the thing a LOT more difficult to nick which cost him all of $30. That consisted of a little 1/4" valve on the fuel line to shut it off that was hidden but easily reachable under the back seat and the injector pump fuel cut off that had to be energised with the cigarette lighter plug.

    Another friend had an Rx-7 when they came out. That got Nicked from in front of the unit block where he lived at 4:30 in the afternoon with about 10 people watching. They backed up a covered truck with a heavy duty loader and a winch. Dragged the thing in with it's alarm screaming, shut the doors and drove off. Couple of people that approached were deterred by a couple of thugs with a baseball bat and a lump of pipe.
    Plates of course on the truck were stolen and the RX was never seen again.

    Behind where I used to live in the next street there used to be 2-3 cars dumped and usually burnt out there a week.
    Council stopped it. They put 2 big amber flood lights on the poles in the cul de sack and there was never a car dumped there again. Dunnow where they did satart taking them but at least they weren't lighting them up in front of peoples houses there.

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    In the UK relay boxes seem to be all the rage, people hang their keys behind the front door and the crims use relay boxes that re-transmit the rfid signal to the fob

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    IF car's are being stolen while you watch ... that's got to be a crappy neighbourhood.
    I can't get people to steal a car here. My car shit itself and my old man gave me is old crap car he had spare.
    I don't think he likes me. It's a musso. I'm going to have my revenge when I send him packing off to shady days maximum security retirement village.
    I've parked it out the street with windows wound down and the keys in the ignition and even the local gronks won't fvcking take it.

    Though at the other end of the spectrum I saw a woman lock her mum in her car and she couldn't get out.
    It was in a shopping center car park. At first the car alarm went off a couple of times and then I saw some woman in the car knocking on the window. So I walked over to see what was going on. She was clearly locked in. I couldn't hear what she was trying to say over the sound of the car alarm going off. Trying not to laugh, another woman came over. I said, "I got to get one of those cars and put my wife in it. Not only can she not get out, I can't hear her either."

    I went in to the shop and got them to make an announcement. Could the owner of the Black Porsche abc123 please return to your car and let your dog out, she looks very hot and distressed.

    I couldn't help myself, I hung around for a minute to see what happened next.
    A few animal lib type people came out wanting to smash the car windows to find a cranky old woman locked in car.
    When she did get out, oh that was fun to watch.
    Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.

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    Quote Originally Posted by vnboost View Post
    In the UK relay boxes seem to be all the rage, people hang their keys behind the front door and the crims use relay boxes that re-transmit the rfid signal to the fob
    Yes read about them and having an interest in RF and security systems I understand the operation of the them it won't be long before they are more common place here then the auto manufacturers with have to do something else when they are forced to by the public sick of there cars going missing. But until then the car makers are happy for your car to be stolen that way they can sell you a new one.

    It used to be the dodgy mechanic would copy your key now they just program in a spare key or clone your key/transponder that will enable the car and disable the alarm and their good to go when ever they what and people think because the car as an alarm it's safe.

    It seem to be more common than people think about the keys near the door getting stolen. The mechanic next door had some one try and pinch a project car he was driving around to run it in and lucky for him the haltec had a shite tune and was near impossible to start when cold and the crooks could not get it running but they did flatten the battery trying..

    And no my keys are not near the door or on the kitchen bench or in plain view.


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    Quote Originally Posted by trash View Post
    IF car's are being stolen while you watch ... that's got to be a crappy neighbourhood.
    I can't get people to steal a car here. My car shit itself and my old man gave me is old crap car he had spare.
    I don't think he likes me. It's a musso. I'm going to have my revenge when I send him packing off to shady days maximum security retirement village.
    I've parked it out the street with windows wound down and the keys in the ignition and even the local gronks won't fvcking take it.
    I had a HR Ute like that no key needed never locked I would wind the window up so I didn't get a wet ass. and I have had cars like that to work on and the same thing the owner would love to get it stolen but is not having any luck. I have suggested that leaving the car at the shops down the road would almost guarantee that it stolen but to far from their home and there concerned about the questions as to why the car was 40 k's from home over night.

    SS dave
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    I keep my keys for our expensive cars in the safe and in that safe I have a.
    Also I always advise to have your own security that you have done by you via a key switch to the relay to the fuel pump or other. I dont like thieves of any type.

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    On a lighter note. Many years back when living in Darwin. We never used to lock the car. Wife was a manager with Tupperware so had a company car full of Tupperware. This was back in the days when the early Apple Macs were packed in padded bags for transport. Now the scene is set. I'll tell the story.

    About 3AM wife wakes me with "I think someone's in the car' The conversation goes "I'm naked", "I don't care", "OK" and off I go to investigate. I scared whoever off the car as I opened the door. He takes off down the driveway, dropping the bag he had. And I head out the gate carefully closing it after me so I don't let the dog out (doh!!!! - he was a ridgeback cross). I run after this bloke who is hightailing down the street for all he's worth. (you would too with a naked man running after you). Following me up, again making sure the dog stays locked up (another doh!!!) is my 13 year old daughter running behind me with "I've got your boxer's daddy". The coppers who came out could see the humour in it all. I think they found him hiding in another street, can't recall. He would have been disappointed had he kept the bag he was carrying because all it was was an esky full of Tupperware and not the Apple Mac that it looked like.
    I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message...

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    Mine just stay in my pocket. The wife carries hers in a jacket.

    I only move them to a different set of pants.
    The fact that there's a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven says a lot about the anticipated traffic flow.

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    The easiest way to get anything stolen is to put it out the front with a price tag on it. If you offer to give it away, it will stay there forever. If "some people" think it's worth something, they'll steal it.
    I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message...

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    Quote Originally Posted by lsemmens View Post
    The easiest way to get anything stolen is to put it out the front with a price tag on it. If you offer to give it away, it will stay there forever. If "some people" think it's worth something, they'll steal it.
    The shop next door did that with a fridge they had free on it for a week and no takers took the free sign off and put $50 stolen that night.

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    The right software on a laptop will have you into a keyless entry car in about 5 seconds, seen some CCTV footage from the UK and the car is gone under 10 seconds.
    They sell Faraday bags now to keep your keys in so they cant intercept the signal.

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