For the past few years, we have presented some of the new and ingenious ways car theft happens today. We had hoped to have exhausted the different ways you can find your car missing. Unfortunately, there is yet, another way car thieves have found to mask their activities. This time it involves security cameras. 

How did thieves steal this car?

The owner of a Lexus in Virginia Beach described how her car was stolen out of her driveway midday. Once she discovered what happened, she contacted a neighbor who had a Ring video. She says the video started out with a black SUV pulling up to her house. Then a man gets out and starts walking up the driveway. 

Then the video goes black. What apparently happened was the thief used a signal jammer to stop the wireless transmission of the Ring signal. So thieves have added this to their arsenal, as wireless security cameras almost have become the norm. 

Why do car thieves use signal jammers?

Signal jammers can drown out a wi-fi signal by using high-powered noise, tones, or pulses, to interrupt signals on a specific frequency. For some reason, they’re commercially available, with some under $100. They are illegal on a number of levels. Even the police are not allowed to use them except for very specific purposes. 

The easiest way to circumvent this happening is to hardwire home security devices to your network. This way there is no wireless signal to block. Obviously, this has much larger ramifications than merely protecting you from ending up with a stolen car. If used during a home robbery it debases the whole point of having a security system. 

What can car owners do?

For now, there are no methods of detecting if someone is using a signal jammer. The good news, if you can call it that, is the jammer will only affect one device on the system. So multiple cameras are one way to outfox thieves. 

Another way is with a motion sensor that gives smart notifications, according to Secutiry.org. And finally, having a car alarm can also deter car theft, especially when combined with a security camera. And of course, some of the tracking systems like LoJack help police find your vehicle immediately. 

To that end, the woman whose Lexus was stolen told a reporter she is going to put Apple AirTags in all of the vehicles her family owns. These attach to your vehicle and act similar to traditional tracking devices. A four-pack of AirTags is usually under $100.