Car snatchers in Wyoming are thieves of opportunity more than sophistication.
Police are not seeing the real-life scenarios that mirror YouTube where someone with a tech device and blank key overrides the car’s security systems and it’s off to the races like in the “Grand Theft Auto” video game franchise.
In Wyoming, car thefts overwhelmingly can be traced to driver carelessness by leaving keys in the ignition or failing to lock car doors, local law enforcement officials told Cowboy State Daily.
Vehicle theft or people stealing stuff out of them has become such a problem in Rock Springs that the local police department is warning people to pay attention to that carelessness.
“This week the Rock Springs Police Department responded to multiple stolen vehicle calls in the Presidential Streets area where ultimately the stolen vehicles were found abandoned at Arthur Park,” the RSPD reports in a Friday press release.
In those cases, police were helped by someone posting video of two juveniles trying to break into cares in the city.
“Once officers identified a patten to the thefts, they set up a nighttime surveillance at Arthur Park which resulted in the successful identification of the juveniles,” Rock Springs police report.
The proliferation of vehicles being broken into and/or stolen isn’t pushed by advances in technology, law enforcement agencies report. In many cases, people let their guard down because they have video cameras pointed outside. But that’s not as much a deterrent as simply locking vehicles.
Older Vehicles Targeted
Police and insurance officials believe a few simple changes in habits can reduce the risk of auto thefts around Wyoming, which seems to focus most on older, lower-tech trucks and cars.
The top vehicles stolen in the state as of 2020 were Ford, Chevy, and Dodge trucks no older than 2007, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. As Wyomingites upgrade the models of cars they drive, security experts say owners need to understand the higher-tech methods of theft and how to protect against them.
Gillette Police Department Capt. Kelly Alger said vehicle owners not playing it safe is the reason for most car thefts.
“Close to 99% of the time that would be the case where keys are left in the vehicle,” Alger said.
Some thieves have a knack for breaking into locked cars and hot-wiring them, “but that is extremely rare,” he said.
Since 2022, thieves in Gillette have been able to nab 57 vehicles: 40 cars, five motorcycles and 12 trucks.
Cheyenne Police Department spokesperson Alexandra Farkas agrees most vehicle thefts in the capital city can be traced to people leaving keys inside vehicles.
Thieves also target larger scale-events, such as Cheyenne Frontier Days. There are some seasonal aspects to the thefts as well.
“We see an increase in the winter when vehicles are left running,” she said.
In 2022, the city had 271 vehicle thefts, which declined to 229 in 2023.
Casper Police Department spokesperson Amber Freestone said her department also sees the same thing.
Vehicles are stolen because doors are unlocked and keys are left within. Statistics for the past three years were not immediately available.
Statistics that are available from the Wyoming Department of Criminal Investigation Uniform Crime Report show 714 vehicles stolen in 2023. Of those, 355 were stolen from a road, parking lot, or camp, while 234 were taken from a residence or home. The rest were taken from other locations.
When drivers don’t leave the keys in the car and doors locked, vehicles still can become targets via skilled thieves, and Denver has some of those.
Car Thief Mecca
Statistics from 2022 show that Colorado led the nation in the number of cars stolen. There were 785.7 vehicles stolen per 100,000 residents compared to Wyoming’s 162.4 per 100,000 residents, according to Statista.
Denver Police Sgt. Todd Erickson leads the department’s auto theft team, which was put together specifically because of the surge in car thefts in 2022. He told Cowboy State Daily that thieves in his metro area also are opportunists, but he does see more sophisticated processes and techniques.
For the opportunist car snatcher, not only are the keys in the car and car unlocked, sometimes it is just the owner of a hybrid exiting the car while it’s still running.
Electric cars are so quiet, drivers don’t realize they’re still running. Since most modern cars require key fobs, the act of turning a car off isn’t as obvious as turning a key. If the doors are unlocked, the thief hops in and takes it.
