ATLANTA — After three women were kidnapped by a man who slipped into their cars and forced to drive to ATMs in eerily similar circumstances, experts are offering insight on how it could have happened - and how to make sure it doesn't.
Police said they are looking into the possibility the man used a special device to unlock the doors on one victim's cars.
Do a quick search on eBay, and you’ll easily find signal replicators for sale that can allow someone to clone key fob signals and break into a car.
Tech experts said people can even build the devices themselves, which read the fob signal and play it back, allowing thieves to unlock your door.
Cyber security expert Patrick Kelley told 11Alive the hardest part for criminals is getting close enough without being spotted.
“Most of these attacks are going to require someone to be very close to your vehicle - within a few feet,” Kelley explained.
There are ways to keep yourself safe - primarily, always being aware of your surroundings.
Kelley added that you can also block the signal from your key fob, using signal-blocking pouches called Faraday bags, which sell online for $10-$100. The bags have a metal layer that blocks signals until you reach your vehicle safely, and are ready to get in.
Kelley said you can also stop using your fob all together.
“You could always disable that function on the key fob, and either use the key or the key pad that's on the vehicle,” he suggested.
Kelley said the cars most at risk for these attacks are models ranging from the late-90's to the early 2010's, with new technology now making keys smarter and cars safer.
“It’s better encryption, it’s better understanding of where the key fob is, so that, literally, if there’s someone three or four feet away and also one right next to the car, its going to ignore the one three or four feet away,” Kelley explained.
Kelley concluded that it’s all about keeping a balance between convenience and safety.
"We’re sort of in that space where convenience has a cost to it, and right now, it's insecurity in these fobs,” he said.