Learned the hard way on Friday that thieves have a method of identifying a bluetooth device in your car. Turns out that there is an inexpensive device available on Amazon that can detect your electric devices unless they are completely powered off. We Were on a road trip with our luggage in the back seat. Went into a store and got an alert on my phone that my car was in an accident. By the time i could get to the car in the parking garage they had broken out the left rear window and stolen our bags. Fortunately there were some people that came by and interrupted them before they got into the trunk, but got our computers which were in our bags. beware…. never leave your computer in your car. now the dealership says 30-60 days to repair the door and replace the window. Aaargh. Learn from my issue that they can identify your stuff even if you have hidden it.

 

More likely they just wanted to steal the bags regardless of what was in them.....I NEVER leave anything on display when parked for that reason.

 

Actually we were warned by the shop owner about the problem. Not in time, obviously. We were in Houston and if you do a web search related to the bluetooth scanner one of the main hits you get will be a video made by one of the Houston police departments warning about it. Hiding will not prevent them from knowing something electronic is in your vehicle.

edit: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/...lf/4491482002/

 

Damn that's crazy! Criminals are not all as dumb as we think they are. Sorry to hear about this BS that was caused.

 

Hmmm I was thinking if you had it in your trunk with the valet switch turned on and the glovebox locked, they wouldn't be able to get in the trunk right.
As for Bluetooth, I wonder if disabling the driver in windows will help prevent the Bluetooth module from emitting any signals in response to the request of the scanner.

 

Just saw an article in usa today about this, and their recommendation is to not leave anything in the car (too late, sigh). but if you do, disable bluetooth or completely power down the device. a lot of current devices still have bluetooth going in sleep mode. the shop owner was actually warned the previous week by the Apple store when she picked up something.

 

Anything that's worth more than few dollars and in plain sight ( break in, grab and go), they would do it.. Don't think these low life thieves are smart enough to figure out the Bluetooth technology or else they won't be doing what they did.

 

I believe there is a setting called Bluetooth scanning which allows the device to be scanned in low energy mode despite Bluetooth being switched on I wonder that would do anything if it is turned off, anyone actually experimented and used a scanner to see if it is able to detect those devices?
Here is an example:
https://i.stack.imgur.com/twnhE.png
The description varies for certain devices, it also says "even when off" on those devices.

 

That's a good tip, but in your case it was likely just the bags in plain sight. This happens all the time around here. SUVs are prime targets, because you can't really hide your luggage. Even if you try to hide your luggage under the cargo cover, they essentially know if the cover is closed you have something to hide, and it's very easy to get at the trunk in an SUV with all the windows. Around here in some places, people literally leave the rear gate wide open when they park their SUVs, so thieves can see that there's nothing to get and move on.

 

In that case would the tint deter thieves from risking breaking in and getting caught while finding nothing?

 

In my experience the harder you try to hide something the more likely they break in. The most secure are essentially coupes and sedans that have the rear seat folding latches in the trunk like my C63S coupe, so there's no way to get into the trunk w/o the key. My co-worker had his Tesla Model 3 broken in, because they suspected something in the trunk. They broke the side window and folded down one side of the rear seat, but luckily he had nothing in the trunk, so they moved on. Still the damage was done. They know which makes and models they can get into. Hatchbacks, wagons and SUVs are easy targets and anything with accessible latches to fold down the rear seats. In some cars you can lock the rear seats so they can't be folded, but likely they will still break a window to try. So people around here leave their rear seats folded down and the cargo cover open so it's obvious that there's nothing to get.

 

I would think people normally tint their cars, so it shouldn't been seen as trying to hide anything by thieves but I get your point.

 

It's more the reality that security through obscurity should never be the main nor only security mechanism.

 

True, what else do you recommend? I thought of the idea of OP placing a camera in a vehicle connected to a network (sort of like a doorbell camera that uploads to the cloud and OP can see the live video and gets alerted when it senses motion, I understand MB has urban guard but it doesn't record any videos, will MB implement something or will privacy law prevent it from happening) but isn't that basically telling everyone that there is something valuable inside which will be attracting too much attention. Although as you said, damage has been done if the thieves broke the windows but in the event there are no witnesses, OP will have the footage for the law enforcement authorities to catch the thief or thieves. I wonder if something like Sentry mode would had helped if it was ever a thing in an MB?

