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Beware of thieves

T

Tomb01

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 6, 2009
482
49
Colleyville, TX
There is a new thing happening in the criminal world. On Amazon you can buy an RF/Bluetooth detector for $35. That lets the thieves simply walk around parking garages and identify cars that have worthwhile things to steal, laptops that are just suspended, AirTags, other things.

Hiding your devices doesn't help, as if they have time they will break into your car and ransack it. Houston police has a good video on this phenomenon, and USA Today had an article on it a month or so ago.

Beware, do not leave any bluetooth devices in your car.
 
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Tomb01 said:
There is a new thing happening in the criminal world. On Amazon you can buy an RF/Bluetooth detector for $35. That lets the thieves simply walk around parking garages and identify cars that have worthwhile things to steal, laptops that are just suspended, AirTags, other things.

Hiding your devices doesn't help, as if they have time they will break into your car and ransack it. Houston police has a good video on this phenomenon, and USA Today had an article on it a month or so ago.

Beware, do not leave any bluetooth devices in your car.
Click to expand...
Or turn off the devices.
 
No, you are all correct. Powering down, not suspending, devices should also be a deterrent. nMight just need to disable Bluetooth. But how many of us power down our laptops? And how do you power down an Apple Tile, or one of the other 'find my device' bluetooth options. Just trying to raise awareness that criminals are keeping up with technological sophistication...
 
Wando64 said:
if I ever see anyone risking jail for the sake of stealing an AirTag I’ll buy them some food.
Click to expand...
Well, they aren't interested (I expect) in the AirTag itself, but do you put an AirTag on something they 'wouldnt' want to steal? An AirTag costs $30, likely you are not going to spend the money for one unless you have something worth more than that? But the point is that they can detect devices. They won't necessarily care that the 'device' isn't worth much, they break into cars when they see an unidentifiable object in a car....
 
I’ve heard of this, however; yet to see any type of incidents in our area to be reported. (Specifically Detroit I haven’t found one case log of this occurring.)

I can tell you what I do see on a daily basis that to me is more of a concern, is the catalytic converter thefts are rampant.
 
Tomb01 said:
they break into cars when they see an unidentifiable object in a car....
Click to expand...
Common sense should prevail, right?. (Which most people struggle with.) This has nothing to do with turning off a Bluetooth device, it has everything to do with don’t leave valuables in your car at all. It’s the same concept of cities that see spikes in vehicle thefts, don’t leave your car idling/unlocked while you’re walking into a gas station, even if it was ‘just for a minute’.

All crimes have a common denominator, which is opportunity. If you eliminate the opportunity, it minimizes crime greatly. It’s rudimentary 101 really.
 
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