Stolen vehicle recovery company Tracker has waned that car thieves are continuing to target ‘keyless’ cars in London.
It said the latest victim is from South Kensington and had their 2015 Range Rover Evoque stolen from outside their home on the October 1.
Andy Barrs, police liaison officer at Tracker, said: “Expensive ‘keyless’ cars, such as Range Rovers, are regularly targeted by organised criminal gangs.
“There is certainly a new breed of hi-tech car thief operating who use the latest technology to circumvent security systems.
“Already this year we have recovered nearly 60 stolen Land Rover marques, of which just over 50 were stolen without keys.
“As the popularity of keyless systems has increased, criminals have been buying equipment online that is able to re-programme keys.”
He added: “The equipment being used to steal a vehicle in this way is actually legitimate and used by workshops to carry out routine maintenance, so it is proving challenging for manufacturers to stop this type of theft happening.”
The owner realised the vehicle had been stolen when he received a movement alert from TRACKER.
The police were alerted to the theft and the vehicle was located and recovered within 12 minutes.
Barr said: “As this latest Land Rover to be stolen was fitted with a Tracker system, it allowed us to provide the Met police with the exact location of the car via GPS.
“Although the thieves had put on false registration plates it certainly didn’t fool the police and they were able to make a swift recovery.
“Whilst fitting a tracking unit won’t prevent a vehicle being stolen, it could prove the difference between it being found and returned to its owner or never being seen again.”
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