 

Cameras don't really help, either. People have been recorded by Tesla's Sentry mode while keying cars. Maybe they didn't know, but seems cameras are not much of a deterrent. I hate to say it, but my recommendation is to drive a different car, and/or never park anywhere and leave luggage etc. in it. If you talk to law enforcement or people in the threat assessment/security business they will tell you everything about so-called target hardening. It's the practice of making yourself and your property the hardest target on the block, so thieves move on to an easier target. That means driving a car that's harder to break in than other cars on the street, for example a car with enclosed trunk that can't be opened from inside as I mentioned above and not have anything visible in it, and don't try to obscure it. Similarly for one's house, you want yours to be the hardest to break in on the block. This can be accomplished by installing a smart security system and have lights around the house, so thieves can't quietly break in and take their time going through your belongings. A professionally monitored alarm system is a surprisingly effective deterrent to secure a house. Not so much for a car, as people have been desensitized to car alarms. When it comes to car break-ins, your best bet is to not get broken in in the first place, so make sure your car is not the first target a thieve will pick and be smart about where you park. The reality is only about 2% of car break-ins result in an arrest, so even if you have camera footage they'll likely never find the perpetrator. Knocking on wood, I so far have not been a victim of any break-ins. My townhouse is secured by a professionally monitored smart alarm system, and I have metal doors and frames with smart locks, and don't have ground level windows. I get an alert on my phone the moment somebody opens a door. Security is like an onion, the more layers you have the better. For my cars I don't park them in the driveway or on the street at night for example. Always securely inside of my private garage and obviously never leave anything visible in them when out and about. When parking in parking structures I pick higher up floors. Thieves generally hit the lower floors, so they can get away quickly. There's no magic bullet and nothing is a 100% secure, but having an eye for assessing threats and danger is half the solution.

 

Thanks for your advice. In that case I am guessing parking in lots with security cameras won't do much (it helps but not much I guess) as people aren't getting caught...

People like to park away from high traffic areas because they are worried about door dings or other damages but come to think of it I guess far away from people might not be a good idea as the vehicle stands out and easily spotted by thieves. It could end up both ways though, I guess, as in if a thief is targeting that vehicle, it will be pretty obvious to bystanders or witnesses as they are then in plain sight.

Glad to hear that your vehicle never had any break-ins, I hope that remains that way and same goes for everyone else on the forums.

Sorry OP that you have to deal with this, hopefully you don't have to deal with this ever again. Thanks for starting the thread and bringing awareness to us.

 

Yeah, the best case scenario of those cameras is if the security guards see an active break-in and are actually willing to step in. Part of the problem is that most of these rent-a-cops don't wanna risk their lives and basically just watch it happen. Can't really fault them for it, though, because worst case the victim sues them. Their presence is the best deterrent, but they can't be everywhere at all times.

 

You truly have a point, they obviously don't want to risk their lives because the thieves might be armed and worse case they (the security guards) can always find another job if they are fired as long as they are still alive is what matters.

Homes have their security system linked to the local police department and when motion detectors senses movement, it alarms when the system is armed and local authorities are notified. I wonder why cars don't have the same system, or they do but just not as common. I seen people putting those warning stickers on the driver side window like "GPS tracking alarm", I wonder if that is effective enough. It might actually be a good deterrent but I wonder if thieves also have tracking devices to tell if that actual GPS is present or not.

 

I just realized something, the GPS stickers probably wouldn't do much if the thieves only cares about the laptop or smartphone in the vehicle and not the vehicle itself. So nevermind then.

 

You can be even more paranoid/careful than that with some justification. We had a police officer tell us at a neighborhood safety meeting that a drug addict on some 'high' will see a piece of paper in the car and IMAGINE that it is money or a check and then smash a window to grab it.

 

Thanks for letting is know! Sorry this happened to you.

 

Retired LEO... this /\.

99% chance it was the visible bags vs. a scanner. Yes they are prevalent, but most petty criminals are opportunists and visible valuables in a nice car are like a 80lb 90 year old woman with a LV purse in a dark alley to a thief. Even "transients" generally have items of value in their bags and are often robbed of them.

 

Don't even leave your sun glasses or the radar detector attached to the windshield, seen them stolen as well

 

Stupidest thing I've seen a window shattered over was a $10 par of ear buds and then later a $19 sun shade. It does not take much AT ALL.

 

If you have the acoustic glass, an inherent feature from the laminated layer would help against smash and grabs.