“Obviously, those only last until (the thieves) turn the car off,” Erickson said.
Prior to leading the auto theft unit, Erickson worked in the robbery division that dealt with armed carjackings. In interviewing carjackers to “pick their brain about thought processes” Erickson said he was told more than once that people leave their spare key in the car.
Most prevalent in Denver are thieves targeting Kias and Hyundais, Erickson said. They use a screwdriver to get into the car via a window, rip the steering column out with the screwdriver and then use an iPhone charger cord or screwdriver to start it.
“They can be in any kind of car, but they seem to be more prevalent in the Kias and Hyundais doing that. The whole steering column is on the floor,” he said.
Erickson said the department also has seen techniques using a programing device, where the thief will program the vehicle identification number and other information and sync it to a blank key fob. The thief is then able to start the vehicle and then “they are off to the races.”
National Trends
At Cleveland, Ohio-based TrustedSec, which works with companies on computer and internet network security solutions, Director of Security Intelligence Carlos Perez said gangs in mostly large cities are stealing a lot of older Kia models using flipper zero devices that target key fobs and keyless entry of cars.
The devices cost about $160.
“Every time you use your key fob it transmits by radio frequency that a car then rotates on a regular basis to allow you access,” he said. “The code is unique for your car in the way that it is established.”
However, older models allow the flipper devices to capture the codes, which work on the computer programming of older vehicles.
Kia has changed its system to make it more difficult on new models, Perez said.
More sophisticated gangs are buying devices on the dark web to keep up with car technology for $16,000 to $27,000.
“Once you buy that device you scan the vehicle’s VIN code and then it will use a specific algorithm to try and brute force the keyless entry code to then access your car,” he said
Other devices homemade by criminals on the dark web allow car thieves to do a “replay attack” that extends the signal of the fob inside the door of a house to the car and open the car door. Once inside, through the OBD port they are able to start the car and steal it, Perez said.
Gangs in large cities such as Los Angeles and New York use the dark web devices to go after more valuable models such as BMWs and Mercedes vehicles, he said.
Erickson said his team has not yet seen that level of sophistication in Denver, but to prevent the replay attack from the fob in the house to a car using the dark web devices, he has seen products for sale online.
A search on Amazon reveals “Faraday” bags to “protect your belongings from EMF, RFID, and other hacking signals.”
Technology Concerns
The National Insurance Crime Bureau tracks vehicle theft and the issues that surround it. Its website lists the following devices that cause the agency concerns related to auto theft:
• The flipper zero device which can “read, record, and manipulate over the air signals.” The device can be used to mimic a key fob and also “record and emulate” a garage door signal.
• RFID kiosks that allow key fobs and key cards to be scanned to create new ones. The agency believes criminals could use the kiosks to copy fobs stolen from owners or rental car agencies and use them to steal a car at a later time.
• Apple Air Tags which can be placed on vehicles that thieves target to steal once at a more convenient location.
Meanwhile, the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s latest information available on thefts in Wyoming is from 2020. The agency’s website shows the top 10 vehicles stolen from Wyoming that year were:
• No. 1: 2004 Ford pickup (54)
• No. 2: 2007 Chevrolet full-size pickup (50)
• No. 3: 2003/1998 Dodge full-size pickup (26)
• No. 4: 2003 GMC full-size pickup (21)
• No. 5: 2005 Toyota Camry (12)
• No. 6: 2007 Honda Civic (10)
• No. 7: 2005 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee; 2017/2021/2009 Ford Escape (9)
• No. 8: 2007/2005 GMC Yukon; 2003/1999 Chevrolet Suburban (8)
• No. 9: 2012/2007 Ford Focus; 2003/2002 Ford Explorer; and 2019/2013 Ram Explorer (7)
• No. 10: 2020/2016 Toyota Corolla; 2020/2007 Ford Fusion; 2005 Dodge Durango; and 2005 Chevrolet Malibu (6)
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
