- Burglary-free car theft is on the increase in the North.
- Over 60 mouse jacking incidents have been recorded since January 2020.
- The vehicles targeted are mainly French brands.
Since the beginning of 2020, gendarmes and police officers from the North have observed a significant increase in vehicle theft thanks to the little-known "mouse jacking" method. The criminals literally hack into the electronic systems of recent cars and manage to steal them without breaking them.
"Police and gendarmerie combined, we have identified more than sixty facts about the Nord department in the past two months," said a source to the gendarmerie at 20 Minutes . The common point that allows the gendarmes to classify these dozens of cases in the same locker is that, on each flight, no debris was found at the scene of the incident. In this impressive series, the surroundings of Dunkirk were the first to be hit before the phenomenon spread, especially in the Lille metropolis. According to our information, none of the vehicles have yet been found.
No need to be computer ace
The technique is known and proven, the offenders do not even need to be computer ace. "An antenna allows the authors to pick up the radio signal from the remote controls of the car doors and to open them. Then, they connect a computer to the diagnostic socket on the vehicle and reprogram it using software to start it up, ”continues our source at the gendarmes.
For the investigators, the increase in the number of facts is certainly linked to a phenomenon of orders: "Thieves do not act at random but they respond to specific orders for very specific types of vehicles", ensures the gendarmerie. Are mainly targeted, recent cars, high-end, French brands, such as Citroën DS7, Peugeot 5008 or Renault Megane. "It is not because they are easier to fly, but because they sell better," said the gendarmes.
The numerous open investigations have not yet been grouped but the research section (SR) of the Lille gendarmerie nevertheless supervises their progress. "There is a good chance that it will be a single team, probably like the one we dismantled last June", recognizes our source, adding that no inquiry had yet occurred.
But that owners of vehicles prized by mouse thieves do not panic, there are displays to oppose them. The favorite spots for these delinquents are the supermarket car parks because of the number of vehicles parked there. The gendarmes therefore encourage motorists to check that they are not followed after having done their shopping. Then, you don't have to bet everything on electronics: "often, a mechanical anti-theft device, of the cane type, is enough to dissuade these professionals who take no risk", explain the gendarmes.
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