If you’ve seen the movie “Gone in 60 seconds by Nicholas Cage and Angelina Jolie” and you think they are the smartest car thieves, you’re wrong. Smarter car thieves now exists. Police in the UK raised alarm over a new mystery device being used to steal expensive cars. They call it a “RELAY ATTACK”. This automatically means the thieves have upgraded their game big time and the funny thing is they don’t even need your car keys anymore and the device being used is worth just $20 (N8000) ! The high tech device is called “RELAY BOX” and can be used to unlock cars in a matter of seconds. This is the device Police in the UK say was used to steal his Bespoke Range Rover Autobiography. These thieves are current having the best moments of their lives, Lol. This is a picture of a relay box.

How does this relay device work?

This is not exactly a new trick but most people don’t know about it yet which is why I decided to write about it. It’s a type of hack that works against vehicles’ keyless entry systems and involves two criminals working together using electronic signal-relay devices. .CCTV footage shows just how easily criminals can use a device to receive the car key signal from inside the victim’s home, transferring that signal to the second box, which is placed next to the car. The car’s system is tricked into thinking the key is there, allowing thieves to unlock the vehicle and drive away within seconds.

All the criminals need to do is this. One of them stands very close to your car while the other thief comes close to your window with this $20 relay box. The thief standing close to your window or door uses this device to search for signal from your car key and the signal automatically transfers to the second device held by the thief standing close to your car. As soon as the remote signal reaches the device, the car receives it and is tricked into thinking the owner’s key is present, and is then able to be unlocked and started. In this case CCTV was only able to capture one of the thieves. There’s reason to believe they were more than one.

Importantly, they only work on cars that have a keyless ignition system — one that allows a driver to start the car by pushing a button after the vehicle detects a key is present. It works on 95% of these cars. This creepy device is already on sale on Amazon, Ebay and other online stores so it’s not like the device is difficult to get. Like I said before it cost just $20, that’s about N8000 in Nigeria. You can just be shopping or having lunch in a restaurant with your car key in your pocket or handbag, a thief holding that device in his pocket comes close to you can easily transfer the signal of your car key to his colleague outside and they’ll quietly zoom off into thing air.