In a coordinated action law enforcement agencies in France, Latvia, and Spain have arrested more than 30 individuals suspected to be members of a car theft ring that have been stealing keyless cars using fraudulent software to duplicate keys.
Europol revealed in a press release that criminals targeted keyless vehicles from two French automakers using a fraudulent tool marketed as an “automotive diagnostic solution” to replace the original software of the vehicles. Once installed, the tool allowed to open doors and start the ignition without needing the actual key fob. The agency didn’t provide any details on how the attacks were carried out.
“The perpetrators of the scam kept updating and adapting their software, to counteract the measures implemented by companies to reinforce the security of their vehicles,” Eurojust noted in a separate statement.
A coordinated effort, which took place on October 10 in three countries, led to the arrest of 31 suspects, including the developers behind the software, its resellers and the car thieves who used the tool to steal vehicles.
More than €1,098,000 in criminal assets and dozens of blank vehicle keys were seized during raids in 22 locations across three countries.
According to Eurojust, more than €100 million, as well as 12 bank accounts, real estate and 3 luxury cars were seized in France, together with the domain name of the website.