{"id":125792,"date":"2026-03-17T09:53:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T12:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tech.einnews.com\/article\/899998389"},"modified":"2026-03-17T09:53:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T12:53:25","slug":"high-tech-key-cloning-drives-surge-in-australian-car-thefts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/high-tech-key-cloning-drives-surge-in-australian-car-thefts\/","title":{"rendered":"High-tech key cloning drives surge in Australian car thefts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Criminals using high-tech key cloning devices are now responsible for a growing share of car thefts across Australia.<\/p>\n

\"Police <\/p>\n

Police issue warning about growing threat of key cloning devices used to steal cars<\/p>\n

\nPolice say around 30 to 40 per cent of vehicles stolen in the past year were taken using electronic key cloning devices. While the technology is legally used by mechanics to access locked vehicles, it has increasingly been exploited to bypass modern push-button ignitions.<\/p>\n

\nDeputy Commissioner Robert Hill explained the process: \u201cIt would be less than a minute. It would be a matter of 10, 15 seconds. The onboard diagnostic tool plugs into a port that is beneath the dashboard, and that will override the security system and allow the ignition to come on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nDeputy Commissioner Hill said most offenders are adult repeat criminals who share methods among themselves. Last month, four men were charged with stealing more than 20 vehicles as part of a syndicate using third-party electronic key reprogramming devices. <\/p>\n

\nIn the past year, police have seized more than 800 such devices. <\/p>\n

\nHe said: \u201cIt’s illegal to possess those items of technology if you’re out and about in the middle of the night, where we believe you might be looking for a potential vehicle to be stolen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nWhile major cities have historically seen the highest number of thefts, suburban and regional areas across Australia are increasingly affected. <\/p>\n

\nThe majority of stolen vehicles are eventually recovered – often after being used in other crimes – but some are exported or dismantled for parts. <\/p>\n

\nHill said: \u201cWe would recover approximately 80 per cent of those vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nPolice are working with car manufacturers to develop new security solutions and are urging drivers nationwide to upgrade protections, including installing onboard diagnostic port locks. <\/p>\n

\nAuthorities note that similar trends are reported internationally in the United States and United Kingdom, reflecting a global rise in high-tech vehicle thefts.<\/p>\n


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… March 2026 Criminals using high-tech<\/span> key cloning devices are now … electronic key cloning devices. While the technology<\/span> is legally used by mechanics … to possess those items of technology<\/span> if you're … , reflecting a global rise in high-tech<\/span> vehicle thefts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125792\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}