A car theft ring with footholds in France, Latvia, and Spain has been broken up as 31 suspects have been arrested. What is most interesting about this ring is that they used software to gain access to the vehicles.
EU Authorities Arrest 31 in Connection to Car Theft Ring That Treated France, Latvia, and Spain as a Free Car Dealership – Suspects Allegedly Stole Vehicles with Key-Less Software
The arrest occurred on October 10, 2022 with the EU Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation—or Eurojust—searching the three countries before nabbing all 31 in France. In total, Eurojust went through 22 locations linked to the ring and seized 12 bank accounts, properties, luxury cars, a website, and €100 million—roughly $97.6 million.
Europol weighed in on the operation and how they ring managed to hack vehicles and steal them without the keys:
“The criminals targeted keyless vehicles from two French car manufacturers. A fraudulent tool – marketed as an automotive diagnostic solution, was used to replace the original software of the vehicles, allowing the doors to be opened and the ignition to be started without the actual key fob.”
Eurojust added that the suspects would update the software as the manufacturers updated their security. The French car manufacturers weren’t mentioned by name so as not to throw the favorite targets out there for other hacker-boosters.
The UK wasn’t mentioned as a region hit by car boosters although it has seen a big uptick in keyless car theft in 2021.
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