How to protect your ride as car thefts skyrocket

DAYTON — Ninety seconds is all it takes for a thief to steal a car in the Miami Valley. In the past, News Center 7 talked about a TikTok trend where people would steal Kias and Hyundais. Now, criminals are using new technology to go after more vehicles.

News Center 7′s Malik Patterson spoke with investigators about the growing issue.

Tiffnay Rue, who owns a Kia, bought her car on November 29, but five days before Christmas, it was gone.

“It hurt, it hurt deep,” Rue said.” I was leaving work and I walked outside and I’m like ‘Where’s my car?’”

The car was gone, and she had no idea when it was stolen because she did not see or hear anything.

Rue eventually got her car back, but there was no physical sign that someone had broken into it. All the damage was on the inside.

“Destroyed the whole ignition steering column, so it’s all busted out,” Rue said. “You stick the key in, and it does nothing. It won’t turn on; it won’t do anything.”

Porsche salesman, Tim Brookhart, said, “We’ve been a victim here of having one stole that exact way,”

Brookhart works for the White Allen European Auto Group. He said they too have had cars taken from their lot and key fobs stolen, too.

Montgomery County Sheriff, Rob Streck, said, “They are scanning my house for this frequency.”

Streck said this is the new way criminals are getting into your car. “They can get the frequency for that vehicle. They can turn that fob into a fob that works on that vehicle and render the real fob obsolete.”

“They use a control module to plug it in and start it and then they can do all that in about 90 seconds,” Streck said.

Detective Bryan Statzer with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office showed a map of the areas where some of the criminals are stealing cars with this new method.

Stealing cars in complete silence, leaving no community safe from Indiana down to Kentucky.

“New Bremen, where people probably don’t even lock their doors at night let alone their cars, and these folks are going into these communities and wreaking havoc,” Statzer said.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said the trend of auto thefts has been on the rise for three years.

In 2021, deputies in Montgomery County responded to 272 auto thefts. In 2023, that number was 479 thefts.

When it comes to people calling 911 for a stolen car, in 2021 that number is more than 1,500, and nearly 4,000 in 2023.

News Center 7′s Malik Patterson asked Sheriff Streck if we are going back to the days of having a steering wheel lock. He replied, “Exactly, what we’re trying to do is get those individuals to say I’m not messing with that one.”

Brookhart said it’s an ongoing battle between dealerships and criminals.

“So how does somebody protect themselves? We can’t and that’s where the video cameras come in,” Brookhart said.

Deputies provide the following advice about protecting yourself from thefts:

• Install an additional tracker on your car
• Use steering wheel locks
• Put your keys in a leather cell phone pouch at night when you get home so the signal won’t be stolen

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