Watch these thieves steal a brand new high performance £65,000 AMG Mercedes in a matter of seconds after cloning its keys.
The car crooks used a scanner to copy the key’s signal from outside the house in Ealing, west London on Saturday morning.
Now owners of expensive motors are being urged to keep their key fobs in a microwave to stop signals from being intercepted.
The car’s owner told The London Economic that they kept the keys in a metal safe to prevent such an eventuality, but the area’s neighbourhood watch co-ordinator, Suzanne Tanswell, said people whose cars use the wireless technology should store keys “well away from the front of the house”.
Putting them in the microwave can prevent theft “as the transmitted waves from the cloning device may not penetrate the lead microwave shielding”, she explained.
Devices similar to the one used in the theft can be bought online for just £80.
Many new vehicles have keyless ignitions meaning they can be started using the technology.
The car’s owner described the stolen car as a “dark blue Mercedes E Class E43 4matic estate with tan leather (probably the only one in the country with this spec).” They confirmed that it was stolen at 5.45 am. Describing the video (below) that shows just how fast the thieves operated, they added: “the thief is scanning the key with that bag.
“It was in a metal safe in the house because I was told that protected them from being cloned. Not so. So if you keep your car keys in the house the only safe place apparently is the microwave.”
A Met Police spokesman said that police were alerted at around 8.30am on November 3 to the theft of the car earlier that morning, adding: “officers from Ealing are investigating. There has been no arrest.”
By Ben Gelblum and Lewis Pennock
