Land Cruisers are easily stolen.
- Thread starter bgeorger
- Start date
Bummer.
Wow that’s not good. Sorry this happened to you.
That really sucks and I feel bad for you. As other suggested, it could've been a tow truck, but it didn't have to be a flatbed.
Another possibility is they copied your key fob signal and then made their own.
I just bought Faraday pouches from Amazon, but those are a little tight to slide the fob in and out of so maybe I'll get a little Faraday box and keep mine in.
I understand they can drive by your house and pick up that signal. Or perhaps they were right there sitting in a vehicle and copied it. Who knows.
Years ago I saw a video on car theft and they showed how some of these guys carried hacksaw's with them and cut those steering locks off. Nowadays they have the battery powered saws and grinders that will cut hard steel locks off and such.
That Disklok Don mentioned looks like a pretty good idea. If I regularly went into the city I suppose I would get one of those.
I hope you get your vehicle back with no damage done to it. If not, I hope the insurance company doesn't screw you over like State Farm did me on my totaled out Tacoma. Good luck.
Another possibility is they copied your key fob signal and then made their own.
I just bought Faraday pouches from Amazon, but those are a little tight to slide the fob in and out of so maybe I'll get a little Faraday box and keep mine in.
I understand they can drive by your house and pick up that signal. Or perhaps they were right there sitting in a vehicle and copied it. Who knows.
Years ago I saw a video on car theft and they showed how some of these guys carried hacksaw's with them and cut those steering locks off. Nowadays they have the battery powered saws and grinders that will cut hard steel locks off and such.
That Disklok Don mentioned looks like a pretty good idea. If I regularly went into the city I suppose I would get one of those.
I hope you get your vehicle back with no damage done to it. If not, I hope the insurance company doesn't screw you over like State Farm did me on my totaled out Tacoma. Good luck.
Yeah, unfortunately this truck is already on a container headed for Africa, Saudi Arabia or Asia. Never to be seen again.
They finally busted a ring of thieves that were stealing F150s out of the DIA parking lot for several years. My buddy has one and got approached and questioned by an officer as he was parking. Once the LEO surmised he was in fact the owner, he told them not to park his truck at the airport anymore or take a different vehicle/uber. He also told him the process by which they were stealing them. I don't remember the specifics, but if you installed an OBD lock... or moved the actual OBD to a hidden in the dash location and installed a dummy port, this would have gone a long way in preventing the theft. I think they had a means to get the door open electronically, but needed to fabricate a cloned key to the vehicle using the OBD port. Once they've done that.. turn off all tracking and un-link the apps/service and drive off.
It's very easy to tow a vehicle with the right equipment. But there is risk for a thief to drive around in that equipment, especially at night.
The key to all types of burglary is deterrence. A rational thief wants the easiest and lowest risk target. The best deterence for a sophisticated vehicle thief is likely concern about a tracker that he is not confident can be easily found and disabled.
So an airtag tossed into a void that is not easily accessed may be a good, inexpensive choice. If it can't be retrieved it would need to be replaced periodically. I think an airtag dropped into the battery compartment void would be hard to find and retrieve.
One reason I chose the diskloc was to differentiate my LC from other desirable vehicles sitting out in the hotel lot. If I have a diskloc, what other measures might I have taken?
The highest deterrence factor from a home alarm system is the stickers. So what is the sticker equivalent for an LC?
I may clip a small wireless security camera, with an antenna, to the top of my diskloc pointing out the driver's window. A smart person would correctly conclude that the camera is likely either ineffective or a fake. A smart person would also play the odds and move onto the 99% of high end Toyotas without any obvious extra anti-theft devices.
OPs vehicle was chosen among several alternatives. A burglarized house was chosen from several alternatives.
Bummer, man, sorry to hear. Out of curiosity, did you have the digital key set up?
I saw on Facebook there is also a case almost identical to OP’s story. An American visitor driving his shining beloved GX550 and park in a hotel at Mississauga ON and the car is just gone overnight. Really feel sorry for you.
A part of it is a Canadian issue. The car theft is so bad that even a sheriff couldn’t keep his car from the theft’s hands - for multiple times. Their government even told their citizen to surrender the car to the criminals and don’t resist in exchange of personal safety.
My understanding is that once they have their hands in your vehicle nothing will do you any protection. You can track your AirTag all the way from a train freight to the harbor to Atlantic Ocean to the other dealer thousands of miles away in a different continent and Canadian government doesn’t care. They only care about protocols rather than preventing crimes. (There is definitely orders, but no laws) I would only hope that our government will never fall to the low of the Canadian government.
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No laws? You have really got no clue! There are certainly car theft hot spots in Canada and it is a very real problem. I'm sure that is true in many countries around the globe as well.
No enforcement is as good as no laws. There is indeed many places in the world like that. Shoplifting in San Francisco and Car theft in Ontario Canada are among the worst of them. If I live in Ontario I would probably never own a nice car to start with. The enforcement seems to be a big joke there. They want to frame the crime as a victimless crime since you can claim from the insurance. But that logic is pretty pathetic if you ask me
It really sucks dirty pond water that your LC is gone @bgeorger.
