Information is always getting circulated via social media and email.  This information is something that started as an email in 2013 and later ended up on social media. It has been making the "rounds" ever since.  Personally, whenever I come across information on the internet, the first place I verify it's validity is Snopes.com.  The folks behind that website make it their job to fact check these types of things.

This leads me to a story I saw posted on Facebook about thieves breaking into people's vehicles to steal items. You may have seen this. The title is "Thieves armed with 'code grabbers' are breaking into cars by recording signals sent by remote keyless entry devices." Check it out below...

 

"I locked my car. As I walked away I heard my car door unlock. I went back and locked my car again three times. Each time, as soon as I started to walk away, I would hear it unlock again!! Naturally alarmed, I looked around and there were two guys sitting in a car in the fire lane next to the store. They were obviously watching me intently, and there was no doubt they were somehow involved in this very weird situation . I quickly chucked the errand I was on, jumped in my car and sped away. I went straight to the police station, told them what had happened, and found out I was part of a new, and very successful, scheme being used to gain entry into cars. Two weeks later, my friend's son had a similar happening....

While traveling, my friend's son stopped at a roadside rest to use the bathroom. When he came out to his car less than 4-5 minutes later, someone had gotten into his car and stolen his cell phone, laptop computer, GPS navigator, briefcase.....you name it. He called the police and since there were no signs of his car being broken into, the police told him he had been a victim of the latest robbery tactic -- there is a device that robbers are using now to clone your security code when you lock your doors on your car using your key-chain locking device..

They sit a distance away and watch for their next victim. They know you are going inside of the store, restaurant, or bathroom and that they now have a few minutes to steal and run. The police officer said to manually lock your car door-by hitting the lock button inside the car -- that way if there is someone sitting in a parking lot watching for their next victim, it will not be you.

When you hit the lock button on your car upon exiting, it does not send the security code, but if you walk away and use the door lock on your key chain, it sends the code through the airwaves where it can be instantly stolen

Be wisely aware of what you just read and please pass this note on. Look how many times we all lock our doors with our remote just to be sure we remembered to lock them -- and bingo, someone has our code...and whatever was in our car." 

This information got mixed ratings from Snopes since the information above is true, however, it doesn't take into account that technology has changed since then.  Snopes points out that automakers now make key fobs that use rolling random codes as opposed to the former ones with fixed codes. These codes change every time a given RKE system is used to lock or unlock car doors and thus rendered the earlier ‘code grabbers’ ineffective.

Here's how I look at all this, it can't hurt to lock my car the "old fashioned" way by just hitting the interior lock button on the door.  Better safe than sorry right?

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