TL;DNR
Years ago, a common way to get into locked cars was to buy some type of scanner on eBay, that would scan for RF signals, copy them, and allow the user to gain entry into locked cars.
The background.. for decades, remote locks for automobiles would transmit the signal to the car to lock the car as you walked away, pushing the lock button. The car would remember that signal, and when you returned to the car, the fob would use the exact signal frequency to unlock the car, kinda a digital handshake. The next time that you got out of the car, the remote would have changed the frequency, and when you push the lock button as you walk away, a new signal would be transmitted. Upon returning to your car, your remote would use the same signal to open the car. Rinse and repeat.
This made it easy for people with those little scanners to hack your car door locks by intercepting YOUR key fob signal as you walk away from your car and push the lock button on your remote. Then they use the captured signal to clone the same one on there device, easily gaining entry into your car. The take home message, NEVER use your remote to lock you car when out and about. Always lock your car door using the button on the inside of your car. Only upon returning, should you use your remote to unlock your doors. Get in, lock your doors behind you with the button on the inside of your car, and drive away. I bought both of my daughter’s iPods fifteen years ago while they were in college. Their Honda Accord was “broken in to” when they were visiting a local park in Charleston, SC. They even told me that they saw some shady characters driving around the parking lot, getting close to them, before they exited the car. The shady characters stole their iPods as well as other things when they locked up the car and made their way to the picnic.
There are several videos on YouTube showing how to turn off your key fob so that it does not continually transmit the signal to open your doors. When our fobs are hanging on the key rack just inside our front or back door, ANYONE with the technology can intercept and clone the signal. Some people think that turning off your key fob will prevent theft. I don’t know for sure. I am probably going to install a 12 volt on/off switch somewhere in MIss Daisy.
TL;DNR
Years ago, a common way to get into locked cars was to buy some type of scanner on eBay, that would scan for RF signals, copy them, and allow the user to gain entry into locked cars.
The background.. for decades, remote locks for automobiles would transmit the signal to the car to lock the car as you walked away, pushing the lock button. The car would remember that signal, and when you returned to the car, the fob would use the exact signal frequency to unlock the car, kinda a digital handshake. The next time that you got out of the car, the remote would have changed the frequency, and when you push the lock button as you walk away, a new signal would be transmitted. Upon returning to your car, your remote would use the same signal to open the car. Rinse and repeat.
This made it easy for people with those little scanners to hack your car door locks by intercepting YOUR key fob signal as you walk away from your car and push the lock button on your remote. Then they use the captured signal to clone the same one on there device, easily gaining entry into your car. The take home message, NEVER use your remote to lock you car when out and about. Always lock your car door using the button on the inside of your car. Only upon returning, should you use your remote to unlock your doors. Get in, lock your doors behind you with the button on the inside of your car, and drive away. I bought both of my daughter’s iPods fifteen years ago while they were in college. Their Honda Accord was “broken in to” when they were visiting a local park in Charleston, SC. They even told me that they saw some shady characters driving around the parking lot, getting close to them, before they exited the car. The shady characters stole their iPods as well as other things when they locked up the car and made their way to the picnic.
There are several videos on YouTube showing how to turn off your key fob so that it does not continually transmit the signal to open your doors. When our fobs are hanging on the key rack just inside our front or back door, ANYONE with the technology can intercept and clone the signal. Some people think that turning off your key fob will prevent theft. I don’t know for sure. I am probably going to install a 12 volt on/off switch somewhere in MIss Daisy.
I feel for you man. This was at my OWN HOME. Thankfully car was locked, and security camera spooked the potential thief. I also keep an AirTag hidden in my LC just in case.
None of these AirTag suggestions will help. Vehicle theft in Toronto/Ontario is due to organized crime (I lived there for ten years). They target vehicles that can be stripped for parts and most end up overseas. Motorcycle theft was extremely bad there too.
Faraday pouches, ODB2 port locks, encrypted CAN-BUSes, steering wheel locks, etc help eliminate the dumbest criminals.
Canada's theft rate is high but still better than the US'
Motor vehicle theft - Wikipedia (and more data from How Canada became a car theft capital of the world)
Faraday pouches, ODB2 port locks, encrypted CAN-BUSes, steering wheel locks, etc help eliminate the dumbest criminals.
Canada's theft rate is high but still better than the US'
Motor vehicle theft - Wikipedia (and more data from How Canada became a car theft capital of the world)
Sorry about your LC.
I bought a Farraday pouch for my iPhone. Fobs fit easily.
Hope you get it back real soon!!
I bought a Farraday pouch for my iPhone. Fobs fit easily.
Hope you get it back real soon!!
Amazon. I haven’t really used it yet. I think they have different sizes.
Sorry about your loss. Are there any protective devices or procedures people can use in that part of Canada that is effective against car thieves?
Ultane, I've heard about disabling the key transmitter but didn't know where to get instructions to do it. That video was really helpful. Thanks!
Ultane, I've heard about disabling the key transmitter but didn't know where to get instructions to do it. That video was really helpful. Thanks!
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